First image processed with Lightroom 4, which seems to have amazing abilities to lighten shadows. A new adventure. Should be fun. Please tell me if my images get too much like HDR images 
Tag Archives: lightroom
Lotus seed pod after rain – Forest Park, St. Louis – Lightroom Direct Postive Preset
The Magnolia at Dusk – Magnolia liliiflora – Direct Positive Lightroom Preset
As I noted in the post yesterday, this tree is likely to have many pictures taken of it. This is true not only because of its lovely blossoms but also because of its shape. I think you will agree that it is pretty amazing.
Having been pretentious enough to name my house, I am not going to name every blessed thing in and around it, but I do think this tree deserves one. I am thinking Queen followed by something, because she looks rather queenly to me. I will let you know if I come up with anything.
The Direct Positive preset is an interesting one. It brings up the black values and dramatically increases the saturation levels of blue, aqua, purple and a little in green and yellow. I almost always tone the effect way down, but it can make for some intense, striking images.
Rerun: Back With a Punch
In getting ready for an upcoming show, I went back to some old images and used Lightroom, which I did not have before, to help bump up their impact.
Below is a preview of a show I am in along with a few other artists opening here next Friday. If you are in the St. Louis area, come on out. Details to follow.
These four images will be presented together in one frame.
Matt’s Lomo Effect
We live in amazing times. The difference between the pictures below is the result of applying only one effect which I downloaded from the Internet which was created for my Lightroom photoediting program. In fact, I too could come up with a series of adjustments and then export them as a “preset” and put it on the Internet and share it with other folks.
The effect that Matt has created here, very successfully I should add, is a special one, though. Matt has intimitated some of the effects one may get from using a Lomo camera. These cheap cameras, made in the former Soviet Union, were somewhat unreliable, but also could produce images with high contrast, intense color saturation, cool vignetting and accidental blurring from time to time. My friend, Jeremy Huggins, created some beautiful images with his Lomo. The only one I can find online currently, though, is his entry into my last photo contest (#7 here).
I am not sure how much I will use this effect, and I will likely tinker with it when I do, but I find lomo-style images very appealing.
Name That Album
From time to time I like to play around with images that might serve as band pictures or album art, particularly when my friends are cooperative, which they, very kindly, often are. This shot was taken on a trip to Chicago this past weekend when we were sitting by Lake Michigan. I began manipulating this image by using the “Direct Positive” preset in Adobe Lightroom, which creates vivid colors and high contrast, and then went from there.
I think that the style of this picture could work for either a Sigur Ros or Innocence Mission album. However, if you want to play along at home, feel free to come up with an album and/or fictional band name to accompany the image and include it in a comment.
