Frequency separation is an outrageously powerful tool to have in your retouching skillset. Simply put, frequency separation (FS) is a technique used in Photoshop where you separate the colors and tones in an image from the texture and grain. Once separated, you are able to edit both “layers” independently from each other.
It’s my favourite and most indispensable piece of gear.
Now granted, I probably spend a lot more time editing than out shooting than most but still, if I had to judge the most worthwhile investment by the amount of time I’ve used any piece of gear, this would be it by far.
Sky replacement is a tool every architectural photographer needs to know. I personally use it very rarely, but there are times when this type of knowledge comes in handy.
If you’ve ever seen Mike Kelley’s Where Art Meets Architecture series, then you know that he talks about sky replacements in-depth in the second part of WAMA 2.
Youtube can be a great learning source for photographers, however, I find that the algorithm constantly recommends click-bait videos with yelling presenters that might not be for everyone. Last week I stumbled upon a video worth sharing by Landscape Photographer Christian Möhrle in which he compiles Lightroom tips and tricks in a comprehensive way.
Marketing as a photographer is more than just showcasing your portfolio. There are many places for you to market your brand like social media, emailers, print mailers, etc. Wherever you are marketing, you’ll need content to go with it. Our instincts are to show portfolio-worthy content but, there is a huge benefit to being real with your audience.
Capture One Pro’s latest update is here!
On Monday, Capture One Pro showed off a host of new features and capabilities available in the new release of their editing software. The update that went live this morning contains many refreshed tools that will enable seamless switching between desktop and iPad editing and are geared towards tethering.
This edition of Story of an Image takes us to central China to photograph a large-scale mixed-use development designed by global architects, Woods Bagot. We ended up staying on site for four and a half days to capture this skyline-defining project. Here’s the story of one of our favorite images from what became one of our most enjoyable shoots of 2021.
Several weeks ago during a conversation with a prospective home builder client, I was asked “what’s the difference between you and [redacted] real estate photography?” Now, to be honest, the builder was trying to push my buttons a bit to see how I would respond. See, when I quoted him my rates, he did a total per image breakdown and found out that what he would potentially be paying me for just one photo, is about what he pays this RE photography company to shoot an entire house!
This edition of Story of an Image keeps us here in Shanghai and takes a look at a building that people seem to either love or hate: Tian An 1000 Trees designed by London-based Heatherwick Studio. This is the story of an image that was actually taken while on assignment to film the project.
I have recently discovered the power of Lightroom export presets, and wanted to be sure to share them with you! It is an easy way to export images for various usages, and sizes in almost one click. I personally have made three presets that I use all the time: Web, Instagram, and Print.
It’s easy to set up your own presets (you can see my settings below).
Hatfields VS McCoys. Jets VS Sharks. Scorpion VS Sub-Zero. Lights on VS Light off in your architectural photos. Will these differences ever be resolved?!
In this video, I do a quick breakdown of how different lighting setups affect the editing process and the final image. Lights off, lights on, flash, ceiling bounce – I go over some of the advantages and disadvantages of each.
I don’t know how you balance the colors in your images, but here is one thing that I can guess – You are correcting colors differently than I am, and you are doing it differently than you were five years ago in your own workflow.
There are so many tools in Photoshop that keep changing and evolving to help you achieve the right color balance in your images.
Capture One has just released the latest iteration of its popular tethering and editing software, Capture One 22. The new release sports some long-awaited new features including:
Panorama stitchingHDR mergeImproved performance, especially on Windows PCsAI-driven auto rotateWireless tethering for Canon camerasThis latter feature is sure to interest anyone using Capture One as their tethering app of choice.
As architectural photographers, we regularly have to deal with removing unwanted objects from an image. Over the course of time, and after building your own experience, you probably have found a few favorite ways to do so. I personally am endlessly searching for ways to improve my post-production workflow, especially because Photoshop’s instruments are always improving.
Adobe has updated Lightroom, Lightroom Classic, and ACR to be able to work with masks! Maybe this will reduce the number of times you have to switch over to Photoshop?
The Masking panel is all new and introduces the ability to auto-select subjects and sky. It’s driven by Adobe’s AI named Adobe Sensei.
Every now and then I receive a DM or YouTube comment asking about aspects of my personal editing process. The questions tend to be all over the place, but a common one I’ve received multiple times is “how do you get your white walls to look clean and bright?”.
There are multiple ways in Lightroom and Photoshop to achieve the same goal, but in this video, I give you my personal editing process to achieve that clean white wall look.
This latest edition of Story of an Image brings us back to Shanghai as we take a look at an image from a commissioned shoot of Foxconn’s Headquarters building designed by KRIS YAO | ARTECH. The spotlighted image ended up being the final piece of a puzzle to placing the building in its context for the viewer.
Just after my last post about painting with contrast with the TK7 panel was published, the panel was updated and changed to the new TK8 luminosity masking plugin. There are many new features such as edge masks, color-grading, watermarking, expanded web-sharpening, selection editing, gradient effects, sketching actions, a smart object indicator, and much more.
Like I’m sure most of us do, I use luminosity masks constantly in my retouching process – both through manual selections and plugins like Raya Pro, Lumezia, and so on. However, another way of selectively blending layers based on luminosity which I’ve been using more often is by using blend-if sliders.
As mentioned earlier on this site, I am a huge fan of the TK7 panel for luminosity masking, developed by Tony Kuyper. I owe my high-speed workflow to this panel in Photoshop. I really wouldn’t know what to do without it (by the way: there are also other panels that can be used properly, but TK7 is my personal favorite).
Lexi Taciak
Ramon Portelli
György Palkó
Dane Alonso
Brandon Marsh
Justin Szeremeta
Matthew Anderson
Kyrre Sundal
Rob van Esch