02/04/2023
Oh St Ives. Does it ever look ugly? I doubt it.
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Story telling through photography is my big focus for the moment. It’s one thing to take technically good images of a certain landscape, but another thing entirely to capture to essence of a journey and turn it into a story.
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Using a variety of wide angled shots, close ups, single objects and scene-setters is one way of helping this.
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Another way is to ensure consistency with your style of editing. How can you do this?
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➡️ use the same preset or multiple presets from the same set
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Other big ways you can adjust edits to ensure consistency:
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➡️ overall exposure. Are you going for light and airy or darker, moodier images? How saturated or hazy will they be?
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➡️ are you going for matte or crisp finish? When you compare both finishes side by side it’s very obvious when things don’t match. You can adjust your tone curve to help matters: flattened shadows and blacks = matte finish
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➡️ overall tint. I’m especially talking about how you colour grade greens/yellows/oranges, as these are the main colours that make up the majority of the bases of outdoor landscapes. Are you going for an overall green and bright tone to these, or do you want something more orange and moody?
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➡️saturation and vibrancy. The current trend seems to be for desaturated greens and bright colours to make way for calmer, cooler, more earthy tones. Which will you pick? There is no right answer, of course, as there are many photographers who make beautiful bright saturated images.
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➡️the degree of extra-enhancing. This type of editing - to my mind - goes beyond light and colour adjustments and includes burns, dodges, masks, and generally give a more painterly and digitally enhanced look. Do you want your images to look like this, or do you prefer a more natural look?