i cannot speak for other photographers. i can only speak for myself. but i absolutely love snapshots.

my personal facebook is full of them. recently mostly ducks- not my kids. probably to the annoyance of all my friends.

but as a photographer that really loves capturing the real stuffs of life…it’s what is happening in my life and i want to document that.

i see myself as more of a documenting kind of photographer than a fancy fashion kind. so 98374392 duck pictures are what is going on in my life right now.

i also edit my snaps. it’s my time to play. try new things. get out of the box a little. i might not change anything permanently in my style…but i love to play and try new things.

so here is a personal fav snap of mine.

i used my multi-purpose non-fancy 70-300 vr lens. i shot in aperture mode and set the iso to 2200 because these are just for me and i am letting my camera set the exposure.

i hate shooting manually on a lens whose aperture changes if I am at 100 or 300mm. it’s too much to keep up with when i want to shoot on the fly with moving targets.

so first up…

how i would normally edit this image. i adore bw. this is my hazy daisy bw preset with exposure cranked down. i like it dark.

i wanted to play. i thought…you know what.?

i want COLOR.  velvia is a type of color film. it’s really rich and often not so hot on people photos as it can make skin really orange or weird.

i made a color preset that was inspired by that very look. it also looks weird on people usually and can make the eye whites look really scary. so use on people with caution.

this image with the red mower and the blue skies screamed- try velvia!  to me. so into squeaky clean i went and i played warm water and then velvia (which only changes saturation/vibrance and hue panel).

i really love what it did to the sky. brought out the vivid blues and it made the red snap.

now that may not be everyone’s flavor. it’s not my usual flavor either. but i had fun and i think it really works here!

and then something that is very popular right now. the matte/hazy look.

i went into my wildflowers essentials for lr4 set and played chocolate lily lite. i tweaked it a LOT. lifted shadows, pushed contrast…a few other little things.

same snap. 3 different plays. my preference for this image even though it’s not my usual?

the velvia version. i’d love to print it and hang it in my kitchen of all places.

i challenge you to take a recent fav snap and play. i’d love for you to post your favorite play on my FB wall.

get those creative juices flowing!

so i thought since it’s been a while since my last tweaker- i should share one.

i wanted to use a plain image to illustrate just a good basic clean.

my image was ok sooc (straight out of the camera) but very cool and blah.

i really just wanted to clean it up a little.

my white balance was great after warming it up in lightroom. so no further tweaks were required in photoshop- but this is not always the case.

in a future tweaker i will be sure to show some tweakers where i have to fiddle with skin tones or color casts.

in lightroom i played the preset {delight} from the squeaky clean set. now i have to note here- that you will likely need to try a couple on a new image to see which best fits the  image.

lighting, colors, white balance- so many things can affect how a preset will look. many of the presets will look great on sooc cool images as they tend to warm them up inside the preset.

there are a few that are a tad bit ‘not clean’ and just a little sweet on color and tone. and they can work on the right image. for example- {rose water} is a perfectly lovely preset but it is really best played on backlit images where some natural sun haze comes into play. it adds just a pinch of sweet pinkness.

but always never forget- you must adjust presets and actions. playing any action or preset and expecting it to magically transform your image from meh to ah-mazing is really a beginning editor’s ‘mistake’.

although i ran the {delight} preset i still needed to adjust the lights (too bright), added some fill light (pulls shadows out for harsh lighting. got unpleasant shadows in the eyes and face- fill light is yo friend!) and a tad bit of recovery because i could see my highlights were still pushing ‘too bright’ status on this particular image.

ah-mazing are the results of almost always tweaking sliders (lightroom/acr) and masking layers and adjust layer opacities in photoshop. tweak tweak tweak!

if you do not know what a mask is or know how to mask (for photoshop/elements users)- that is something you definitely want to educate yourself on. your life in elements and photoshop will absolutely transcend what you thought your images could look like.

although lightroom is my main program- i never ever EVER use photoshop without doing some masking.

masking is like putting on makeup. you don’t put a thick gob of mascara on your lashes and leave it all goopy. NO! we comb through those lashes and get the clumps out. we don’t just put an inch of eyeshadow on our eyes- no way! we use several colors and we use a brush to blend blend blend and remove where some color might have shifted to (like a cheek) and we don’t want it there right?

and dudes…think of it like detailing a car. you have all these tiny little tools to help you go in after a big paint job to make sure that are no air bubbles, creases, cracks, globs, smudges, fingerprints…masking allows you to place effects EXACTLY where you want it. anything you do in photoshop- pretty much- can be masked.

so here we go. we take the lightroom image from above that we played {delight} preset on and then tweaked and now we run it through photoshop.

now you might have noticed i did not cover ALL the layers that you get in in the squeaky clean CLEAN action. there are several. these are the ones i usually hit on a basic clean edit.

there are layers to help strip color casts. it’s called Stain Lifters. it’s a very simple action that helps you lift  ’stains’. open up that layer and use a soft WHITE brush on the black layer mask. i like to start at about 40% opacity on the brush and swipe on the color casted areas. i swipe again if needed. i hit X if i need to erase (X changes my brush back to the opposite color and in this case since we started with a white brush- it will change it black. now i can erase the effects off areas i may not want it to go. i often use the red and/or orange layers for reddened eye rims, pimples, scratches. the green and yellow layers are good for the darn little casts you sometimes get from grass reflecting on your subject. remember that it’s purpose is to minimize not be a magic wand.

there is also a toothbrush in the action- but there are no teeth showing here.  there are also level layers, curve layers and color balance layers for fixing exposure/tone and white balance and skin tones. these layers DO require user input. you can’t play the action and expect it to automatically scrub the image. starting from the bottom layer and working your way to the top most layer is usually the most effective and efficient way to use this action.  you do NOT need to shoot raw to have the squeaky clean action set. it works really great on sooc jpgs. and often you will not have to reduce opacity of the More Color layer. some jpg shooters even select this layer and tap CTRL J and duplicate the layer for extra color- some masking may be required on the yellows/greens as they can get a tad nuclear if pushed too far. the layer itself is generally pretty kind to skin tones however.

ok so let’s recap! another before and after and after.

now see the final image? it’s just…nice. colorful but not too much. it’s just clean.

your images may require more or less. it depends on lighting, your shooting style, equipment used (flash/studio often requires less ‘cleaning’)…so please always look at each image as a new dish.

it might require a different amount of spices than a previous image or a new spice altogether.

so get tweaking!

so i thought since it’s been a while since my last tweaker- i should share one.

i wanted to use a plain image to illustrate just a good basic clean.

my image was ok sooc (straight out of the camera) but very cool and blah.

i really just wanted to clean it up a little.

my white balance was great after warming it up in lightroom. so no further tweaks were required in photoshop- but this is not always the case.

in a future tweaker i will be sure to show some tweakers where i have to fiddle with skin tones or color casts.

in lightroom i played the preset {delight} from the squeaky clean set. now i have to note here- that you will likely need to try a couple on a new image to see which best fits the  image.

lighting, colors, white balance- so many things can affect how a preset will look. many of the presets will look great on sooc cool images as they tend to warm them up inside the preset.

there are a few that are a tad bit ‘not clean’ and just a little sweet on color and tone. and they can work on the right image. for example- {rose water} is a perfectly lovely preset but it is really best played on backlit images where some natural sun haze comes into play. it adds just a pinch of sweet pinkness.

but always never forget- you must adjust presets and actions. playing any action or preset and expecting it to magically transform your image from meh to ah-mazing is really a beginning editor’s ‘mistake’.

although i ran the {delight} preset i still needed to adjust the lights (too bright), added some fill light (pulls shadows out for harsh lighting. got unpleasant shadows in the eyes and face- fill light is yo friend!) and a tad bit of recovery because i could see my highlights were still pushing ‘too bright’ status on this particular image.

ah-mazing are the results of almost always tweaking sliders (lightroom/acr) and masking layers and adjust layer opacities in photoshop. tweak tweak tweak!

if you do not know what a mask is or know how to mask (for photoshop/elements users)- that is something you definitely want to educate yourself on. your life in elements and photoshop will absolutely transcend what you thought your images could look like.

although lightroom is my main program- i never ever EVER use photoshop without doing some masking.

masking is like putting on makeup. you don’t put a thick gob of mascara on your lashes and leave it all goopy. NO! we comb through those lashes and get the clumps out. we don’t just put an inch of eyeshadow on our eyes- no way! we use several colors and we use a brush to blend blend blend and remove where some color might have shifted to (like a cheek) and we don’t want it there right?

and dudes…think of it like detailing a car. you have all these tiny little tools to help you go in after a big paint job to make sure that are no air bubbles, creases, cracks, globs, smudges, fingerprints…masking allows you to place effects EXACTLY where you want it. anything you do in photoshop- pretty much- can be masked.

so here we go. we take the lightroom image from above that we played {delight} preset on and then tweaked and now we run it through photoshop.

now you might have noticed i did not cover ALL the layers that you get in in the squeaky clean CLEAN action. there are several. these are the ones i usually hit on a basic clean edit.

there are layers to help strip color casts. it’s called Stain Lifters. it’s a very simple action that helps you lift  ’stains’. open up that layer and use a soft WHITE brush on the black layer mask. i like to start at about 40% opacity on the brush and swipe on the color casted areas. i swipe again if needed. i hit X if i need to erase (X changes my brush back to the opposite color and in this case since we started with a white brush- it will change it black. now i can erase the effects off areas i may not want it to go. i often use the red and/or orange layers for reddened eye rims, pimples, scratches. the green and yellow layers are good for the darn little casts you sometimes get from grass reflecting on your subject. remember that it’s purpose is to minimize not be a magic wand.

there is also a toothbrush in the action- but there are no teeth showing here.  there are also level layers, curve layers and color balance layers for fixing exposure/tone and white balance and skin tones. these layers DO require user input. you can’t play the action and expect it to automatically scrub the image. starting from the bottom layer and working your way to the top most layer is usually the most effective and efficient way to use this action.  you do NOT need to shoot raw to have the squeaky clean action set. it works really great on sooc jpgs. and often you will not have to reduce opacity of the More Color layer. some jpg shooters even select this layer and tap CTRL J and duplicate the layer for extra color- some masking may be required on the yellows/greens as they can get a tad nuclear if pushed too far. the layer itself is generally pretty kind to skin tones however.

ok so let’s recap! another before and after and after.

now see the final image? it’s just…nice. colorful but not too much. it’s just clean.

your images may require more or less. it depends on lighting, your shooting style, equipment used (flash/studio often requires less ‘cleaning’)…so please always look at each image as a new dish.

it might require a different amount of spices than a previous image or a new spice altogether.

so get tweaking!

One of my most popular selling sets of presets are my Squeaky Clean presets for Lightroom. They are for RAW images only. Really a workflow set.

When I am proofing a session for a gallery – I find I usually like to grab this set and close my right panel, bottom and top panels and leave my left hand panel open and work in there by taking my Pen (I use a tablet) and pick an {aio} aka all-in-one. Which is basically like grabbing your foundation and putting it on getting it ready for mascara, lipstick, lip liner and eyeshadow.

It’s my base. It does not change Exposure or White Balance. The photographer is able to fix these FIRST or LATER. It’s really up to their workflow. I usually fix it later. Right or wrong by other pros- it’s how I do it usually.

Then I see if I need to add fill light, contrast, play another tone pop (tone curve) preset, adjust colors and saturation, warmth or even add a tint. I do all this in the left panel until I am ready to fine tune. I close the panel and then click open the right panel. And tweak. I usually have little to do here. Usually just adjust the darks in the tone curve or maybe the blacks and the tint (not split tone tint, but refrerring to the tint in the white balance area up at the top underneath the histogram).

Then I grab my adjustment brush and dodge/burn, eye pop, skin smooth as needed.

Another cool thing to remember. Should you decide you want to change your {aio} preset in Squeaky Clean- you can. At the top just hit RESET. It will NOT affect your Adjustment Brush edits. Just your main slider adjustments. Nor will it reset Exposure. It WILL reset White Balance however.

So here is a before, played out untweaked, then 2 afters – one warm and and one cool.

I selected the preset Daybreak from the Squeaky Clean set. You can see how I took one preset and make 2 different looks just by slight tweaks.

These edits literally only took me a  minute or two. Imagine what you can do with another minute or two of more fine tuning.

Hope you enjoyed today’s Tweaker!

One of my most popular selling sets of presets are my Squeaky Clean presets for Lightroom. They are for RAW images only. Really a workflow set.

When I am proofing a session for a gallery – I find I usually like to grab this set and close my right panel, bottom and top panels and leave my left hand panel open and work in there by taking my Pen (I use a tablet) and pick an {aio} aka all-in-one. Which is basically like grabbing your foundation and putting it on getting it ready for mascara, lipstick, lip liner and eyeshadow.

It’s my base. It does not change Exposure or White Balance. The photographer is able to fix these FIRST or LATER. It’s really up to their workflow. I usually fix it later. Right or wrong by other pros- it’s how I do it usually.

Then I see if I need to add fill light, contrast, play another tone pop (tone curve) preset, adjust colors and saturation, warmth or even add a tint. I do all this in the left panel until I am ready to fine tune. I close the panel and then click open the right panel. And tweak. I usually have little to do here. Usually just adjust the darks in the tone curve or maybe the blacks and the tint (not split tone tint, but refrerring to the tint in the white balance area up at the top underneath the histogram).

Then I grab my adjustment brush and dodge/burn, eye pop, skin smooth as needed.

Another cool thing to remember. Should you decide you want to change your {aio} preset in Squeaky Clean- you can. At the top just hit RESET. It will NOT affect your Adjustment Brush edits. Just your main slider adjustments. Nor will it reset Exposure. It WILL reset White Balance however.

So here is a before, played out untweaked, then 2 afters – one warm and and one cool.

I selected the preset Daybreak from the Squeaky Clean set. You can see how I took one preset and make 2 different looks just by slight tweaks.

These edits literally only took me a  minute or two. Imagine what you can do with another minute or two of more fine tuning.

Hope you enjoyed today’s Tweaker!

A new before & after section for OJ’s Lightroom Presets called Tweakers!

OJ presets before/sooc, played as is then tweaked.

This one here is Malachite from the Jewels set.

Here is a sooc image. It’s a teensy underexposed. No biggie. We shot Raw. I will not fix using the Exposure slider. I much prefer using the Darks slider in the Tone Curve and the Fill Light.

But let’s play Malachite first to see what we have to work with. I love the color shift!

Because the image was underexposed to start plus she didn’t have amazing light in her eyes- we really need to brighten this up more and ease up on the Blacks.

Oh yes. So much better. I had to warm it up some and add some pink for my taste (err magenta using the Tint slider).

I might fiddle a little bit more. Her skin is pretty Cyan still but I rather like it so I am leaving it.

Hope you found today’s Tweaker useful!

A new before & after section for OJ’s Lightroom Presets called Tweakers!

OJ presets before/sooc, played as is then tweaked.

This one here is Malachite from the Jewels set.

Here is a sooc image. It’s a teensy underexposed. No biggie. We shot Raw. I will not fix using the Exposure slider. I much prefer using the Darks slider in the Tone Curve and the Fill Light.

But let’s play Malachite first to see what we have to work with. I love the color shift!

Because the image was underexposed to start plus she didn’t have amazing light in her eyes- we really need to brighten this up more and ease up on the Blacks.

Oh yes. So much better. I had to warm it up some and add some pink for my taste (err magenta using the Tint slider).

I might fiddle a little bit more. Her skin is pretty Cyan still but I rather like it so I am leaving it.

Hope you found today’s Tweaker useful!