Cutting Through The Fog Using Adobe Lightroom

Click image to enlarge

Today we have a little before and after going on.  We visited Gillette Castle on the banks of the Connecticut River.  They had it all set up in holiday splendor, with decorations throughout the home.  Gillette Castle was the home of William Gillette, the actor credited with bringing Sherlock Holmes to the American stage.  It's now a Connecticut State Park.  They have an interesting rule about photography.  You can bring a tripod but you can't use a flash.  Guess it cuts down on the common ruck getting good images. ???  A little weird if you ask me.  As you can probably tell from the "before" image, we were there on a bright sunny day.  I did shoot for HDR, but today's image is a single shot.  The scattered light was removed using Adobe Photoshop Lightroom (LR) for 95% of the work.  The only two areas where Adobe Photoshop (PS) was used were to color the curtains to the right of the tree and to "light" the candles on the table.  Look around, click on the image to enlarge it for closer inspection.  Look at the detail in the "after" image.  Then go back to the "before" and see what's different.  You can think of it like one of those brain teasers where you're challenged to find ten things different between the two similar images.  You should be able to find more than ten, but it's more about looking than finding.  Once you've looked you can find some hints (answers) by hitting the "Read More".  Read more!

Masking In Lightroom

Click image to enlarge

What's that you say?  Masking in Adobe Photoshop Lightroom (LR)?  Heresy!  Everyone knows LR doesn't do Masks.  Or does it?  Of course it does.  That's how the Adjustment Brush, the Gradient Tool, the Spot Healing Brush and the others work.  Today's image was done using both Adobe Photoshop (PS) and LR.  The former was for the "big stuff" and the later for the fine detail.  To find out what each was, hit the "Read More".
Read more!