DIY Photography

Hacking Photography - one Picture at a time

  • News
  • Inspiration
  • Reviews
  • Tutorials
  • DIY
  • Gear
Search

Submit A Story

Before & After – A post processing comparison with Peter Stewart

Apr 5, 2016 by Peter Stewart 1 Comment

  • Share
  • Tweet
  • Flipboard
  • WhatsApp

before_and_after

I like to approach my digital photography with a certain sense of the fantastical and the surreal. Many of my architectural and cityscape images feature the use of bracketed multiple exposures, which allow me to retain highlight detail in things like window lights and neon signs when shooting at night, or shadow detail in underexposed areas of the frame I want to call attention to.

The majority of my editing is though Photoshop, with the process starting in Adobe CameraRAW. I’ll take each of my bracketed exposures and make my initial adjustments there to things like color temperature, saturation, highlight/shadow detail and perspective correction.

Starting with whichever is the most overall balanced exposure, I’ll then place my other bracketed frames over my base shot using layer masks. Sometimes doing this manually works easier for me where I can “paint” in elements from the other frames into my base exposure, and sometimes it works better to use luminosity masks in order to achieve a cleaner look.

This can be very time consuming, but I quite enjoy the process and the level of manual control over using an automated piece of software to blend frames. Additionally, the final result will be free of some of the common artifacts that can occur with using HDR software such as halos or ghosting.

Once I have an overall balanced exposure with the desired amount of shadow and highlight detail re-inserted into the picture, I then look into my color grading and fine detail options. I tend to use Nik Color Efex pro for achieving the overall “final” result. This now free plug in for Lightroom and Photoshop has a heap of great tools which allow me to make tweaks to individual colors, increase or soften specific details, and can be used as dramatically or minimally as you desire.

I recognise that my particular style of shooting and processing forms a split opinion amongst photographers. HDR processing is easy to abuse, and I too am guilty of over-doing it on many occasions. These Before & After samples are simply meant to highlight what can be done with the power of Photoshop, and as such, I have deliberately provided the most dramatic examples.

shibuya-crossing-before-after-X3

4x Exposure Blend Exposures manually blended in Photoshop. De-Fished using Adobe Lens Profiler for Samyang 12mm

macau-before-after-X3

4x Exposure Blend

chain_reaction_factory_before_after-X2

3x exposure edit
HDR bracketing manually blended in Photoshop. Nik Color Efex Pro used for post-production color enhancements.

3x exposure edit HDR bracketing manually blended in Photoshop. Nik Color Efex Pro used for post-production color enhancements.

3x exposure edit
HDR bracketing manually blended in Photoshop. Nik Color Efex Pro used for post-production color enhancements.

3x exposure edit 2x exposures manually blended in Photoshop. Perspective fixed in CameraRAW. Color adjustments made using Nik Color Efex Pro and VSCO. Replacement sky composited into final image.

3x exposure edit
2x exposures manually blended in Photoshop. Perspective fixed in CameraRAW. Color adjustments made using Nik Color Efex Pro and VSCO. Replacement sky composited into final image.

3x exposure edit HDR bracketing manually blended in Photoshop. Nik Color Efex Pro used for post-production color enhancements

3x exposure edit
HDR bracketing manually blended in Photoshop. Nik Color Efex Pro used for post-production color enhancements

3x exposure edit HDR bracketing manually blended in Photoshop. Nik Color Efex Pro used for post-production color and exposure enhancements

3x exposure edit
HDR bracketing manually blended in Photoshop. Nik Color Efex Pro used for post-production color and exposure enhancements

3x exposure edit HDR bracketing manually blended in Photoshop. VSCO film presets used for color enhancement

3x exposure edit
HDR bracketing manually blended in Photoshop. VSCO film presets used for color enhancement

3x exposure edit HDR bracketing manually blended in Photoshop. Nik Color Efex Pro used for post-production color enhancements

3x exposure edit
HDR bracketing manually blended in Photoshop. Nik Color Efex Pro used for post-production color enhancements

3x exposure edit HDR bracketing composited using Photoshop's 'Merge to HDR'. Nik Color Efex Pro used for post-production color enhancements. Mt Fuji composited in using an earlier 'clearer' exposure

3x exposure edit
HDR bracketing composited using Photoshop’s ‘Merge to HDR’. Nik Color Efex Pro used for post-production color enhancements. Mt Fuji composited in using an earlier ‘clearer’ exposure

3x HDR exposure edit + Sky replacement layer 3x exposures manually composited in Photoshop CC. Replacement sky layer manually overlaid and 'painted' in.

3x HDR exposure edit + Sky replacement layer
3x exposures manually composited in Photoshop CC. Replacement sky layer manually overlaid and ‘painted’ in.

3x HDR exposure edit + Sky replacement layer 3x exposures manually composited in Photoshop CC. Replacement sky layer manually overlaid and 'painted' in.

single exposure composite cropped and color corrected in Photoshop. Sky background composited into image and color corrected.

Multiple Exposure Blended file

Multiple Exposure Blended file

single exposure edit

single exposure edit

single exposure edit contrast and color temp corrected. Color enhancements made using VSCO and Nik Color Efex Pro

single exposure edit
contrast and color temp corrected. Color enhancements made using VSCO and Nik Color Efex Pro

single exposure edit color temperature adjustment using Adobe cameraraw

single exposure edit
color temperature adjustment using Adobe cameraraw

single exposure edit Nik Color Efex Pro used for post-production color enhancements

single exposure edit
Nik Color Efex Pro used for post-production color enhancements

single exposure edit Various sky adjustments performed in Photoshop. Nik Color Efex Pro used for post-production color enhancements. Various dodge and burning in Photoshop

single exposure edit
Various sky adjustments performed in Photoshop. Nik Color Efex Pro used for post-production color enhancements. Various dodge and burning in Photoshop

single exposure edit overexposed image with detail brought back using camera raw. Nik Color Efex Pro used for post-production color and contrast enhancements.

single exposure edit
overexposed image with detail brought back using camera raw. Nik Color Efex Pro used for post-production color and contrast enhancements.

single exposure edit Gradual orange sky gradient and color adjustments performed in Adobe CameraRaw. Sunrays created in Photoshop, with added glow. Minor color and exposure enhancements from Color Efex Pro

single exposure edit
Gradual orange sky gradient and color adjustments performed in Adobe CameraRaw. Sunrays created in Photoshop, with added glow.
Minor color and exposure enhancements from Color Efex Pro

Single Exposure Edit Perspective re-correction and power line removal in Photoshop. Color enhancements using Color Efex Pro, with some dodge & burning back in Photoshop

Single Exposure Edit
Perspective re-correction and power line removal in Photoshop.
Color enhancements using Color Efex Pro, with some dodge & burning back in Photoshop

Single Exposure Edit Single raw image copied twice then flipped and cut diagonally, then masked to create a seamless join. Image then brightened to reveal detail. Selective Color used to bring out the reds in the walls and blues for the windows. Composite sky added. Final color grade added and color noise reduction performed.

Single Exposure Edit
Single raw image copied twice then flipped and cut diagonally, then masked to create a seamless join. Image then brightened to reveal detail. Selective Color used to bring out the reds in the walls and blues for the windows. Composite sky added. Final color grade added and color noise reduction performed.

Single Exposure Edit Single RAW image processed in Adobe Camera RAW. Tonal adjustments made using Nik Color Efex Pro. Composite sky blended into frame manually. Final color grade using VSCO plugin.

Single Exposure Edit
Single RAW image processed in Adobe Camera RAW. Tonal adjustments made using Nik Color Efex Pro. Composite sky blended into frame manually. Final color grade using VSCO plugin.

Single Exposure Edit Single RAW image processed in Adobe Camera RAW. Adjustments to contrast and color to reduce haze and 'warm up' the image. Composite sky blended into frame, with sun glow added in. Final color grade using VSCO

Single Exposure Edit
Single RAW image processed in Adobe Camera RAW. Adjustments to contrast and color to reduce haze and ‘warm up’ the image. Composite sky blended into frame, with sun glow added in. Final color grade using VSCO

About the author

Peter Stewart is an Australian travel and fine art photographer, currently based out of Hong Kong.  You can see more of Peter’s work on his website, and you can reach out to him through Facebook and Twitter.  Images used with permission.

FIND THIS INTERESTING? SHARE IT WITH YOUR FRIENDS!

  • Share
  • Tweet
  • Flipboard
  • WhatsApp

Related posts:

top 5 drinks to pair with photography post processingTop 5 Drinks to Pair With Photography Post Processing Photographer makes multitasking in the kitchen a breeze with some post processing magic To edit or not? How far should you take your post processing? How I did this pink & red studio shoot: a step-by-step breakdown from planning to post-processing

Filed Under: Inspiration Tagged With: Adobe Photoshop, Exposure Blending, hdr, lightroom, Luminosity Masks, Nik, post processing

« This 3D printed Bat-Signal is a DIY Light Blaster™ for your smartphone
Creating a new breed of super hero, one sad and lonely photo at a time »

Submit A Story

Get our FREE Lighting Book

DIYP lighting book cover

* download requires newsletter signup
DIYPhotography

Recent Comments

Free Resources

Advanced lighting book

Recent Posts

  • How I shot abstract light orbs with a 360 camera and camera rotation
  • Color theory, RAW files, and RAW developers
  • Freewell K2 is yet another magnetic filter holder system
  • Apply to this Maldives resort to ‘win’ a 3 week job as Honeymoon photographer
  • Reviving a Legend: Repairing a Mamiya RB67

Alex Baker is a portrait and lifestyle driven photographer based in Valencia, Spain. She works on a range of projects from commercial to fine art and has had work featured in publications such as The Daily Mail, Conde Nast Traveller and El Mundo, and has exhibited work across Europe

Dave Williams is an accomplished travel photographer, writer, and best-selling author from the UK. He is also a photography educator and published Aurora expert. Dave has traveled extensively in recent years, capturing stunning images from around the world in a modified van. His work has been featured in various publications and he has worked with notable brands such as Skoda, EE, Boeing, Huawei, Microsoft, BMW, Conde Nast, Electronic Arts, Discovery, BBC, The Guardian, ESPN, NBC, and many others.

John Aldred is a photographer with over 20 years of experience in the portrait and commercial worlds. He is based in Scotland and has been an early adopter - and occasional beta tester - of almost every digital imaging technology in that time. As well as his creative visual work, John uses 3D printing, electronics and programming to create his own photography and filmmaking tools and consults for a number of brands across the industry.

Dunja Djudjic is a multi-talented artist based in Novi Sad, Serbia. With 15 years of experience as a photographer, she specializes in capturing the beauty of nature, travel, and fine art. In addition to her photography, Dunja also expresses her creativity through writing, embroidery, and jewelry making.

Copyright © DIYPhotography 2006 - 2023 | About | Contact | Advertise | Write for DIYP | Full Disclosure | Privacy Policy