Pages: [1]   Go Down

Author Topic: Workflow help  (Read 1460 times)

skmdcam

  • Newbie
  • *
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 2
Workflow help
« on: February 04, 2012, 09:45:52 am »

Hi,

I am doing social documentary photography and would like to develop a style/ look of my own that I can stick with for all my work. It should be professionally acceptable and stand valid for commissioned work. But I find it very difficult to standardize the look across all my final images, starting from very basics like white balance.

Could you help me with a lightroom work flow that would give me a similar output to any of the links below.....even fine details such as white balance values and saturation values would be great. Any resources online would also be a starting point- but like I said I am looking for pointed guidance and not generic tutorials. tnks

http://www.chloeborkett.co.uk/index.php?/projects/untitled-portraits/
http://www.burnmagazine.org/essays/2011/07/william-daniels-faded-tulips/
http://www.juliettemills.com/#/funerals-farewells/Maurice_Burley_Farewell_DSC_0434
Logged

luxborealis

  • Sr. Member
  • ****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 2798
    • luxBorealis.com - photography by Terry McDonald
Re: Workflow help
« Reply #1 on: February 04, 2012, 12:19:23 pm »

Wow - you are after what many consider to the Holy Grail of photography!

It's great that you wish to "develop a style/look" of your own and while it can come as a result of pushing buttons and sliders in Lightroom, there is much more to it. A unique visual style develops from months and years of shooting, not post-processing. Even post-capture style develops out of what you learn about your own images and their content and not from a specific tutorial. While there are presets you can use, if they are commonly available then how unique are they?

It is helpful to consider that standardizing "the look across all my final images" may, in fact, be counterproductive in that each photograph and setting may require its own lighting and composition and treatment in Lightroom. In other words, rather than all the photographs having a similar "look", you might consider tailoring the "look" to the content of the image and what you as an artist wish to portray. The links you provided show this concept quite well. Many of the photos from a single collection have a similar look, but  that look changes with the setting and content of the photographs. What "look" looks best is as different as the photographers who make the original photographs, the settings and lighting they choose and their personal vision.

For example, having the same white balance under a variety of lighting conditions may not properly convey the nature of the situation in which you were photographing. If it's really important to you then carry a white balance card (white card) with you and shoot the first photo with the card in the photo so you can "zero" the white balance to it. All the succeeding shots should have a similar white balance provided the lighting hasn't changed and can then be synchronized in LR. But using a white card in itself may be counterproductive, as you may lose the spontaneity you want to achieve in social documentary photography.

The best advice I can give regarding Lightroom is to practice, practice and practice to develop a workflow then stick to it while still being open to the variables presented by each image. In the LR3 Develop Module start in the Basic palette and work your way down. My preferred order is E - R - B - FL (Exposure - Recovery - Blacks - Fill Light) but, if I have slightly clipped highlights (from Expose to the Right metering) then I will Recover them first then move to Exposure. I rarely need to use Brightness, Contrast or even Tone Curves. That being said, don't get too comfortable with LR3 as LR4 has a different, and, to my way of working, superior workflow with much better Tone Mapping controls in the Exposure - Contrast - Highlights - Shadows - Whites and Blacks.

I'm sorry if what I've written isn't entirely helpful, but you have asked for some specific tutoring on a subject that for many photographers is a life-long pursuit. Hopefully, at least, this gives you a starting point.
Logged
Terry McDonald - luxBorealis.com

skmdcam

  • Newbie
  • *
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 2
Re: Workflow help
« Reply #2 on: February 04, 2012, 12:41:20 pm »

I wholly agree, and profusely thank you for such a painstaking reply.

But, like you pointed out, the differences in these photographs arise only when the visual content and settings are different right? A portrait taken in low light or at night still has the same color rendition output as the one in bright sunlight? I understand that takes a considerable amount of understanding and work in camera, but how do the color temperatures and saturation remain uniform in post? This uniformity is what I am trying to achieve.

And also that natural look, almost like film. A friend suggested I try shooting film, I'd love to, but you cant tell me its impossible to achieve that in the digital darkroom?
Logged

luxborealis

  • Sr. Member
  • ****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 2798
    • luxBorealis.com - photography by Terry McDonald
Re: Workflow help
« Reply #3 on: February 04, 2012, 02:28:44 pm »

A portrait taken in low light or at night still has the same color rendition output as the one in bright sunlight? I understand that takes a considerable amount of understanding and work in camera, but how do the color temperatures and saturation remain uniform in post? This uniformity is what I am trying to achieve.

To your first question, yes and no. It would be very difficult to achieve uniformity in colour temperature and saturation between a low light and a night light photograph without the use of a grey/white card and perhaps a MacBeth odour chart - both of which may upset the spontaneity of why your are trying to achieve with social documentary photography. The other alternative is to develop an especially attuned eye for the subtleties of colour matched with a calibrated monitor.

And also that natural look, almost like film. A friend suggested I try shooting film, I'd love to, but you cant tell me its impossible to achieve that in the digital darkroom?

One can achieve a "film" look with LR, but the even the definition of a "film look" is quite variable between photographers partly because it varies from film to film. For example, the DxO Film pack plugin for LR has "up to 60 film renditions available, with hundreds of possible combinations" (to quote their website; I have no personal experience with it or any other film-style plugins).

In one sense, you are trying to nail down a moving target. There is no formula or tutorial for personal style, just lots of practice photographing and processing followed by personal assessment and soul-searching accompanied by a lot of testing of waters with a few good basic tutorials to help you understand the background of what you are trying to achieve. Lightroom-wise, you can't go wrong with Scott Kelby's Adobe Photoshop Lightroom for the Digital Photographer and Luminous-Landscape's excellent video series on Lightroom. I also have a Lightroom Visual Guide that provides module-by-module guidance on what all the options are for. You may wish to wait for the LR 4 versions of these media so that you can be up-to-date with the new version.
Logged
Terry McDonald - luxBorealis.com

Eric Myrvaagnes

  • Sr. Member
  • ****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 22814
  • http://myrvaagnes.com
    • http://myrvaagnes.com
Re: Workflow help
« Reply #4 on: February 04, 2012, 04:16:39 pm »

I'd like to add one small point to Terry's excellent posts.

There is a way to get in digital one aspect of the "film look," and that is by setting your camera's whitebalance to "daylight" and then using LightRoom's "As shot" light balance. Doing this, a photo taken at midday will look pretty much the way a film photo would look taken at midday, and one taken at sunset will have the same warm glow that a sunset film photo would have. Shooting a number of images and processing them this way can help you learn to be sensitive to the natural changes in color balance of different light situations. Then, when you start making adjustments, you should have some fairly concrete goals to aim for.

Eric
Logged
-Eric Myrvaagnes (visit my website: http://myrvaagnes.com)

JRSmit

  • Sr. Member
  • ****
  • Offline Offline
  • Posts: 922
    • Jan R. Smit Fine Art Printing Specialist
Re: Workflow help
« Reply #5 on: February 05, 2012, 04:44:03 am »

I wholly agree, and profusely thank you for such a painstaking reply.

But, like you pointed out, the differences in these photographs arise only when the visual content and settings are different right? A portrait taken in low light or at night still has the same color rendition output as the one in bright sunlight? I understand that takes a considerable amount of understanding and work in camera, but how do the color temperatures and saturation remain uniform in post? This uniformity is what I am trying to achieve.

And also that natural look, almost like film. A friend suggested I try shooting film, I'd love to, but you cant tell me its impossible to achieve that in the digital darkroom?
Limiting the topic to just white balance, i use color checker passport on all my photography when possible. But even in studio lighting setups all its means that onty at the place of measurement, the place where the ccp card was held, one might come to equal white balance. Even still, if the card is held at a somewat different angle, it might lead to different color renditions, yet at the patch used for white balancing read equal values.
Logged
Fine art photography: janrsmit.com
Fine Art Printing Specialist: www.fineartprintingspecialist.nl


Jan R. Smit
Pages: [1]   Go Up