If you would like to post, you'll need to register. Note that if you have a BCG store account, you'll need a new, separate account here (we keep the two sites separate for security purposes).

Wink Jones

Well-known member
Supporting Member
Marketplace
I took this photo in 2018, it was not much on screen although it was incredible to the eye. The bushes to the lower left were blackish, but if I raised the exposure enough to bring out their beauty, everything else was blown out.

A year or so ago, I was looking through my photos and wondered what I could do with this one with Lightroom's new masking capabilities. Quite a lot, actually. I did several masks, raising exposure in some places and lowering in others. I am now blessed with a 20 x 30 print on my living room wall. A dinner guest recently left with it under his arm, forcing me to print another.

Little Redfish Lake-5086.jpg
You can only see EXIF info for this image if you are logged in.
 
I took this photo in 2018, it was not much on screen although it was incredible to the eye. The bushes to the lower left were blackish, but if I raised the exposure enough to bring out their beauty, everything else was blown out.

A year or so ago, I was looking through my photos and wondered what I could do with this one with Lightroom's new masking capabilities. Quite a lot, actually. I did several masks, raising exposure in some places and lowering in others. I am now blessed with a 20 x 30 print on my living room wall. A dinner guest recently left with it under his arm, forcing me to print another.

View attachment 82548

I guess a dinner guest leaving with your picture should be taken as quite a compliment!
 
Very nice, Wink.
if you are interested, Blake Rudis f/64 academy, just released a new course in color for photographers where he takes an image like this and pops the colors, mostly in ACR, but also in PS. You can watch the webinar, which is very good, still for 3 days, I think.
 
I guess a dinner guest leaving with your picture should be taken as quite a compliment!

Thank you.

I certainly felt complimented. He asked how much it would cost to have a copy made. I quoted him a price and he pulled out his wallet. Then I took it off the wall and told him, hey, no waiting. I will put it back up when it the new copy arrives. I really like the 20 x 30 size, it really makes a statement.
 
Very nice, Wink.
if you are interested, Blake Rudis f/64 academy, just released a new course in color for photographers where he takes an image like this and pops the colors, mostly in ACR, but also in PS. You can watch the webinar, which is very good, still for 3 days, I think.
Wow, that was like drinking from a fire hose. I will need to watch it again tomorrow. I am falling down sleepy today so I am going to go take a nap. I am still sleeping in my recliner after the cataract surgeries. I will be back in my bed tomorrow night, than goodness.

Thank you for the lead.

Oh, for anyone who wants to go drink from the fire hose, here is the link: https://f64academy.com/next-level-color-control-acr-16-0-lr/
 
Wow, that was like drinking from a fire hose. I will need to watch it again tomorrow. I am falling down sleepy today so I am going to go take a nap. I am still sleeping in my recliner after the cataract surgeries. I will be back in my bed tomorrow night, than goodness.

Thank you for the lead.

Oh, for anyone who wants to go drink from the fire hose, here is the link: https://f64academy.com/next-level-color-control-acr-16-0-lr/
Wink, Recuperate well! Glad you watched the firehose talk. Blake is extreamly good good. I have been following him for years now!
 
I went deep into the files and found the original unedited version of the photo above. It is one heck of a difference.

Little Redfish Lake start-5086.jpg
You can only see EXIF info for this image if you are logged in.
 
I went deep into the files and found the original unedited version of the photo above. It is one heck of a difference.
Wink, yes, you can open up stuff today that was impossible just a few years ago, for me, any way. I rather enjoy working on the darker images, Love the detail you pulled out in the left FG side.
 
Lightroom is magical. Their instructor on YouTube Terry White. https://www.youtube.com/@TerryLeeWhite is free and excellent.
Thank you @StarTracker50, I have watched many of Terry White's presentations. I also had the pleasure of meeting him at a Kelby One conference. There are so many incredible resources for learning photography. When I first shot the photo in this thread, it was but one of a hundred boring images of Little Redfish Lake. It was, to me, a throw away. However, one of the two other friends I was with is a very gifted photographer and he showed me a shot taken only a few feet from where I was and his fall foliage was alive where mine was dead.

He showed me how to burn and dodge the image digitally, since we don't actually do that in the darkroom any more. It was not as easy then as it is now. With today's masking techniques it is easy peasy to fix. When I looked at the original photo and at the changes I had made for the image above, I was surprised to see I had actually done eight radial gradients with the most obvious being the lower left hand side where I brought the exposure up. I brought the exposure up in a few other places, and down in still more places. I am sure a professional could make this photo even better.

Honestly, when I welcome people into my home, where it is hanging large straight across from the front door, I admit, the gasps I hear from some people just makes my day.
 
Wink, yes, you can open up stuff today that was impossible just a few years ago, for me, any way. I rather enjoy working on the darker images, Love the detail you pulled out in the left FG side.

Thank you @Callie, for me too. A huge part of that difficulty for me was learning to see what might be possible.