Spending time with Photography Students at Cardiff and Vale College

On Wednesday this week I was at Cardiff and Vale College in South Wales, having been invited to speak to a group of Photography Students for a couple of hours.

It was so good to be amongst people who were clearly excited about their Photography but also in particular about the possibilities with their retouching using Lightroom .

During my time with them I first of all went through some tips and techniques for Portrait Photography, focusing (no pun intended) on the ‘people’ side of things as opposed to the technicals, and all with the intention of helping the person in front of the camera to relax.

After a short break I then went through retouching a portrait using ONLY Lightroom and going through my new workflow which shows how I am now doing tasks such as Dodging and Burning, my 2010 Technique and Lighting Effects, which up until very recently I would have only ever done by using Photoshop.

“Had a great time at Glyn’s lecture yesterday. I had been researching about how to take good portraits. What Glyn shared about techniques (with just one light!) was really encouraging. I was still using Photoshop for my editing, but the techniques demonstrated in Lightroom were amazing. I must sign up to his channel!”

— Norman Allen

“Thank you Glyn for yesterdays photography workshop. Your expertise and passion made it a truly enriching experience. Looking forward to applying the new skills I’ve learned. Many thanks for your valuable time.”

— Chathuranga Gamage

“Yesterday I attended a talk/presentation hosted by Glyn Dewis. This presentation was not only hugely informative but presented me with a number of questions to ask of myself. If I were to make comment on one thing from the presenter/presentation it would be the unswerving passion for the subject and inspiring others to achieve of their best. ”

— Steve Riggs

HUGE thanks to everyone for making me feel so incredibly welcome and for my great friend Anthony Crothers (College Staff / Tutor) for inviting me in.

Editing my Photographs in Lightroom on my iPad Pro

Now that I’ve been able to calibrate the screen on my iPad Pro, I’m really enjoying it when from time to time I retouch some of my pictures on it; reason being that the results on my calibrated iPad Pro are extremely close to how they look on my calibrated BenQ SW 272U Display.

I always struggled taking it seriously before now because it wasn’t calibrated and thought …

“What’s the point when I’d then have to go and make corrections
in Lightroom on my desktop afterwards?”

— Me (Before)

But now this is definitely not the case …

I actually had the technical folks at Calibrite reach out to me after having seen the iPad Pro calibration video I shared on my YouTube channel, asking if I’d be able to do a 2nd calibration to check whether the one I did was indeed accurate; and it most definitely was …

• Target Luminance = 100cd/m2

• Achieved Luminance = 99.355cd/m2

• Target X = 0.3127

• Achieved X = 0.313

• Target Y = 0.3290

• Achieved Y = 0.331
  

So yeah … the calibration of the iPad Pro screen worked a treat!

If you didn’t see the video I put together showing how to calibrate the iPad Pro and whaich also makes sense of what all this Luminance, X and Y stuff is all about, here it is …

So now, knowing that my iPad Pro screen calibration is good, I’m definitely making more use of it; not for every edit but just for those times when I just fancy sitting with my feet up in front of the TV and tinkering and when out and about on a phot shoot and then grabbing a coffee.

Also on those occasions if I haven’t finished the editing, when I get back home in front of my main computer I can just pick up in Lghtroom on my desktop from where I got to in Lightroom on my iPad Pro; such is the way that Lightroom syncs across all devices.

Clever stuff!

Actually on the subject of getting home and diving back on to my main computer, I’ve some new kit coming that is going to improve my workflow, set up and backing up, so I’ll make sure to share about that here and in a video 👍🏻

💥 Solving a LIGHTROOM Preset Headache ( Lightroom and Classic )

The Adobe Lightroom Community is a great resource for Lightroom Presets but how do you get them? How do you install them? How do you install them into Lightroom and / or Lightroom Classic?

In this short video I show exactly what you need to do …

Here’s the link to the Adobe Community PAge where you’ll find the Preset that I’ve made available:

https://lightroom.app.link/B4mq80BlSIb

Download my Minimal Teal and Orange Preset for Lightroom and Camera Raw

If you’re a Lightroom Classic , Lightroom or Photoshop / Camera Raw user ...

I have just added the finishing touch steps that I used on the recent portrait of my friend Steve Healy onto the Adobe Lightroom Community Page so that you can save as a preset, download and install to use ... and adjust settings to taste.

Just use this link: https://lightroom.app.link/B4mq80BlSIb

Classic Portraits with Constant Light

Recently I was back with friends in the studio taking portraits, and this time getting Steve in front of my camera to try out some ideas I’d stumbled across when browsing Pinterest that I thought would be another good excuse to get my L60-B constant light out for.

Pinterest

I’ve used Pinterest for years as a great place for not only finding inspiration by looking at the work of photographers I admire like Annie Leibovitz and Mark Seliger, but also a great tool for looking how other photographers pose their subjects, which lets face it can be awkward at times. 

Finding a balance between what you want but also making the pose look natural and the subject comfortable can be challenging to get right but I’ve always found it a massive help when you can guide your subject on what you’re looking for by showing them a picture.

Anyway, these here are some of the looks and poses I was really interested in …

Model for the Day

Model for the day was my dear friend Steve Healy whom I’ve known for years. 

There was a time when for quite a while we’d not met up because of Steve moving away to Devon but I’m glad to say that when we finally made the move to the South West , we’re now able to meet up fairly regularly to just hangout out and take photographs. This we will certainly be doing more and more of!

Anywa, Steve drove over to my house in the morning and then we both jumped into my car and headed to South Wales to catch up with the gang; some of my closest friends which to be honest are more like family … Ian Munro and Anthony Crothers.

This was the first time Steve had met up in person with Ian and Anthony even though I’m sure they felt like they knew each other anyway having messaged back and forth many times on social media and also in the chat room during my Sunday LIVE Broadcasts on YouTube. Needless to say … Steve instantly became ‘one of the gang’ 😃

So after a traditional meet up at Costa in Brynmawr, South Wales to fuel up on coffee, we then went to the studio and cracked on …

PORTRAIT 1

So the first portrait I really liked the look of doing was the one inspired by this portrait of Robert De Niro taken by Mark Seliger …

Steve had brought along a dark grey casual suit-type jacket which was ideal. He’d also bought a white shirt to wear underneath but when setting up we all felt that even though you’d only seen a small portion of it, it would be too distracting, so instead Steve kept with the black T-Shirt he was wearing.

BACKGROUND

• X-Drop Pro Background Support System

• Glyn Dewis Vintage Grey Background Material

For this I portrait as it was to be a fairly tight crop of Steve on one side and just a little bit of ‘dead space’ to the left, the 7’ x 5’ background would be plenty big enough and so this was set up with the rear supporting leg shortened so that the background took up less floor space and could be closer to the wall.

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LIGHT + MODIFIER

• Westcott L60-B COB LED Constant Light 

• Westcott 24” Rapid Box Switch Beauty Dish

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again … I absolutely LOVE this light!

I wouldn’t be exaggerating when I say that positioning the light (L60-B) to get the Rembrandt Lighting Pattern 100% BANG ON took just a few seconds; such is the convenience and ease of doing so when using because … What You See Is What You Get

Bottom Left: iPad Pro with Pinterest App open showin the ‘reference’ image

To achieve a quality of light that was neither hard or soft but somewhere in between, and also to minimise the amount of light that would spill onto the background, I opted to use the Westcott 24” Rapid Box Switch Beauty Dish and with the outer diffusion panel fitted.

Westcott 24” Rapid Box Switch Beauty Dish with Outer Diffusion Panel

CAMERA + Lens

• Sony A7RIV

• Sony 85mm f/4.0 G Master

CAMERA SETTINGS

• Aperture: F/4.0

• Shutter Speed: 1/60sec

• ISO 1250

Once set up and with any light in the studio that wasn’t contributing to the portrait turned off, I could then start taking portraits of Steve but what was really useful here was that everyone could see EXACTLY what the shots would be like without having to look at the back of my camera each time or look at my iPad Pro that I was tethering to; again because What You See Is What You Get

Studio lights and ‘any’ lights not contributing to the portrait turned off.

This made it so easy for anyone who wanted to make a suggestion and move in to maybe get Steve to angle himself differently or change the position of a hand.

It just worked and worked so incredibly well, making EVERYONE feel involved.

OUT OF CAMERA

Here’s the out of camera Raw file …

Original Raw file in Adobe Lightroom Classic

FINAL EDIT

Here’s the final retouched image which was worked on using both Lightroom and Photoshop …

Final Retocuhed Portrait

LIGHTROOM CLASSIC and PHOTOSHOP

Here’s a summary of the retouching steps carried out in both Lightroom Classic and Photoshop …

Lightroom

• Straighten & Crop

• Colour Correction*

• Denoise

• Masking (Enhance eyes - Iris and Pupil only)

*Had to do this manually as ‘somehow’ I forgot to use my Colour Checker Passport … Doh!

Photoshop

• Clean Up

• Dodge & Burn

• 2010

• Dreamy Glow (20%)

Lightroom

• Colour (CN16)

• Color Mixer (Reduce Orange & Red Saturation on Steve’s face)

• Masking (Radial Gradient to Shape Light)

• Masking Exposure on Face

• Add Grain

PORTRAIT 2

For the 2nd portrait of Steve, this was the photograph I used as the initial inspiration / idea …

For this we went with the exact same set up albeit positioning the light camera left this time as opposed to camera right as it was for the first portrait.

Below is what the set up looked like before turning off the lights in the studio that weren’t contributing to the portrait …

Using the single L60-B coming in from high up and angled down produced exactly the lighting that was wanted (below) however I felt that the shadow side of Steve’s head was a touch too dark …

To add a touch more light onto the shadow side of Steve’s head, rather than use a 2nd L60-B we just used a Silver Reflector which also had a white side to it, however between the two surfaces, the silver side gave the best result …

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OUT OF CAMERA

Here’s the ‘out of camera’ Raw file …

Out of Camera Raw file in Lightroom Classic

FINAL EDIT

Here’s the final retouched image which was worked on using both Lightroom Classic and Photoshop …

Final Retouched Portrait

lightroom classic and photoshop

Retouching steps in both Lightroom Classic and Photoshop were pretty much the same as in the first portrait, however there was one very definite difference.

When taking the 2nd portrait, we all felt that although Steve sitting on a stool worked, it did make him look a little squashed because of the height of the stool he was sitting on and also how his jacket sat, so we also tried a few shots with Steve standing …

With Steve standing it definitely stopped him looked squashed, however when looking at the images later in Lightroom Classic I was torn because I liked the pose and expression on Steve’s face from the seated shots.

So now in the retouching I was thinking I could either (a) do a head swap or (b) do the opposite of a technique I used to do when photographing physiques … and that’s what I chose to do.

PHOTOSHOP TUTORIAL

Here’s a short video showing exactly what I did in Photoshop to reduce / remove the ‘squashed’ look …

WRAP UP

Following the photo shoot we all the headed over to Abergavenny for what was a delicious bite to eat at The Angel … THANK YOU Steve!

So there you go, all of the steps that I went through from the initial idea, the kit, the set up and the final edit.

As always if you have any questions / comments, please do make use of the section below and I’ll be sure to reply.

Oh and don’t forget, if you’re interested in getting ANY of the Westcott kit including lighting, modifers, backgrounds etc then drop me a line as I’ll be able to give you a Discount Code for 10% OFF

Cheers
Glyn

KelbyOne Lightroom Conference Coming in April 2024

Very excited to be part of the KelbyOne Lightroom Conference 2024 this coming April 16th and 17th …

I’ll be presenting 2 classes, both of which are connected in that the first class I show all the preparation, planning, lighting and photogtraphy for a photo shoot. So, I’ll be covering the researching the concept, visiting a clothing and props provider to the TV and Movie Industry, working with the model, stylist, the set and finally the shoot.

In the 2nd class I’ll then go through the entire retouching process from importing the cpatured images into Lightroom and then step by step working through the retouching making use of Lightroom and Photoshop, and then finally a print.

VERY excited to show this becuase it means working on something completely new; a portrait that doesn’t form part of a series but a portrait I’ve wanted to work on for a while, so to be able to show the entire process will be great!

To find out more about the Lightroom Conference and to take advantage of Early Bird pricing, click / tap on the button link below.

Grab my FREE Lightroom Presets from the Lightroom Community

So recently I wrote about these 2 images that I captured over the past few weeks …

I edited both images in Lightroom so what I’ve done is make all of the editing steps donwloadable as a Preset that you can use in Lightroom and / or Camera Raw.

You can see the editing steps for both of these images in the Lightroom Community, so if you’d like them as a Preset I’ve written out the steps below …

STEP 1

Click on the link below to got to my Profile Page on lightroom.adobe.com

STEP 2

Click on each image in turn and choose Save as Preset on the far right of the screen

STEP 3

Give the Preset a name. Choose which edits you want included and then press Save

STEP 4

This Preset will now be saved in Your Presets in a Saved from Community folder in your Lightroom.

STEP 5

If you also want this Preset to appear in your Lightroom Classic / Desktop, simply Right-Click on the name of the Preset and choose Export.

You can then import the Preset File into Lightroom Classic.

PRINTING PROBLEMS? 🖨️ IT'S NOT YOU!

Here’s the recording of a LIVE Stream I did on both YouTube and Facebook recently.

If you’ve ever struggled with printing your images, in this LIVE Broadcast I show the simple settings no matter what software you use BUT how different software can produce VERY different results …

BIG thanks goes to my friend Stewart Wood for sending over the image used in the LIVE Broadcast.

iPHONE Photography and LIGHTROOM Masking Tip YOU (PROBABLY) DIDN'T KNOW !!!

Changing the Depth of Field (DOF) Before AND After taking a photograph PLUS Masking in Lightroom using Depth Information ... Now THAT is Brilliant!

🎬 𝐂𝐎𝐍𝐓𝐄𝐍𝐓𝐒 𝐎𝐅 𝐓𝐇𝐈𝐒 𝐕𝐈𝐃𝐄𝐎

00:00 - Introduction
00:23 - DOF Before Taking Photograph
01:28 - DOF After Taking Photograph
02:37 - Depth Range Masks in Lightroom

Lightroom ... IS IT WORTH IT? WHY WOULD ANYONE USE IT?

Well quite simply in this video I show WHY and HOW I DO use it in conjunction with Lightroom Classic but for one VERY specific reason …