10 Steps to Better Images: Intermediate
I have been asked what I do to my images. Truth is, not much….but sometimes it’s the small things that make the biggest impact. To utilize these 10 steps in your workflow, you will need both Adobe Lightroom, Photoshop, and Kevin Kubota’s actions (if you prefer).
I use Lightroom for the basic proof edit. Simple and quick is best.
Then, I only use Photoshop for final touches, like for client orders, albums, and my blog.
1- As you can see, the original is ok, but it lacks contrast and pizazz. After downloading the images onto my hard drive, I import them into Lightroom, set to apply a preset I made (I use it every time I import).
2- Upon importing into LR, it automatically adds +.33 exposure, 21 fill light, 9 blacks, and a vignette. Not bad, eh? This works for me if I’ve taken a ‘perfect’ image. Find what works for your camera and create a preset out of it. It will make a great starting point for your editing process.
3- I added a little more to the Exposure and Recovery.
4- Time to export my images. I have 3 separate export presets that export the files to different folders, including renaming them properly. One is for my high res images, another is for my proofing site, and the last is for the web. Lightroom makes it easy to keep everything separate and it does it all at the same time!
5- Now for the Photoshop fun. Fill flash and Smokeless burning are two of my most used actions. (They are in Kevin Kubota’s action set, but I’ll show you how to do it yourself) Basically, with the fill flash, make an adjustment curves layer, bring up the middle. Click ok. Fill the mask in black. Then, select the brush tool. Stop recording. You will paint with the brush at a low opacity (I use 13%) with soft edges.
Set them up as quick keys!
6- Paint in your image where you want to fill in light. I typically paint in faces. The beauty of this is that I also adjust the color once I’ve painted (this is how to really get awesome skin tones). Double-click the curves layer. Command-1 is Red, Command-2 is Green, Command-3 is Blue. Mostly these will be ‘slight’ adjustments, but adjust according to each image. I usually take out a little bit of red, but I also add yellow or magenta if necessary. See what kind of color casts your camera has and correct them. The skin is the most important color of your image.
7- Sometimes I will have a layer just for eyes to brighten them up.
8- As you can see, I used fill flash for her face, eyes, and a little bit of the trees above. I used the burn curve just for the grass. My goal is to have the eyes drawn to their faces, so sometimes I use the burn tool a lot. If your image isn’t light enough or dark enough, just add another layer on top of the one you created.
9- Here is my image with my adjustment layers.
10- Then, I use an action from Kevin Kubota called daily multi-vitamin. It just adds a little more pop to my image.
The trick with all this is to find a system that works for you. This typically takes me about 2 minutes, but remember I’m only doing it to a handful of images. I like enhancing without overdoing.
What did you find helpful about this tutorial? What questions do you have? What is something you like to do that’s different than what I do? I’d love to hear your comments 
