Barn against a Cloudy Sky
This barn (okay, it’s really a corn crib) is one of my favorite photography subjects, yet this shot is my favorite. With the help of Lightroom, yes I finally took the time and learned Lightroom 4 and I’m in love! This is the first time that I can actually say that this is truly what the barn looked like that day.
From what I understand in reading various photography blogs and sites a camera has difficulty collecting all the dynamic ranges of lights and darks. In simple terms you expose for the sky or your subject. That leaves the other parts of you picture over or under exposed.
The newest version of Lightroom 4 has an amazing capability of pulling out shadows, highlights, whites and blacks without leaving artifacts in the image. This was shot in RAW and I’m very impressed, puts my Photoshop CS2 to shame. The later versions of Photoshop do have more advanced algorithms that achieve the same thing, but I can only compare the programs I use.
I will still keep using Photoshop, Lightroom is only another tool to use and does not have text or graphic design capability. I still love adding drop shadows, borders and creating custom layouts.
Stay tuned for more Lightroom 4 examples, and possibly redo’s of previous photos as a comparision.
Related articles
- Save 30% on Adobe Lightroom 4 – $99 sans Coupon or Promo Code (ProDesignTools.com)
- Scott Kelby: “Why I Think Lightroom 4 is Going To Sell Like Crazy” (blogs.adobe.com)
- The Red Barn: Why Are They All Red? (onelifethislife.wordpress.com)
Love the colors and contrast. Great edits.
Thanks, I can’t wait to try out Lightroom on more of my photos, but the sky really helped this shot. Clouds were amazing that day!
Nice photo and editing. I LOVE Lightroom (I’m still on version 2) and am obsessed with making my own presets! It’s such a great programme!
I haven’t figured out how to do presets yet in Lightroom, (need to learn) but I love creating actions in Photoshop. Save so much time when I’m doing routine tasks like resizing and adding adjustment layers or frames.
LOVE this Dawn! Awesome!
Thanks! I’m in love with it too…
Love the cotton candy clouds
Been happily using lightroom 4 for all my editing needs (pure adjustment of photos). It rocks! Nice barn too…I am jealous, would love to have it as a photo subject;-)
I take it you had Lightroom 3 before. This barn is one of my favorite photography subjects. Nebraska can have such a dramatic sky, a simple bare barn is all it needs.
I use Lightroom 4 the most, followed by PaintShop Pro X4, Photoshop CS6, Photo-Paint X5, CorelDraw X5, and even Word 2010. It just depends on what I want to do. For quick and easy, it’s Lightroom 4.