Clearing up an Overcast Day in Lightroom

24 Aug

For this edition of #FixitFriday I’m going through my favorite photos from last summer and in the process reliving  my Block Island dream trip.

Seems an appropriate way to end a summer, reliving last summer, laying on a beach and relaxing exploring the island of my youth. Most of the time the skies were overcast and cloudy, good when avoiding a sun burn, but I found it a difficult photography challenge. The result of the cloudy skies were flat and drab. Although I reworked them a bit in Photoshop CS2 I still didn’t get the result I was after.

Lightroom 4 has been wonderful, every time I open an image I wasn’t quite happy with I find I can correct or enhance. Even with a jpg file.

Lightroom 4 screen shot of a before and after photo processing

Lightroom 4 screen shot (click for larger image)

I always shot on aperture priority and as a result many of my images were underexposed. Not only did I open up the shadows and exposure in Lightroom 4 I also decreased the noise.

On the left side of the screen shot there are User Presets. Presets are saved adjustments you can use again for an image of the same type. For example overexposed images in bright sun is called “Dim the Summer  Sun” or “Bright and Sharp” for an underexposed image. Once a preset is saved it can adjusted and resaved under the same name. Presets save time when you have a batch of images under the same lighting that require the same adjustment.

Below is the straight out of camera shot and the resulting end photo in Lightroom.

SOOC (straight out of camera)

SOOC (straight out of camera)

Edited version, what do you think?

Edited Block Island photo in Lightroom 4

Edited Block Island photo in Lightroom 4

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4 Responses to “Clearing up an Overcast Day in Lightroom”

  1. mkriegh August 24, 2012 at 7:23 am #

    Nice. Lightroom is a dream. Do all my editing there now. Well, all my editing of my Nikon photos. iPhone photos, usually not. And now I remember how I got to following your blog in the first place. We have Block Island in common. Been enjoying your blog a lot. Keep it up.

  2. mwdurr August 25, 2012 at 12:10 am #

    LR4 is a true joy to use. It makes it easy to do magic with my RAW files. :)

    • ndjmom August 25, 2012 at 8:50 am #

      So true, I can very well say I’m addicted. Thanks for visiting and commenting. Hope to see you here again.

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  1. Taking the Leap, I Have a Logo « 3 Quarters Today - October 25, 2012

    [...] images they take themselves through digital darkroom techniques. This could be using Lightroom 4, Photoshop, Portrait Professional, or other various editing and enhancing [...]

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