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Creating images is a process and, for me, pressing the shutter is only a small part of the
journey to an image of sufficient quality to publish. In this article, part 2 to Architecture
Photographers on Holiday, I will go through my image workflow.
All photography faces the challenge of scenes with a significant dynamic range.
Landscape and architecture is really no different. I will capture as many frames as
required to cover the entire scenes dynamic range. For architecture and indoor 3 frames
are enough for most scenes. The image above required 9 images; exposures bracketed at
-2, 0 and +2 and 1 set for the lower half of the room and another for the ceiling. The
additional set is to help me eliminate people from the shot.
Shoot RAW too to retain maximum flexibility in images; we arent sports shooters
firing a constant stream of images to a desk, where JPEG is pretty much
mandatory
Keep ISO Low
Use a single white balance setting for the same set of images
Use the heaviest tripod you have and a remote shutter release, wired or otherwise
This image above, of Canary Wharf underground station, comprises 3 frames. The
challenge for this scene was getting a good exposure of the dark surrounding areas, the
bright metallic escalator and the ridiculously bright canopy. Each layer contains the
properly exposed parts of the composition.
Principal Camera
Importing Images
Selection
Of all the numerous photo applications I have installed, day to day, I use Adobe CS5. It is
a very reliable work horse for image processing.
Image preview and selection is accomplished quickly in Bridge. I select the images I am
interested in on the right. Once happy with this, I use the filter pane on the left to
show only my final selection.
Camera Raw
If you are like me, everything on your camera is set to off or zero. Here in Adobes
Camera Raw application, I will perform a few tweaks to all the images that will go
towards a single composite image.
Ensure you are importing your images in the same color space as your camera.
Mine is Adobe RGB, a wider color gamut than the internets sRGB. Work on the
best quality image and then convert down for your target medium, like the
internet
Edit images in 16 bit
Select the best and most evenly exposed frame and set your white balance
If there are hot spots, use the Recovery slider to compenstate. TIP: Press [alt]
[cmd] together whilst moving the Recovery slider and you will see where the
hot spots are very clearly on the black background!
If youre using the recovery slider too much, compensate with the exposure slider.
Again, press [alt][cmd] together
You can use the [alt][cmd] again with the black levels bring the black levels up
to just before you start blowing the blacks
Select all the images, and Synchronize top left white balance to the other
images in the set
Open All images into Photoshop
Photoshop Tutorial
My Photoshop workspace is quite austere and my editing process is also quite simple.
I have a number of actions set up for menial tasks, like image resize, colorspace
conversion, etc. The discrete tasks I perform can be broken down as follows:
Use masking to select targeted regions of the image for color, contrast and
exposure control. A simple example might be to process the sky separately from
the building in the foreground
Resave this image with all the layers that have been created
Flatten the image and straighten. If necessary, crop.
sharpen
save a new version of this prepared image as a Photoshop PSD
resize for your target medium, example, 900 pixels across for 500px.com
Convert to sRGB and to 8bit
Save as a JPEG. Remember to prefix the file name with 900px for easy finding
later on
This selection is very jagged and will be most visible if we dont make it more smooth
and elegant. So click on the [Refine Edge...] button, again highlighted at the top of the
above image.
The red mask area is very useful for viewing selected vs unselected, but you need to set
this option. Click on the View drop down at the top of the Refine dialogue and select
Overlay.
Increase the size of the brush with the [Size] option and paint lavishly around the edge
of the selection. Go over all the edges!
The selection edge is far more gradated now! Press [OK] to save this selection.
I have gone ahead and repeated the exposure layer mask for the escalator and canopy
surround, which you can see below. The layers, at 100% are too harsh, so I have reduced
the opacity of the canopy layer to 80% and the canopy surround/escalator to 70%. A little
bit of work, but a very flexible method to be able to represent wide dynamic range
scenes.
A great observation to take away from this section is the power and flexibility of layers
and masking. Its precisely how I will process color and contrast in the next section.
Flatten your exposure layers [Layer > Flatten Image] and Save as a Photoshop
document. You now have a properly exposed version of your scene. A base you can come
back to. Very useful if you want to convert to black and white later on.
I will go through my process to apply color and contrast adjustments to the sand.
Saturation
Select the layer you are going to edit I will select the Sand layer.
Tick Use Previous Layer to Create Clipping Mask to ensure your edit is only
applied to the Sand layer. Youll see the new layer has a little arrow pointing down to
reflect this.
TIP: To adjust
exposure by a stop, add a curve layer and set its opacity to 38%. For +1 stop, set the
Blending Mode to Screen and for -1 stop, Multiply.
All Edits done now and, by editing section by section, I have been able to control the
image quite comprehensively.
At this point save the image with all layers as a Photoshop Document.
I have 2 methods.
Use the Ruler, illustrated left which is very quick once you identify the strongest line in
the image, or select all layers, then select the entire image > Edit > Transform >
Rotate.
Crop
Simple task, but difficult to undo once your image is saved. I suggest saving your image
before proceeding.
Sharpen
There are numerous discussions on the subject of sharpening and I personally have tried
them all, but the most elegant sharpening method is the High Pass filter method. The
results are sharp, but without artefacts and jaggies. Sharpening after resize is a definite
no no.
Save
Flatten the image Layer > Flatten Image and save as a new Photoshop File and
name accordingly.
You now have a full resolution properly edited image. When you are preparing images
for publication or competition, this is the version you will come back to to resize, save as
JPEG and distribute.
Resize
I prepare JPEG image versions for various Blogs, Flickr, 500px, 1x and competition.
They are all different sizes.
Save
The final save as a JPEG needs to be converted to sRGB and to 8 bit. These attributes are
standard for the internet. If you dont do either, your image on the internet will simply not
look, to others, the same as you processed on your computer.