Layers are a powerful way to build up creative effects for your images. Exposure uses a unique non-destructive layer system that is clear and easy to operate. This video demonstrates the benefits of applying adjustments in separate layers with Exposure.

Watch it to learn how to manage the layer and masking system. We show how to apply several presets on a single image, control them with layer masks, and strategically rearrange the layers for your intended result. We also show you how you can flexibly mix and blend the adjustments on each layer to fine tune the overall look.

The post Working with Layers appeared first on Exposure Software.

Beautiful, dramatic skies are a powerful feature to capture in a photograph. The camera, however, will overexpose skies when balancing the image exposure, which can wash out color and detail. This creates a need for only applying adjustments to the bright areas without touching the rest of the image. This video was made to show you how to capture details in skies like this with Exposure.

Watch it to learn how to apply corrections in Exposure to recapture any lost details in a bright sky. We demonstrate how to use layers and layer masks to seamlessly blend adjustments in with the photo. By the end you’ll know how you can flexibly mix different adjustments together in Exposure to make sure the skies pop.

The post Balancing Sky Detail appeared first on Exposure Software.

Collections are a fast and flexible way to organize photos that won’t fill up your computer with duplicate files. We made this tutorial to show you how to use collections in Exposure.

Watch the video and learn methods for curating collections of images. We show you how to build collections by hand, how to make Exposure search for images, and how to copy and paste a list of filenames to find specific images fast. By the end, you’ll understand the different types of collections you can use and how to integrate them in your workflow.

The post Photo Collections appeared first on Exposure Software.

Layers are a powerful way to build up creative effects for your images. Exposure uses a unique non-destructive layer system that is clear and easy to operate. This video demonstrates the benefits of applying adjustments in separate layers with Exposure.

Watch it to learn how to manage the layer and masking system. We show how to apply several presets on a single image, control them with layer masks, and strategically rearrange the layers for your intended result. We also show you how you can flexibly mix and blend the adjustments on each layer to fine tune the overall look.

The post Working with Layers appeared first on Exposure Software.

We are delighted to announce the release of Exposure X7! It’s the latest version of our professional image editor for creative photographers.

Here are some of the exciting new features:

• An innovative new masking tool which enables you to make selections by quickly drawing a rough border.
• Editing workspaces organize panels needed for a particular task. Use the included culling, editing, and retouching workspaces or create new ones customized for your specific needs.
• Crop and transform have been united in a single easy-to-use interface. Additionally, new composition guides have been added.
• New defective pixel removal is available for raw photos.
• More faithful color reproduction when using custom DCP color profiles
• Improved color fidelity with DNG files
• Fine texture noise can be added to recover detail with aggressive noise reduction.

Upgrading from Previous Versions

Exposure X7 is available at a discounted price of $89 to owners of previous versions. If you purchased Exposure X6 on or after July 15th, 2021, we will be sending you a free upgrade to Exposure X7 soon. 

Buy Exposure Today

No subscription is required. When you purchase Exposure, you own it forever.

The post Exposure X7 now shipping! appeared first on Exposure Software.

From Good to Great

Strong composition, like the rule of thirds used in this photo by Andrea Livieri, is a good example. It is clear to see the balanced qualities in the photo, specifically between bright and dark values. All photos in this article © Andrea Livieri.

When choosing which shots to edit, use a few different criteria to evaluate them. Selecting a good image in the beginning can drastically improve the way it reads when edited. That change is even more impressive when those tweaks play off the original image’s strengths.

Firstly, demand strong composition when selecting which photos to edit. However, don’t reject a photo before making a thorough evaluation. Apply several cropping, rotating, or perspective corrections. Those adjustments can dramatically impact the composition of the shot.

Another point to consider when selecting images to process is balance. That means balance in composition, colors, and between highlights and shadows. Image exposure is also important. Of course you can change the exposure value of an image in Exposure, but the less you have to “fix” the image, the more you can focus on applying creative edits.

Balance Tones

Notice the brightest values in this image are adjacent to the darkest values in the bottom of the frame. That contrast draws your eye to trace along the bottom of the scene and toward the subject in the center.

Limit how much image data you recover from bright highlights or dark shadows. Exposure can easily bring back detail in areas that are too dark or light. And, it can make intelligent adjustments to the image tones with its auto feature. When you make adjustments by hand, remember to maintain the balance of the original shot. Recovering too much of the light and dark areas can make the photo read muddy or flat.

The sun is a brilliant, glowing ball of pure light. If you put the sun in the frame, remember to maintain balance. The sun should be the brightest thing in the photo. Don’t let reflections, highlights, or anything else overpower the sun in the image. If the sun is not glowing, add a local adjustment layer and brighten it. Also, when editing shots that include the sun, be mindful of lens flares. Landscape photographers usually don’t want them to distract from the scene.

Maintaining balance also applies to color saturation. Limit the amount of saturation you add with the saturation slider as it can block up where the image is oversaturated. For more natural-looking saturated colors, use the Vibrance slider.

Lots of Flavor

Exposure’s wide range of creative presets can breathe new life into photos with a new gorgeous mood.

There are hundreds of great-looking Exposure presets that will work great for landscapes. The looks in the Slide film category have much more contrast and saturation than the Print film categories, which can give landscapes more punch. Also, the Vintage category, Cross Processing, and Graduated Filters categories are great options for landscape photography. You can use a single preset to punch up the drama in a shot, or mix and blend several presets on separate layers. For a tour through the presets in Exposure, check out the Applying Film Looks video.

The Viewer’s Eye

Notice the subtle darkening of the crashing waves along the left side of the frame. Those waves don’t visually grab your attention like the waves that crash on the rocks. This is a clear example of minimizing distractions near the frame edge.

The goal of any photo is to keep the viewer’s attention, and one of the easiest ways to do that is by removing distractions. The edges of the frame are hugely important for keeping the viewer’s eye in the photo. When editing your landscapes, pay close attention near the edges. Look for bright objects, contrasting colors, or specular highlights that can draw attention away from the center of the shot.

Make local adjustments to remove or reduce the impact of any distractions in the scene. Use the Spot Heal tool for this only when it’s absolutely necessary. You can use the Burn preset in Exposure to subtly darken areas with the Brush tool. To smooth over specular highlights lower the Brightness slider.

A quicker option is to use a vignette. Vignettes help draw the attention to the subject by lightening or darkening the edges of the photo. Landscape photographers are no strangers to applying vignettes of all shapes and sizes. Exposure’s tools make it easy to create beautiful, organic vignettes. Check out our Vignettes video for an in-depth look at all the creative options available.

In the end, remember to compare your ending photos with what you started with. Reviewing the before and after focuses your eye on the changes you made to process the shot. It also gives you an opportunity to temper the edited image with reality. The purpose of landscape photography is to take the viewer to a place they haven’t ever seen. A strong landscape takes a good shot and the right blend of polish from editing with your creative vision. And, there are tons of great tools in Exposure that help you breathe life into your landscapes.

The post Landscape Editing Tips appeared first on Exposure Software.

What is a Histogram?

The histogram graphs the photo’s tones making it simple to locate regions with the strongest color. All photos © Marco M Mulattieri.

In digital photo editing, a histogram is a graphical representation of the light distribution in an image. The histogram graph shows you the amount of tones at each brightness level. Histograms are helpful for analyzing overall exposure, color saturation, or directly editing tonal ranges with real-time feedback. And it has more advanced uses such as checking for blown out or blocked up pixels at a glance. There are several benefits to using the histogram when editing images, which we discuss in this article.

Adjusting Histogram Tones

In Exposure, regions in the Histogram graph correlate to the sliders in the Basic panel.

Applying adjustments directly on the Histogram is a great way to edit images because it makes the process simple. You can hover over the different regions in the graph to display the amount of adjustment made to each zone in the bottom left corner. Simply click and drag regions and watch the graph change. Edits applied on the histogram correlate to the sliders in the Basic panel. If you’d like to learn more about all the tools available in this panel, check out our Histogram User Guide.

Order of Application

From top to bottom, the editing adjustments applied to this photo reclaim details lost in blown out pixels in the dress and dark shadows in the model’s hair.

When making adjustments in Exposure, the order of application is important. Whenever possible, apply edits in sequential order by size, just like dialing in a microscope. First, twist the big dial to bring objects into focus, then adjust to the smaller dials to fine-tune the sharpening. Exposure is the big dial, it affects the entire spectrum of tonal distribution in the image. Highlights and Shadows control an equal zone of tones on either side of the center values as displayed in the histogram. These sliders affect a smaller amount of tones as the Exposure slider. Last, the Whites and Blacks adjust the smallest portion of tones in the image; both ends. Roughly half the amount of tones as Highlights and Shadows. It’s just for fine-tuning.

Keyboard for Polish

Use the modifier keyboard shortcuts in Exposure to make adjustments without using the mouse. Access the map of Exposure’s keyboard shortcuts from the Help menu.

Keyboard shortcuts enable you to make adjustments with surgical precision. Exposure has a set of keyboard shortcuts that tweak each of the Histogram controls. This enables you to apply editing adjustments, including detailed refinements, without using the mouse. Tone adjustments are immediately reflected in the Histogram.

For example, you can raise or lower the exposure control with F and D, or you can adjust Highlights with G and H. You can see a complete list of the keyboard shortcuts in Exposure from the Help menu. Hold the modifier key Shift to make the rate of change more pronounced with each click. For example, Shift+F will raise the Exposure slider by 0.5. Hold the modifier Alt to make the change more subtle with each click. For example, Alt+F will raise Exposure by only 0.01.

Basic Sliders vs Tone Curve

Note the Shadows and Highlights sliders on the Tone Curve panel. They have the same name, but these controls are not the same as the sliders in the Basic panel. The controls on the Tone Curve panel perform straightforward adjustments; the algorithm scales the tone values for each zone. The sliders on the Basic panel in Exposure use an intelligent approach that analyzes the tones before making adjustments. This calculates changes more accurately, which gives the control more consistent behavior on images of varying brightness levels. It helps prevent colors from being blocked up or washed out when there are changes to image contrast.

In summary, there are tons of powerful features in Exposure’s histogram for editing images. The histogram is a great way to make tonal adjustments and visualize the distribution of tones. It’s another one of the ways Exposure simplifies advanced photo editing.

The post Histogram and Tone Adjustments appeared first on Exposure Software.

We are delighted to announce the release of Exposure X6! It’s the latest version of our professional image editor for creative photographers.

Here are some of the exciting new features:

• New GPU optimization leverages the full power of your computer hardware to dramatically speed up image processing.
• One-click automatic adjustments select optimized values for white balance, exposure, haze level, contrast, and tone.
• Enhanced shadows and highlight processing is now more reliable, consistent, and accurate.
• New profile guided noise reduction eliminates noise based on camera sensor characteristics.
• The Advanced Color Editor builds on Exposure’s innovative 3D masking to enable vastly greater control of color modifications. Perform sophisticated color replacements in just a few clicks.
• Updated user interface provides a refined, modern aesthetic.
• New haze level slider counteracts contrast decreases caused by atmospheric haze.
• New mask visualization options.
• DNG converter integration enables conversion to DNG format manually or automatically when copying from a camera card.
• The new user manual complements our video and in-product documentation.

Upgrading from Previous Versions

Exposure X6 is available at a discounted price of $89 to owners of previous versions. If you purchased Exposure X5 on or after July 15th, 2020, we will be sending you a free upgrade to Exposure X6 soon. 

Buy Exposure Today

No subscription is required. When you purchase Exposure, you own it forever.

The post Exposure X6 is here! appeared first on Exposure Software.

“There are patterns and themes throughout my feed which my followers keep an eye out for.” -Paul Cook. All photos in this article © Paul Cook.

Harnessing Consistency

Consistency is a design principle that should permeate your entire workflow. It enables you to define an easily recognizable, signature style. Many people will view the work you’ve delivered to clients, and usually, that is what brings you more of them. When you are hired for photography, you want to deliver the same dependable style as your other work. The finished look of what you produce is usually the first step in drawing in new clients.

Because the editing style needs to match with your other work, you have opportunities to build workflow components you can reuse. Exposure was designed with this in mind. The rendering engine in Exposure was built to accurately emulate the appearance of photos shot on film, every time. Incorporating creative editing presets into your post-processing enables you to consistently achieve your signature look. Check out our Applying Film Looks video for a tour through the library of presets at your disposal in Exposure.

Developing Your Procedure

Following a standard procedure, such as using presets to perform your workflow steps, will give you an advantage in post-processing speed and accuracy. Another benefit to using Exposure’s presets is simplifying your workflow. Marking your favorite presets with stars will place them at your fingertips, which makes your workflow fast.

Saving custom presets that perform the steps in your workflow will help you produce better quality work. Our Working with Presets video demonstrates numerous ways to create and manage presets in Exposure. Custom presets enable you to apply your signature creative look in a single click.

Exposure’s powerful workflow presets automate routine tasks such as file handling. For example, you can automatically add watermarks as you export images for social media, or automatically apply metadata keywords as you copy images from camera cards. These steps ensure your work has a handsome appearance when its posted online. Get all the details about managing presets in this Exposure user guide.

Maximize your efficiency when editing by tailoring Exposure to fit your workflow. We show you how to organize Exposure’s interface to match your workflow needs in our Customizing the Workspace video.

“The use of presets in all my processes play an important role in saving time. It’s rare for me to touch an image in another editor like Photoshop” -Paul Cook

As you can see, there are lots of ways Exposure helps make editing consistency easy and achievable. Once your creative look is established, your editing methods become intrinsic to all your work, which speeds up post processing. Exposure gives you control over the entire process, so you decide how you can implement it in your work.

“Exposure is perfect for me. It makes my processing time from download, to organize, to edit, and export very, very short.” -Paul Cook

The post Creative Consistency appeared first on Exposure Software.

A slow season, or a few weeks of quarantine, is the perfect opportunity to step back, analyze your editing workflow, and make improvements. You may notice sticking points that, when fixed, will make you more efficient. Changing your workflow when things are slow gives you time to practice and iron out the kinks. When the market gets back to normal, and you’re busy shooting again, you’ll reap the benefits. This article discusses how to get started building better habits for your creative edits.

Editing Goals

Firstly, choose a direction for where and how you want to make photo editing improvements. Your goals could focus on updating the look of your finished product, or the speed of your post-production, or keeping organized. Creating attainable goals for photo editing is a simple process.

Study old work

Evaluating older work can identify areas for making improvements, and where your skills have developed over time. Look at all of the images from the shoot, including photos you didn’t use.

If you haven’t created a backup of your work recently, now is the perfect time. Exposure saves its non-destructive edits in sidecar files within the folder where the images are saved. This simplified workflow makes managing backups and photo archives easy. The Folders panel in Exposure displays the same folder structure as your computer hard drive, which eliminates the confusion of juggling catalogs. Check out our Photo Backups and Archives video to learn more about the process.

Identify areas of improvement

During your review, study the original images as well as the edited versions. Exposure enables you to step back through each step in the editing process in the History panel.

Experimenting with old work is good for the creative process. It could be as simple as making a few minor adjustments or applying a new film emulation preset. Exposure’s virtual copies functionality gives you the freedom to make as many different edited versions as you like. Virtual copies won’t fill up your hard drive like duplicate files. If you haven’t used them before, check out our Virtual Copies video.

Your archived images may have been edited with an older version of Exposure. Try using new tools in the current version, such as the 3D masking abilities in Exposure X5. The Color Constraints automatically create detailed layer masks, giving you more control over edits than in previous versions. Learn more about using them in our 3D Color Masking Deep Dive video.

Reviewing and experimenting with archived work gives you a better understanding of your abilities, which identifies areas where you have made improvements and where you can make improvements.

Implementing Changes

Make a plan

Getting better at editing photos is an idea, but not a goal. Goals need a direction, a deadline, and tangible steps to get from point A to B. For example, to get better at retouching portraits in Exposure, include the following details in your action plan.

Step 1 – Learn

Read articles and watch video tutorials that demonstrate techniques for editing portraits in Exposure. Here are a few suggestions:

1. Portrait Touch Up
2. Editing Portraits
3. 3D Color Masking
4. Working with Layers
5. Correcting Shiny Skin
6. Editing RAW Photos

Step 2 – Practice

There’s nothing better for improving your techniques than experimentation. When practicing, use varied subjects, and images that aren’t perfect. Because there is no client, make your practices challenging. Failure is acceptable.

Step 3 – Schedule

Learn one new technique at a time, and implement the methods you learn methodically. Space out new lessons so you have time away from the screen between them. Don’t try to learn everything at once. That can be overwhelming.

If you want to get better at retouching portraits in Exposure, watch one tutorial, read an article, and then spend one hour three days that week practicing the new method. Give yourself room to mess things up as you learn. That’s part of the process.

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With your new goal schedule in place, the only thing left to do is start. After a few weeks of implementing these new behaviors, your newly formed habits will begin to take hold, and you will see improvements blossom.

So, during this season of being inside, give your photo editing workflow a close review. It can help pave the way to more success in your future photography endeavors.

The post Better Editing Habits appeared first on Exposure Software.

Overly bright skies can hide details in brighter tones, which makes the image appear more flat or dull than it actually is. Details hidden in the brighter tones are lost to overexposure. Cameras tend to capture brighter skies when exposing for the subject outside, so it is very common for photos to have them.

Adjustments to recover lost detail in a bright sky are simple to execute. The workflow requires additional steps when the sky is the only overexposed area in the photo. We put together this video to demonstrate techniques for enhancing detail in skies, including balancing adjustments between the sky and foreground.

We demonstrate how to order the adjustments you make, monitor image tones with the Histogram, and retain detail in bright clouds by balancing Whites and Highlights. Additionally, we’ll show you how to separate enhancements to only affect the foreground or the background.

The post Enhancing Sky Details appeared first on Exposure Software.

Editing can add drama and transform a flat portrait into something dynamic. If you’re just starting to get into shooting and editing portraiture, our latest video will help get you up to speed. This tutorial runs through enhancing portraits from beginning to end.

Watch the video and learn processing techniques to give portraits pop. We demonstrate how to remove color casts, properly sharpen, and correct other technical issues common to portrait photos. Additionally, you’ll see how to take editing further with special effects like vignettes, and creative focus effects to direct the viewer’s attention where you want it. The trick with any retouching is to find the right balance. Overdone editing can look unnatural, but not enough can take away from the impact of your work. There are plenty of great tips in this video for keeping the enhancements you apply to portraits balanced.

The post Editing Portraits appeared first on Exposure Software.

Culling Portrait Photography

Bobbi Vinson is photographer and owner of Frolic & Co. Photography, a North Carolina-based portrait photography studio. She lives near us and she uses Exposure for her full workflow, so we are always happy to hear from her. To see more of Bobbi’s work, visit her website, or follow @frolicandco on Instagram.

How does Exposure help you cull portrait sessions?

Photo culling can easily take up too much time, so I get through it as quickly as I can. Exposure enables me to sort through images from a session in several ways, which is extremely helpful. I can combine filters like flags, color labels, or metadata to sort the images and quickly narrow down to the best options from the session. Being able to sort through a batch of images in various ways really makes culling in Exposure fast for me.

What are your favorite tools to accomplish this?

Exposure’s automated tools are some of my favorite features. They make organizing images from the beginning of the workflow, simple. When copying images from camera cards, I use a custom preset that automatically generates subfolders using the standard structure of my organization system. With minimal input from me, I always know my images are copying exactly where and how I want them to, including applying metadata and updating filenames.

The folder structure is supported when exporting, also. Exposure’s export preset recipes enable me to instantly render final images with watermarks for social media, blog posts for my website, or a high-resolution print file for a magazine to the correct folder locations.

Quick culling tips

Late in your culling workflow, there will most likely be a few images that you can’t decide whether to keep or toss. If you can’t decide, quickly make only a few basic adjustments to see if that helps. Adding a preset is another option to help evaluate if the image is worth keeping. If it’s not, cut it from the batch and don’t spend any more time on it. This is easy to do in Exposure because there are no modules, so you can edit or apply presets during culling.

Culling Landscape Photography

Rod Lawton is a landscape and travel photographer, a journalist, and an editor, as well as the publisher of lifeafterphotoshop.com. See more of his photography on his website.

How does Exposure help you cull landscapes?

I want to see what’s actually in my image folders, not what’s been imported into an image cataloguing program. Catalogs can get disconnected from their source images in all sorts of ways, so you’re never quite sure if what you’re seeing is actually there!

You often can’t judge if an image is a ‘keeper’ until you’ve given it the ‘look’ you want, so I find virtual copies and collections very effective at accomplishing this. Personally, I find it hard to rate an image until I see it how I meant it to look.

Actually deleting images is a big step — and one I’m very nervous about! Instead of deleting, I use Exposure’s filters to only display images I want to keep, or I use collections to curate (and exclude) images in a ‘virtual’ way.

What are your favorite tools to accomplish this?

I like to cull by exclusion. I prefer to see all the photos from a shoot and then progressively exclude the ones I don’t want. It’s a process of elimination, and one I can use very easily in Exposure. I can set the filter to hide images marked with the reject flag. The minus key marks them with a reject flag, which hides them from my view so they are no longer a distraction.

Quite often, you need to look at images a little closer to see whether to keep them or not. This is especially true when there are two or more similar images to decide between. This is where Exposure’s different layout views are useful. I can compare similar images and use the link views checkbox to zoom in to check for sharpness, for example, on every selected image at the same time.

Quick culling tips

Use a multi-step process to cull your work. This helps keep the pace up so you don’t get buried in unimportant details. I use three simple evaluation steps. They are as follows.

1) Duds: These images can be eliminated straight away because they’re blurred, badly-timed or just plain bad. These photographs will just get in the way of the good stuff, so get rid of them now.

2) Duplicates: So for whatever reason you’ve got multiple or near-identical shots of the same thing. My first rule is check the sharpness, composition and for any unwanted distractions. If they’re still all the same, then it doesn’t matter which one you pick – as long as you get rid of the rest!

3) Just plain dull: I’m sure I’m not alone here – you can produce shots which are technically perfect, compositionally correct and can’t be faulted – and yet they leave you cold. This is step 3 – if you’ve got shots that are just plain dull, you know it, don’t you? Just get rid of them!

Hopefully, at the end of all this you don’t have an empty folder or collection, and you do have a whittled-down selection of images which you know are technically good, aesthetically powerful and capture what you meant to capture. That, when it happens, is a good feeling!

Culling Wedding Photography

Kevin Mullins is an award-winning documentary wedding photographer, an industry speaker, workshop leader, author, and a Fujifilm X-Photographer. Check out more of his work on his website, or on Instagram @kevinmullinsphotography.

How does Exposure help you cull wedding photos?

One of the things I love the most about Exposure is that I can start working with the images, including culling, even while the import is still progressing. A typical wedding for me may have around 1,800 photos, so I need to be able to establish which of them I want to work with very quickly and get on with editing.

What are your favorite tools to accomplish this?

I love the versatility of using the reject flag in Exposure. It’s a straightforward process to review and mark each image. In its simplest form, I use minus on my keyboard to mark an image reject. This also dims the image in the grid view so I can easily see which images are ‘in’ and which ones are ‘out.’

One of my favourite ways to cull is to expand the keypress with the Shift key. Pressing Shift and Minus not only rejects the image, but it also advances to the next photo instantly. This saves so much time and it lets me cull an entire shoot without moving the mouse. Very fast, indeed. Once complete, I’ll set the Hide Rejects filter preset in the lower panel, and then all I see are the images I need to edit.

Quick culling tips

Exposure now gives us Smart Collections, which empowers you to categorise images by a selected parameter, easily. I use a set of smart collections to automatically group images into five separate ISO ranges. This is brilliant for me as I can simply go into one of the smart collections and cull from that set, instantly. I usually start with the highest ISO and work backward.

Additionally, at least for wedding shoots, I suggest not to use the star rating tool. In my mind, the cull should simply be whether it’s good enough, or not. Further categorising the images by star rating confuses things for big shoots. Ultimately, if an image isn’t good enough, then it should be separated at the beginning. Effectively, all images you keep should be 5-star.

Conclusion

There are various ways photographers can cull photo sessions quickly in Exposure, regardless of the type of work. We’d like to thank the professionals we featured in this article for sharing the image culling methods that they rely on.

The post Fast Image Culling Techniques appeared first on Exposure Software.

Removing distractions is a good way to improve a photo. When awkward elements are erased, an average photo can transform into a great shot. Distractions come in all shapes and sizes, requiring a variety of methods to remove effectively. This video demonstrates techniques to eliminate several types of unwanted elements from images.

Watch the video and learn methods for removing distractions. We share advice on removing issues with the spot healing, cloning, and cropping tools, and options for reducing the impact of elements that are difficult to remove.

The post Removing Distractions appeared first on Exposure Software.

After a long day of shooting, every photographer ends up with a mountain of photos that need to be processed. A huge number of images to edit can be daunting, but when equipped with the right tools and a little know-how, you can get through it quickly. In our latest video tutorial, we demonstrate several techniques specific to processing a large volume of wedding images from beginning to end.

Watch the video and learn techniques for processing at high speed. We give helpful advice on how to cull in multiple passes, quickly identify images that need additional processing, apply editing in batches, and more.

The post Wedding Post-Processing Workflow appeared first on Exposure Software.

The balance of colors is a crucial aspect of the success of a photo. Trained eyes, like those of professional photographers, see subtleties in the tones easily, where the average person may not notice. Color casts are visible color tints in an image. They can appear for various reasons, from camera settings, to mixed light sources, or from reflected color in the scene they were captured. When color casts are mentioned, it’s usually in order to remove them from an image.

Watch this video for a lesson about correcting unwanted color casts in photos. You’ll hear advice on identifying color tinges and see the best methods for neutralizing them effectively.

The post Fixing Color Casts appeared first on Exposure Software.

RAW photos can look dull, or flat straight out of the camera. A few simple post-processing adjustments can give them pop, which attracts viewers attention and generates excitement.

We put together this tutorial to guide you through how to give flat images more punch. We teach you how to add impact by increasing clarity, make tones pop with adjustments to contrast, and show you when to use vibrance to enhance colors. Also, we share tips for evaluating edits you make, such as analyzing clarity effects on skin tones to ensure they are well balanced for the shot.

The post Punching up a Flat Photo appeared first on Exposure Software.

Image cropping is an important creative decision in photography. It’s a simple edit to make, and the effects have a dramatic impact on the photo. Cropping can help focus attention on the subject, eliminate distracting elements, improve image composition, and more.

Applying a crop to dozens, hundreds, or even thousands of images can be time-consuming, but editing in batches can reduce that significantly. We put together this video tutorial to demonstrate two separate techniques for quickly cropping multiple images.

We demonstrate how to apply a crop a group of selected images to a set aspect ratio, then make individual adjustments where necessary. Also, we’ll show you how to selectively copy crop and rotate settings to the clipboard so they can be applied to other images without disturbing any existing adjustments.

The post Cropping Multiple Images appeared first on Exposure Software.

Exposure, in digital photography, refers to the amount of light that reaches the camera sensor. It’s a critical element that determines the quality and amount of data that is recorded by your camera when you take a shot. The closer the image is to having perfect exposure, the more dynamic range is captured in the file. Shooting properly exposed photos with every shutter click is a goal of every photographer, but that’s not always possible. Before tossing any dark, underexposed shots in the trash, bring them back to life with a few quick post processing adjustments. This video demonstrates simple techniques for correcting underexposure in digital photos.

Fixing Underexposure

There are a few things to remember when repairing an image that’s underexposed. Most importantly, you generally don’t want to apply brightening effects to correct underexposure over the entire photo. When an image is underexposed, problem areas will largely be found in the shadows, so that’s the only areas that need adjusting. Including highlight areas in exposure adjustments can cause unwanted blown-out highlights.

The second important tip is to use the Histogram when analyzing the tonal distribution in photos. The histogram panel includes powerful tools that help identify problem areas in the image where important details have been lost, or are close to being lost.

Another helpful tip is that underexposed areas are less saturated than lighter areas. After adjustments are made to raise up the shadow areas in an image, closely inspect the color saturation.

Watch the video and learn tips for focusing adjustments on problem areas in dark photos, how to use the tools in Exposure’s Histogram panel, and how to correct color saturation in underexposed images.

The post Fixing Underexposed Images appeared first on Exposure Software.

Enhancing Presence

As a portrait photographer I used to face the dread of fine-tuning clarity or contrast in Lightroom to give more presence to a shot. These adjustments caused unwanted texture in the tones of skin. So, I would have to retouch the photo a second time to remove those effects. Exposure lets me give my photos the same kind of pop, but much higher quality. The adjustments are so smooth and clean that I don’t have to backtrack and retouch the skin a second time. That adds up to a huge time savings. In the example shots in this article you can easily see the softness, or haze in a few of my photos, and how well Exposure executes adjustments in the midtones.

Balancing Clarity and Contrast

When making adjustments to add pop, I start with clarity. This increases local contrast, and adds separation between the tones. I follow this with adjustments to contrast, which gives more presence to the subject by emphasizing the difference in luminance (light to dark value). I’ll switch between these two controls making adjustments to balance the look for each photo. One of the great things about Exposure is how far you can push your images without damaging them, so this process is reasonably quick.

Presets for Portraits with Punch

Some of my go-to Exposure presets are the Technicolor Process 4-strip varieties. They add a pleasing tone to the skin, and they remove unwanted green or yellow hues. After I apply one of the Technicolor 4 presets and adjust the effect opacity to work with the photo, I then make balanced adjustments to clarity and contrast to make the subject pop. Making these adjustments in Exposure will keep skin looking real and with a natural texture.

Fine Color Control

Another batch of the Exposure features I absolutely love are the saturation controls for image highlights, midtones, and shadows. As with all the sliders in this panel of Exposure, these are precise controls with little to no overlap. This accuracy enables me to micro-adjust skin color, smoothly. Also in the color panel are the extremely useful color luminance controls. One of the often overlooked uses for these sliders is creating color-specific dodge and burn effects, which can be used to make eyes pop, add a bit of color to the background, brighten the complexion, and more, and you still have a full range of controls and non-destructive layers to customize the effects for each photo.

Gentle Overlays

When placing overlays in portraits, I want them to set ‘in’ the shot rather than over the top. The effects of the latter can quickly appear awkward, which can distract the viewer’s eye from the subject. This example shows how subtle warming can add to a scene and help focus the attention on the subject.

Conclusion

The robust editing controls in Exposure make my photo editing life easy and I love the way it makes my images look. It’s one of my go-to tools for all my portrait work. The superior clarity, contrast, broad selection of great-looking presets, and enhanced color luminance controls in Exposure are excellent options for giving your portraits the pop you’ve been looking for.

The post Making Portraits Pop appeared first on Exposure Software.

Before getting into this type of work, I had to learn and apply some key tools and principles:

• Subjects: Using everyday home objects, fruits, vegetables with interesting shapes, textures and colors
• Composition: Simple, dynamic set-ups with harmonious shapes, sizes, colors and placement
• Lighting: Use of studio flash (wireless/tethered) with a softbox to avoid the tripod in order to get more freedom of movement and more shots out of a session
• Backgrounds: Blending textures into the background to convey the proper atmosphere, as well as trying to stay away from buying lots of fabric
• Atmosphere: Recreating the classical look of the master painters: the warmth, the small window light, the dark tones…

Exposure X4 is an excellent editing tool for this type of work, in particular for the following reasons:

• Composition and lighting: On this project, I used the tethered functionality in Exposure, and monitored the captured images in real time. As I shoot, the image appears in Exposure on my computer screen almost immediately and I can check and correct some details that I cannot evaluate well on the camera.
• Backgrounds: Using the overlay textures provided by Exposure as well as my own allows me to produce very realistic and varied backgrounds. I typically combine two or three wall textures and one or two scratch textures. I like the antique, decayed look. I place each of these textures in a separate layer for better blending control. I then apply masks as required to isolate the front elements from the background.
• Atmosphere: Exposure is unbeatable here. The older film emulations such as the Polaroids, Kodachromes, etc., render the image so warm and intimate. And, as a final touch, a soft vignette gradation helps build a nostalgic darkness.

Project and Setup

I used Exposure to monitor my photos during this tethered shoot, it was a recent project I shot for this article. Here is a list of the equipment I used.

• Fuji X-T2 paired with a Fuji XF 35mm F1.4 lens
• ISO 400 / f11 / 1/250s
• Flash meter
• Flash and large vertical softbox
• Wooden base, white background and a black panel on the right of the subject
• USB tether cable
• Fujifilm X Acquire tethering software
• Exposure X4
• Computer

My Editing Process

First, I selected the final RAW file from the shoot. It was a Fuji .RAF file in this case. I then used Exposure’s crop, rotate, and transform tools. I cropped the photo 1×1 and then I used the transform tools to straighten the bottles. After that, I adjusted the white balance.

Here’s how I created the look of the image using Exposure’s non-destructive layering tools:

• For the first layer, I applied a Color Film preset. I decided in favor of the Kodachrome II (62-74), and kept the grain on.
• For layer two, I applied the Color Misc Effects – Saturation Increased-Warm preset. I added this to improve warmth and color intensity to the objects. I set the opacity at 40% to blend it.
• In layer three, I applied a texture overlay. I used yellowed antique paper with a layer mask so the texture only applies to the wall.
• For layer four, I applied another texture overlay. This time, I used a stained industrial floor image to add some wall intensity. I copied and pasted the layer mask from layer three.
• In layer five, I added a third texture overlay: Image Wash 1 for the decayed look. I copied and pasted the layer three mask, here.

• For layers six and seven – I applied scratches overlays 7 and 9 for additional decayed appearance. As with layers four and five, I copied and pasted the layer three mask.
  • Advice on using masks for developing textures: when using several texture overlays in different layers, make sure all the texture masks are identical. This helps to create a more believable look.
• In layer eight, I applied a soft round vignette to emphasize the tomato and pepper area. I set the opacity at 81%.
• For layer nine, I applied a second vignette. This one is soft, but larger and slightly shifted to the left. This provides an overall mood and emphasizes the light direction from the left. During shooting, I placed a black panel to the right of the bottles to cut reflections and darken the right side of the image. This is further emphasized by shifting the vignette to the left.

• In layer ten, I made overall light adjustments. I lowered the contrast and increased the shadows.
• For layer eleven, I applied the Color Misc Effects – Golden Hour – Orange Most preset at 18% opacity to provide a warmer feel to the whole image.
• In layer twelve, I applied the Color Focus – Soften – Diffuse Glow – Low preset to reduce the image sharpness a little.

For the final step, I evaluated the overall intensity of the processing and decided to keep it at 100% intensity.

Once my editing process was completed, I created a custom preset using the  filename to save all the work I’ve done. In case of a power outage or a computer crash, I can come right back to the original RAW file and apply the user preset in one step. The final image, layers, and settings will be restored.

Conclusion

Still life photography is a very challenging and rewarding practice. You use lots of tools and if you pay close attention, you can gain a lot of knowledge.

I love the look of the old master’s style. This mood can be created in Exposure X4 from start to finish using appropriate textures, film simulations, vignetting and toning.

On this project, I used the tethering capabilities of my camera along with Exposure’s folder monitoring. That helped me see the images on the computer screen as they were captured, giving me immediate visual feedback to make adjustments as required. I highly recommend doing this when shooting still life subjects.

I hope the images and the description of these methods will be useful to you.  Enjoy shooting and ‘’painting’’ in the old master’s style!

The post Tethered Shooting of Still Life Photography with Exposure appeared first on Exposure Software.

The latest version of Exposure X4 supports LUTs, which opens up exciting new creative possibilities. LUTs are short for Look-Up Tables, and they are used for color grading or to achieve striking creative looks like simulating print looks or popular Hollywood looks. They enable you to easily transform the color in your image. Exposure makes it easy to import, preview, apply, and blend LUTs into your images.

Lutify.me create stunning, carefully crafted 3D LUTs that are the industry standard for color grading. We’ve partnered with them and they are providing Exposure users with seven free high-quality LUTs. These LUTs offer true cinematic color grading.

Simply import and then apply them using Exposure’s LUT browser. We’ll be demonstrating four different looks from Lutify.me LUTs that we’ve simply applied and then adjusted the intensity of using the Intensity slider in Exposure’s LUT panel.

We’re using a lovely sunset image by travel photographer Scott Stulberg. Here is the unedited image:

Now let’s transform it in several different ways using Lutify.me’s 3D LUTs. We’re using .cube format LUTs that are REC-709 that we imported and then applied using the sRGB color space. REC-709 refers to the industry standard for HDTV and monitors, and is an RGB color space that is identical to sRGB color space, which is the standard that has been adopted for use with the Internet.

Heulandite LUT

Lutifyme’s Heulandite LUT is a great choice for achieving the popular teal and orange look that is a favorite in Hollywood. You’ll find it as one of the free LUTs that Lutify.me is offering.

Its qualities are boosted contrast, cold shadows, warm skin, and a slight boost in saturation.

In our image, the orange and teal look warms up the sunset and lends a deeper, moody feeling to the shadows.

Howlite LUT

The Howlite LUT is inspired by slide film that’s been cross-processed in print chemicals, which lends images a blue-magenta tint.

The blue-magenta look brings a very deep blue to our image, one that intensifies the sand and water.

You’ll also find this LUT in the free download from Lutify.me’s.

AP-Albireo LUT

The Alternative Process Albireo LUT lends a distinctive orange and grey hue to our image. This LUT is inspired by slide film cross processed in print film chemicals and brings a strong red tint to your images. It looks great on our image.

MIL-Her-Strong LUT

This movie-inspired LUT is one in Lutify.me’s professional 3D LUTs package that recreates color grades and looks from popular Hollywood movies. This particular LUT is inspired by the 2013 Spike Jonez-directed film Her, starring Joaquin Phoenix.

In our image, it brings a strong orange and teal look that works very nicely, and that differs enough from the Heulandrite LUT to establish its own unique look.

Conclusion

One of the benefits of using high-quality professional LUTs like these from Lutify.me is how easily you can achieve a gorgeous, distinctive look in Exposure. Simply import the LUTs and then apply them, using Exposure’s Intensity slider in the LUT panel to adjust the strength. Exposure also enables you to blend LUTs with other edits (including other LUTs and Exposure’s many presets) by using Exposure’s non-destructive layering.

Visit Lutify.me to download your seven free LUTs for Exposure, and get started transforming your images!

The post Free LUTs from Lutify.me for Use in Exposure appeared first on Exposure Software.

Julie Tillett is an English portrait and event photographer and digital artist based in Ireland. She fell in love with taking photos and creatively editing as a hobby, so it developed into an addiction. And now she makes stunning digital art as a profession. One of the tools of her trade is Snap Art. She depends on the looks in Snap Art to blend the line between photo and painting in her work. In the article below, Julie shares helpful advice for using Snap Art like a pro.

Developing an eye

I’ve been using Snap Art for about 3 years. When I first bought it, I would typically create more extreme looks for abstract art or landscapes. I think I most likely chose stronger effects because they are more visibly obvious. I didn’t use it on portraits as much at first, even though I’ve always liked the look of painterly effects on portraits, especially photos of kids. The effects I choose for a portrait are not the same strength or type of look I’d apply to an abstract or landscape. With portraits, mild effects typically work better because they don’t distract from the subject. Balanced, subtle Snap Art effects that blend naturally with the photo emphasizes the whimsical nature of the characters in your images. I love the painterly looks I put on my images with Snap Art, regardless if they’re subtle or strong.  One of my main artistic goals when using Snap Art is to change it from a photo into something more.

Before you begin

I find the effects I achieve with Snap Art are even better when I use a well-exposed and beautifully colored image in the first place. Before bringing my photos into Snap Art, I first develop the RAWs. This process usually consists of making a few essential corrections to exposure, highlights, and shadows. I also apply input sharpening on my images to make sure they are crisp. Sometimes I will apply a color grading look with Exposure, like my favorite Color Photo preset in the Color Films – Aged category. When all of this is complete, I’ll bring the photo into Snap Art.

Follow your creative curiosities

With Snap Art, I’m always forging into new territory, so my workflow is a process of experimentation, and a whole lot of fun. Trying new creative ideas is one of the things I love about it. There are so many gorgeous effect combinations to explore. The visual process of browsing looks helps me creatively come up with new ideas.

My go-to controls

I tend to favor Oil Paint effects in my work, in both portraits and landscapes. I create each of the effects by hand for each application, but there are a few things I always do on each shot. I will normally set the Photorealism slider very high, in the 70-95 range. Also, the Coverage slider is typically high as well. I don’t add any additional coloring in Snap Art. I edit the color before I bring it into Snap Art, so a little color variation can work, but not much.

My tastes have changed since I started using Snap Art. Now, I prefer more subtle effects on my work with Snap Art. I’m an artist and a woman, so I reserve the right to change my mind when the mood strikes. Another one of the great things about Snap Art is its flexibility to work with my current mood.

Starting out with Snap Art

If you’re first discovering what Snap Art has to offer, I first recommend that you set aside some time to play around with it. Experimenting with Snap Art is easy, fun, and it teaches you a lot about what effects are available to you. As you search, make sure to browse all the different preset types, not just your favorites, and keep an open and curious mind about them. Explore any new creative direction with reckless abandon. You can always undo, or go back to square one because Snap Art’s workflow is entirely non-destructive.

Slow down

You can’t achieve the kind of painterly looks as quickly as you do in Snap Art anywhere else. Use this speed to your advantage, but don’t let it be in charge. You can easily make creative changes too fast before you’ve had time to study them. Take time to examine the looks you come up with before you make adjustments. This approach will save you from lots of time spent agonizing over mini-tweaks to sliders.

Coordinate lighting

One trick I use with Snap Art effects is to align the lighting source of the painterly effect with the light source in the original photo. To my eye, this subtle change easily blends the brushing strokes with the original shot more naturally.

Get connected

Find inspiration through others. There are plenty of places where you can connect with other Snap Art users, like in Alien Skin’s Snap Art users group on Facebook, or by tagging your work on Instagram with #alienskinsnapart.

Conclusion

Art is subjective; everyone out there might not agree with what you or I think looks fantastic. Don’t let a difference of opinion affect you. What you make is your art and no one else’s. For my art, I love to have people step back and ask if what I created is a painting or a photo. If the line between the two is blurred, I feel like my art was successful. Snap Art is one of those tools that makes it a reality for me.

Check out more of Julie’s work on her website, or follow her on Instagram.

The post Pro Snap Art Tips from Julie Tillett appeared first on Exposure Software.

Photo of the Village Le Trein d’Ustou with Exposure’s Daguerreotype – Sepia – Black Frame preset and grunge border.

Exposure has a wide selection of beautiful, customizable presets that emulate films and photographic processes from when photography was still in its infancy. In this article, we will take an in-depth look at the preset choices in Exposure’s B&W Film – Vintage category. Understanding some of the science behind classic photography processes will help you apply these presets more convincingly. Keep reading and learn about the analog methods behind Exposure’s black and white vintage presets and hear advice about using them to enhance your images.

Exposure’s Preset Options for Historic Looks

The preset families available in Exposure’s B&W Films – Vintage folder come in two distinct flavors: photographic and printing processes. The photographic preset options are Daguerreotype, Calotype, and Wet Plate, which represent some of the earliest forms of photography. Within each of these preset families, there are several variations to select from. Much of the early photography process was done by hand, so defects were fairly common. Exposure includes effects like scratches, dark edges, fingerprints and smudges, which were commonplace in this type of photography. The presets in this whole category pair well with textures, thick vignettes, color tints, and borders.

High in the Pyrenees mountains, near the village of Mercenac, Mr. Christian Marrot tends to his flock. Exposure’s Lith – Infrared preset darkens the blue in the sky, which gives the shot a great mood.

Exposure’s printing process preset options are Cyanotype, Lith, and Platinum Print. There are multiple versions of each of these printmaking processes just like there would be in the analog darkroom. For example, the signature blue coloring of an analog Cyanotype print will quickly fade. In Exposure, you can replicate this effect by raising the blacks slider or adjusting the tone curve to brighten the dark values of your image.

Photo of outside the village of Balagué with the Cyanotype – Soft preset applied. Note the fade effect in the shadow areas.

Lith prints are created using a specialized developer. The printing process gives you excellent control of highlight and shadow tones in the image, so Lith presets can believably be combined with adjustments to the shadows, highlights, whites, and blacks.

The platinum printing process introduced different chemicals to create a photo. It doesn’t produce dark blacks like the silver-based prints in standard black and white photography. Because these options make your image appear lighter, they subtly draw out detail in shadows.

In this photo of Mr. Pierrot Estebe at Saint Lizier, Exposure’s Platinum Print – Warm preset introduces a pleasing tone. Also note the shadows are not completely black, which is an easily recognizable characteristic of platinum prints.

Convincing Preset Applications

Technology

Nothing dates a photo like technology. A photo of a woman wearing yoga pants and listening to headphones won’t be as convincing as someone dressed in period-accurate attire, like the examples in this article. If you want to recreate a photo with an old fashioned feel, be mindful of chronological inconsistencies.

Several automobiles in this shot of Village Le Trein D’Ustou were removed using the spot heal and clone tool in Exposure. The modern technology captured in the scene ruined the effect that the historic preset applied, which distracted from the photo. The vintage preset is Exposure’s Wet Plate – Lens Blur.

Light

In landscapes, location is paramount. Especially in darker scenes, the effects from light pollution are easy to see. So keep away from brightly lit urban areas if you want believable vintage photos.

Physically Possible

Consider the length of time needed for proper exposure on a wet plate photo. These old systems needed a lot of light, so exposure times of several minutes were normal. Early portraits usually captured serious faces of the subject because of long exposure times. Nailing a jump shot isn’t possible to capture at that speed.

A good example of how historic film looks don’t work on every image. This shot of Mr. Thierry Lafitte, a horse trainer at Mercenac Farm, was enhanced with Exposure’s Daguerreotype – High Contrast preset. Notice the horse’s lips frozen in time. That would be impossible to capture using historic photography technology.

Lighting Conditions

Contrast is a key feature of vintage analog photos. Images with strong, or direct lighting can help communicate that.

The sharp contrast in this shot taken outside of Balagué village was enhanced with Exposure’s Wet Plate – Tab Frame preset. The Sloppy 12 border overlay is used in this example.

Conclusion

We put a lot of research into Exposure’s selection of beautiful customizable presets, which span the entire history of film, and beyond. The historic photography processes we discussed in this article are just a taste of what Exposure offers. The next time you browse Exposure’s vintage presets, remember these tips for using them convincingly.

Happy editing!

Special Thanks

Photographer Enrique Colección has a deep love for historic photography and techniques. He visited one of his favorite areas in the Pyrenees mountains, the Department of Ariege, to capture the photos in this article. He visited remote villages that haven’t changed much in the last 100 years.

Film photography began in 19th-century France with the introduction of the Daguerreotype process. Since that discovery, French photographers have immortalized photography excursions in the rugged wilderness with heavy tripods and plate cameras to capture the beauty in the world around them. Inspired by the rich photography history of the area, Enrique designed and created the Great Pyrenean Route of the 19th Century, which leads tourists to the exact locations where French photographers placed their cameras over 100 years ago. This gives adventuring travelers a comparison of each historic waypoint to see how much that place has changed, today.

To see more of Enrique’s work, check out the gigantic print installations of his aerial panoramas he makes with our resizing software Blow Up. His current record is over 21 feet (6 meters 42 centimeters) long at Argelès-Gazost inside L’Étape des Pyrénées. The photo shows the famous Col du Tourmalet within the new Tourmalet Experience project.

A round of applause for those who assisted in making this article happen.

Coordinators Ariege, Ustou Valley

• Gite La Colline Verte – Mr. Zoher
• Association Patrimonie en Vallée Ustou – Jordan Descourtis, Thierry Cerdan, Mr & Mrs Andron, Pierrot Estebe, Norbert Estebe

Coordinator Ariège, Saint-Girons Valley

• Freedom Trail Association – Dominique Terrier
• Alegria Horse Company at Caumont – Julie Cuviller, Thierry Laffitte

The shepherd – Christian Marrot

The post Recreating Vintage Photos in Exposure appeared first on Exposure Software.

Live theatre photography is technically challenging, but it can be learned through trial, error, and research just like everything else. The real issue is time. Images have to give viewers a favourable impression of the live show, and they have to be ready to publish, instantly. That’s where Exposure’s workflow really became desirable for me.

I use Exposure for speed, image quality, and reliability. It’s the primary tool in my post-processing workflow. Improvements in the RAW processing capabilities in Exposure X4 have enabled me to cancel my subscription with Phase One. Now my workflow is as simple and fast as it needs to be.

The Need for Editing Speed

I shoot for West End and provincial theatres, irrespective of the size and the prestige my post-processing is the same. I’ve used a mixture of pre-selected images in this article. Unless it’s a long-running show, the turnaround between shoot and delivery is measured in hours. You have to be prepared to lose sleep to deliver the images on time. Between the installation of stage, props, backdrops, flats, lighting, and the opening performance, there will be one full dress rehearsal, two if you’re lucky. The actor’s performances will likely be perfected already, but the rest of the production might not be as finished.

The lights may not be focusing correctly, or they may be too strong or too weak. Also, the lighting will switch between extremes of light and shadow in different scenes, or they may use different hues, and all of them may need adjusting. You can forget about using auto white-balance when every scene uses different colored lighting. Additionally, the stage painting may not be complete, or sections of the stage might not even be built. The performance may stop suddenly, there will be scattered cables and equipment everywhere, and there may be an open orchestra pit you have to be careful not to fall in. You have to be as close to the action as possible, while not getting in the way.

Thinking Strategically

I shoot with two pro Nikon cameras and one Fujifilm X-T2. The Nikons are for the live stage, and the X-T2 is used for backstage shots. All of my cameras are set up to shoot lossless compressed RAW and fine/large JPEG. I use the JPEGs for the culling process because they have practically zero rendering time in Exposure. After the shoot is narrowed down to my winning shots, then I can switch to the RAW files for editing.

Firstly, I take a total count of the images I’ve taken. I use this to monitor my progress through the photos. It’s vital I keep my energy levels and focus up, and seeing the number of candidate images reduce as I complete each stage gives me a sense of being on target. I also use it to gauge how brutal I am in the culling process. If too many survive a specific phase, I edit again with more prejudice.

Ultimately, I’ll be evaluating the images based on emotional impact, but I can’t start there. Depending on the type of show, I could have anywhere between 1,200-3,500 images before I start culling. Getting drawn into the emotion of the images with that many to choose from isn’t recommended. I have to keep moving, and trust my instincts. I use Exposure’s star rating system (1-5) to narrow things down until I’m left with a manageable group of selects. That’s when I start using the emotional eye.

Fast, Easy Culling

I don’t “cull” a shoot by removing photos, instead I promote them through a series of passes. Winners are assigned a rating 5, but 3’s and 4’s may still have their place in certain contexts. I find it useful to send clients my recommended 5-star winners, but I make 4’s available to them if they need more options. Also, actors will ask for images of themselves that didn’t make it to the official promotional materials. It’s always good to have other quality options on hand.

1-Star: Focus

Anything in proper focus gets 1-star. Focus isn’t a subjective or fixable phenomenon, so this is a natural choice as the first step. During this step, I hide the Exposure’s panels and enlarge the thumbnails to fit four images on the screen at a time. This enables me to move down through the photos, and quickly mark each one by pressing the number 1 key. This rates them with a 1-star for proper focus.

At the end of this pass, I set the filter to hide any images without a 1-star or higher rating. Then I double check that the image count is where it needs to be. Having a high number of images at this stage is a double-edged sword. It’s great that I managed to nail focus in low light conditions with fast moving subjects x number of times more than usual, but it will make the next phase longer.

2-Stars: Distractions

Anything that doesn’t have a prominent distracting feature gets a 2-star rating. I quickly assign the rating by pressing the number 2 key. Again, this is an early phase because it’s the next least-subjective point.

(image below – main focus is nailed, but the blurry hands in the front is a huge distraction).

3-Stars: Performer

Anything flattering to a performer gets a 3-star rating with the number 3 key. Facial muscles can be massively exaggerated as stage actors push out volume and emotion. This isn’t meant to be a film, the performance is meant to look believable from 100 feet away. As a result, half-closed eyes, grimaces, stomachs sticking out where they aren’t meant to happens a lot. No performer is going to thank me for having something like that printed of them 6-feet high. Keeping the actors happy is key good for business.

4-Stars: Removing Duplicates

Through hours of live performance, I’ll be switching from single shot to burst shoots. This invariably means that by this phase, I’ll have a mixture of single shots and groups of images that are essentially of the same thing.

It’s important to keep the brain’s tasks as simple as possible. Picking a photograph because it has a great emotional impact is not the same task as picking a photograph because it’s the best one of a group. If you try to do both things at once, you’ll confuse yourself and slow your progress.

So, for this process, I’ll start using the color labels. I’ll label all groups with blue and all single shots with red. I then set the filter to only display shots marked with blue, so my brain can easily choose which shot is the best of the group. I choose the best one based on impact, gut feel, or a finer application of the rules I applied in the first three phases. There can only be one winner in each group. They are labeled red. After I have labeled a red photo from each of the group shots, I switch the filter back to show red 3-star photos. All the thumbnails will now be unique. I then select all, and click 4 – promoting all images to 4 stars.

5 Stars: Impact

By now I now have a reduced set of images that are all in focus, flattering to the performer, free from obvious distractions, and that aren’t duplicated. Depending on how successful the previous phases have been, I may have around 200-300 such images. Now is the best time to take a break, and then come back ready to engage your emotional eye. The next phase is purely subjective.

I’ll zoom the thumbnails to show a varying range of images at once, and click anything that hits me. That is a bit of an oversimplification of a quite complex subjective process. You’ll be taking into consideration the aesthetics, the type of show you’re shooting – but mostly anything that really hits you emotionally. The images have a job to do, they need to sell theatre tickets, and increase the artistic status of professionals involved. A clever, well-executed shot can be stale and lifeless, but you can easily spot a standout winner. These get a 5-star rating.

RAW Editing

Now we have our winning shots, so we switch over to perform editing on the RAW files.

Theatre lighting can change from one extreme to the next in a moment. At first glance an image may appear to be far too toned in one primary colour to be useable, but the color temperature presets Cloudy/Tungsten/Shade can easily correct for it. I’ve been impressed at how Exposure has pulled back a saturated sensor into a great-looking image on many occasions. White balance isn’t something I worry about until this final phase. This is also when I set the blacks, contrast, and bring out the pop. I’ll also use the spot heal, and I’ll add additional layers for adjusting sharpness.

Notable Performance

I built my own custom editing computer system to maximize my production speed. So, from the ground-up, my PC is as streamlined as I can make it.

It has dual Intel Xeon six-core processors, 24GB RAM, SanDisk Extreme Pro SSDs, and a lightning-fast GPU. Even though this is an overclocked computer, I can’t stand to give up 30% of my computer’s resources to run Creative Cloud in the background. When I start uploading another 4,000 images, it will set off Creative Cloud’s indexing process. This would drag my PC’s performance to a halt for no good reason. I don’t need collaboration support, I don’t need to edit my images on multiple devices, and I don’t upload images directly to social media. And definitely don’t want some random and time consuming update happening.  All I want is the editing speed I paid for. The kind of speed that Exposure gives me.

It’s not complicated. My clients just need their photos delivered by 9am the next day. Exposure gives me the processing speed I need to keep my clients happy. The editing tools in Exposure are high quality, it renders my RAW files beautifully, it’s easy to use, and it’s reliable. This is why Exposure plays such an integral part in my editing workflow.

The post Accelerated Photo Editing in Exposure appeared first on Exposure Software.