I've said it before, and I'll say it again...
The workflow you use to create your final images is going to depend on who you are, what your skill set is, and, most importantly, your personal style.
That being said, there are some tricks that you can use to speed up and streamline your post-processing workflow, that way you're sure to get the best results without spending all day and night on editing.
This mantra of developing an easy, yet effective workflow is outlined in detail in the video below by David Johnston.
What's great about David's workflow is that it truly is quick and easy. Better still, with a free Luminar 2018 trial available, you can get loaded up with the very software he used to create the gorgeous images from the video.
Just for the sake of having some written instructions, let's review some of the pointers David offers in the video.
Step 1: Select and Adjust a Preset
Starting out with a preset is a great way to kick off editing an image because you can make instant changes to the shot that have tons of impact.
As you can see above, it's a simple matter of selecting which category of presets you want to inspect, and then selecting the desired preset in that category.
A handy feature in Luminar 2018 is that you can preview the effect the preset will have in the carousel at the bottom of the screen (shown above).
So not only can you speed up your workflow by using presets, but the fact that you can see the effect the preset will have before applying it only speeds things up more.
Once you select a preset, you're presented with a number of sliders that you can fine-tune should you desire.
With the jumpstart you get from the preset, it's often just a matter of making slight adjustments here and there to the adjustments that have already been made via the preset.
As David demonstrates in the video, it can also be advantageous to leave the individual preset controls alone in favor of changing the "Amount" or the intensity of the preset's effects by adjusting that slider by itself.
Learn More:
Step 2: Add Filters
To customize your image even more, David suggests adding filters.
To do so, go to Layers > Add New Adjustment Layer. Then, with the new layer active, click on the blue "Add Filters" button in the toolbar on the right side of the screen.
As shown in the video, a great option for enhancing your photo is the Accent AI Filter.
This filter has a variety of effects, including boosting saturation, bringing out details in shadowed and highlighted areas, and increasing contrast. Compare the screenshots above and below to see the difference that this one filter has on the look of the image.
Naturally, you don't have to use this filter if you don't want.
That's what's so great about the selection of tools at your disposal in programs like this - you can pick and choose what filters to use (if any) to get the desired results.
Editor's Tip: Ready to start editing your photos? Take advantage of the Luminar 2018 free trial while you still can!
Step 3: Work on the Hue, Saturation, and Luminance (HSL)
The next step in David's landscape photography workflow is to work on the HSL sliders to bring out the desired colors in the shot.
Again, create a new layer, and then as you can see in the screenshot above, you can manipulate individual colors on each of the three HSL scales. This gives you incredible control over the colors in the final image.
The Hue sliders are typically left alone unless something went wrong with the white balance when the shot was taken.
That means that most of the manipulations here will be made on the saturation and luminance scales.
But, again, as you develop your own workflow, you might find that your approach to HSL edits might be slightly different.
Quick Tip: Making HSL adjustments is all about subtlety. Rather than going bonkers with wild, overdone edits, strive to enhance the colors just enough that your photo has more visual appeal while still looking realistic.
Step 4: Adjust Tone Curves
By adjusting the tone curves, you can completely change how your image looks.
Typically, photographers like to boost contrast a little bit by manipulating the tone curves into an S-shape.
David takes this approach, bringing up the highlights and bringing down the shadows.
A great trick to use with tone curves is to convert them into a luminosity mask.
To add a luminosity mask, go to the Custom Workspace panel and click the brush tool. From there, click Luminosity Mask.
What this will do is add the tone curve effects to anything that's 50 percent gray or lighter.
Though you might not be able to see the difference between the screenshot above and the one previous to it, the latter is slightly more subtle thanks to the luminosity mask.
Step 5: Make Further Adjustments as Needed
The process of fine-tuning your landscape images might include other adjustments, but of course that depends on the image and the look you'd like to achieve.
In Luminar 2018, you can dodge or burn, which David chose to do in his image, to bring out even more detail in the image.
Of course, there's a host of other tools at your disposal as well that you can explore.
Ultimately, though, this quick 5-step process had a significant impact on David's image, as you can see in the before and after above. Talk about a difference!
All that was done in less than 10 minutes, too, so it's effective and quick to use this program to fine-tune your landscape photos.
My Experience With Skylum
Interesting Fact: Way back in 1998, I picked up Adobe’s Photoshop 5.0: Classroom in a Book, and started to teach myself Photoshop. I subsequently spent nearly five years of my life, all the way up to CS 8.0, picking up every Classroom in a Book that Adobe released on Photoshop.
Still to this day, I’m a Photoshop user and always learning what I can as the program grows and evolves. Typing this, I’m realizing it’s been a 20-year journey. Crazy!
Back in 2012, I started playing around with Lightroom. However, it wasn’t until 2014 and version 5.0 that I got serious with Lightroom with the help of watching a TON of YouTube videos. Roll forward four years and I’m still grinding away at it.
The point I’m making here is that I’ve heavily invested myself into a very long journey with Adobe. They have done a great job, and I’ve created some decent photos along the way using their software, if I do say so myself.
Keeping that in mind, a few years ago, a company called MacPhun came on board as a supporting vendor of PhotographyTalk. They had a good product with a growing following of loyal users. But, if I’m completely honest, it didn’t have that WOW factor that I felt could pull users away from Adobe.
Earlier this year, Macphun changed their name to Skylum and released Luminar 2018. Three months ago, they sent me a copy to play around with. Again, if I’m being honest, I didn’t touch it for a couple weeks, and thinking back on it, it might have actually been three weeks.
When I opened it - no joke - it was within minutes that I converted a blah photo into a wow photo (I know that sounds corny!). The software is crazy intuitive with a number of presets that makes editing photos extremely efficient with remarkable results.
And the best part…there’s manual development tools for those days when I don’t want to use presets and want to adjust my photos myself. All the tools I need to do that are easily found on the right side of the screen as I’m working in Luminar 2018.
Folks, I’ve not closed this program out since I opened it over 2 months ago! It’s that good. Skylum has really made post-processing fun again, fast, and freakin’ awesome! In short, they have hit an out-of-the-park home run!
If I can make one recommendation to you, it’s to go download the free trial now. Don’t wait to open it like I did…download it and you’ll see why so many professional photographers (myself included!) are so excited about this software. You’ve got nothing to lose - see Luminar 2018 for yourself!