Photographers are afraid of the dark, and that fear is the enemy of great photos. Overcoming it is what separates the masters from the amateurs. I teach this in every Shadow hackers classes.
But today I’ll show you how to master SHADOW editing in LR and C!.
This video is a mini masterclass in hope to manipulate tone in Lightroom, Capture One and other apps. Stay with me to the end because this entire video is jam packed.
I used tools like Filmist, Natural HDR and Elegance Speed Masks, but I’m also showing the manual way. Also thanks to Mark Seymour for letting me get hands on with his India Work.
Know your failure point…
Failure is rarely a photo being too dark.
We often think contrast is created by not having flat light, by pushing the slider. But contrast is really created by the tip I will mention at the very end of this video, and we go deeper on it in other workshops and videos on the channel.
That is the separation of tones and how they create an illusion to our eyes. If you come to Shadow Hackers we’ll talk about doubles, halves, and illusions in depth because knowing it changes how you shoot.
Background contrast is the secret…
I’ll show you various hands-on examples of how to reduce background contrast.
By letting second elements have less contrast like the plant I showed you, you can create more overall contrast and 3d pop.
Photographers were doing this long before digital but it’s a nearly forgotten method of using tone in photography and in apps like Lightroom and Capture One. With these masks, it’s really easy to build it into a speed mask like we used in the video.
The enemy of great photos…
Don’t be afraid of the dark. Stop exposing to the right and exposure correctly for your vision and use the shadow in every photo.
Most photographers don’t know they are doing this. Running from shadows, pushing sliders wrong, and creating fake-looking contrast.
It’s not being high key or low key. It’s not ignoring cameras exposure recommendations. It’s running from the shadows that create great photos. It’s pushing slider ever upward in this unrelenting race to be more, when less is more and darkness is the seeking of the light.
Gavin Seim