Editing is a fundamental part of the photography process
it is a very creative step, and we should embrace it as such
that's why in this video I'm gonna show you
a few ways of how we can use some of the many tools that we have available to us today
in a more creative way
maybe not the way they were intended to be used
but in ways that we can make our images a little bit better,
a little bit more original, a little bit more unique
the first one is a tool that is very useful when we do any kind of architecture photography
when we take a photo of buildings, we expect vertical lines to be vertical
that's the way we expect them to be
but of course, that is not the case, we are on the ground with a camera
we are usually pointing up
so we capture things like you are seeing here
this is the original raw file
and there is the perspective from the ground
and the lines on the windows are not perfectly vertical
but using these tools here, under geometry, in lightroom
specifically these two here: vertical and horizontal
we can modify, we can change the image, and change the perspective
to make those lines perfectly vertical
another example of this
this one a little bit more radical
this is a building in Vegas
this is the original image
as you can see, by using that change of perspective
using the vertical tool here at -45
iI'm able to get an image that is completely different from the original one
this is the intended use for that tool, but we can use these two tools in a more creative way
for example, in this image, what I like about this one is the diagonal lines that you can see here
the tree is not totally diagonal but almost
and the church is as well
anyway they are two lines that seem to converge at the top of the frame
that creates tension in an image, when we have something like that
and using this tool, instead of doing, you know
this negative whatever value to try to make those lines more vertical
we can actually go the other way, and accentuate that effect, that diagonal effect
the diagonal lines that we have in the frame, something like this
in this case, we don't want to go too far
because it's actually distorting the bells of the church too much
but to a point, like here, something like that
it accentuates, it makes more... the image more powerful
this is the original one, and this is the result here
and the last example, it's these train tracks
again, they are lines that seem to converge on the top of the frame
and by using this tool, we can make that effect even greater
something like that
and in my opinion, making for a better image
so this was the first example of a tool that we can use
in a different way to make very different images
another example is the dehazing and clarity tools that we can find here, in effects
these two tools are usually used to make subjects stand out a little bit more
to make them clear in foggy or hazy days
for example, this is one example where the power lines are kind of hidden in the fog
by increasing the clarity and dehaze we can see them clearer
another example is this scene here in the rocky mountains
it was a very foggy day, thanks to clarity and dehaze we can see the trees and the rock better
it makes for a much, much better image
and the last example is this one, in washington
the raw file was very flat
but thanks to the clarity, especially the clarity
and some dehazing, we can make the layers in this image stand out a little bit more
now, I'm going to propose, I'm going to show you a couple of examples
of how we can use those tools in a little bit more creative way
this was another image made in a very foggy day
this is the original one
well, I removed the plastic bag from here too
that's another good use of editing
but as you can see, the tree here is not very clear
because it's in the fog, so I used a radial gradient on top of this tree
and some dehazing, the classic way and traditional way of using it
to make that tree stand out a little bit more
but, as you can see in the original image
because it's foggy, the elements that are farther from us are less clear
while the elements in the foreground are more clear
because they are not as affected by the fog
and also, I shot this photo at f/4.5
so the stuff in the foreground is still very much in focus
if I had shot this with a 1.4 wide open, at 1.4 or something like that
this would be more blurry and that would make the viewer pay more attention to the subject
I really like to have that gradient, when I show a lot of ground
I really like to have that gradient
from darker to brighter
and less in focus to more in focus
I think that helps a lot when it comes to making your subject stand out even more
so what I did here is, I created this linear gradient and instead of
adding clarity and dehazing to make the elements here clearer
I reduced the clarity and reduced the dehazing
or actually, increase the haze here
let me do just those two
so what that does is, of course,
it reduces the sharpness, the contrast, and everything in those areas
that's why they get a little bit brighter as well,
so by reducing the exposure we can bring them back to being darker than here
and now, as a result
let me zoom in a little bit
this is with the gradient, as you can see the elements here in the very close foreground
are less clear than the ones here
so we have that gradient I was talking about
without it, it was like this
with it, it's like this
let me show you from here
so this is with, and without
with, and without
I hope you can appreciate the differences
it's very subtle in this case
but it's a way to use those tools in the opposite way that they were probably intended to be used
so that is the second example, and the last one
this is something that I've been experimenting with lately
for more than a year now
I only got one image that really works, and it's this one
as you can see, this is the shot of the moon, and it's inverted
by that, I mean that the dark parts of the image
are bright, and the bright parts of the image are dark
this is the original one, as you can see
okay we're gonna have to deal with that mower
the sky here is the dark part of the raw file
the moon is the bright part
but I did the opposite by inverting the curves in this image
as you can see, here
so the curves usually look like this
this is your typical shot of the moon
and we can actually invert the tones in this image and make them the opposite
and that's how you get this one
I really, really like the effect in this image
we can try doing the same in other images
it might work the best with snow, like that, or with grass, like this
so I'm going to show you those two... this one, for example
I'm gonna just invert the curves, and as you can see
by reducing the exposure a little bit, I hope you can see it that...
it becomes almost like it was shot at night
it's a kind of cool effect
it doesn't work as well as it does with the moon, though
but I don't know, I like it
let me try this one, it's a little bit more clear what I'm trying to say here
the sliders now work the other way around, because everything is inverted
so when you increase the highlights, you are actually decreasing them
my point is, that this one looks almost like it was taken at night
but it's just another example of how we can use a tool that was probably not meant for this use case
to use it in a more creative way
as I said, in this case, I only found one image in my portfolio that really works very well
but it is an image that I love and I'm glad that I experimented with it
and that I was trying different things
hopefully this video was useful
hopefully you learned something about these tools
and maybe you can tell me about other creative uses for other tools
maybe the exposure, the contrast, whatever
there are so many tools nowadays in editing software that one can get lost here for hours
if you know of any other creative things that you can do, please let me know
for now, thank you so much for watching, and I'll see you in the next one!