My Post Processing Workflow

A Day at the Marsh at Fort Hill, Eastham MA.

Sometimes, I know exactly how the image will look, as I compose it in the camera. Sometimes, I know that "this will make a great image" but I just am not sure exactly how I am going to finish it off in Post Processing.

"It could be great in Black and White," I think. "I might need to play with color temperature." 
So, what follows is a bit of an experiment in "follow along, as I run through my Post Processing Workflow."

Lightroom: Steps Taken

Straight out of the camera, we have the RAW File. I develop the RAW file in Adobe Lightroom. Here it is as it came from the camera. (Well... sorta...Actually, for here, I converted it to a JPEG):

Winter Marsh At Fort Hill RAW

I corrected the White Balance, the Exposure, Added a touch of Contrast.
Also, Set the White Point and Black Point, and arrived at:

Winter Marsh at Fort Hill LRA Winter's day, at the Marsh at Fort Hill, in Eastham MA, on Cape Cod. #winterwednesday #nature #coastalthursday © All Rights Reserved, Greg Poulos, Bluefin Studios. http://www.bluefinstudios.com

PhotoShop and Beyond
From this, I export out of Lightroom, as a full sized JPEG file, and into Adobe Photoshop.
In Photoshop, I needed to make some minor edits. Mostly filters. I applied a little Tonal Contrast.
Really that meant heading to the filters, and in Nik Software's Color EFX Pro, I played some with Detail Extractor, some Tonal Contrast and added a light Vignette: Lens. This is the result:

Winter Marsh at Fort Hill ToneA Winter's day, at the Marsh at Fort Hill, in Eastham MA, on Cape Cod. #winterwednesday #nature #coastalthursday © All Rights Reserved, Greg Poulos, Bluefin Studios. http://www.bluefinstudios.com

Your Voice: What's Next
Most times, I stop at this. It's sort of my "go to style" as it were. But I sometimes play a bit more. Today, I felt in the mood for a Black and White treatment. Usually, any image with strong lines or patterns, and contrasting color can make for a good Black & White.

So, back in Photoshop, I returned to Nik's Silver EFX Pro, and gave it some treatments:

Winter Marsh at Fort Hill 30A Winter's day, at the Marsh at Fort Hill, in Eastham MA, on Cape Cod. #winterwednesday #nature #coastalthursday © All Rights Reserved, Greg Poulos, Bluefin Studios. http://www.bluefinstudios.com	Winter Marsh at Fort Hill 60A Winter's day, at the Marsh at Fort Hill, in Eastham MA, on Cape Cod. #winterwednesday #nature #coastalthursday © All Rights Reserved, Greg Poulos, Bluefin Studios. http://www.bluefinstudios.com
The Silver EFX Layer at 30% Opacity	The Silver EFX Layer at 60% Opacity

Once I run the Effects Filters, I work on the Layer with the filter only. By playing with the Opacity of that layer, I can get different feels and emotions from the image.
 

Winter Marsh at Fort Hill 100A Winter's day, at the Marsh at Fort Hill, in Eastham MA, on Cape Cod. #winterwednesday #nature #coastalthursday © All Rights Reserved, Greg Poulos, Bluefin Studios. http://www.bluefinstudios.com

And finally, a version at 100% Black & White Opacity.

So, go ahead, and play.

Experiment. Play. Create different versions. You aren't wasting chemicals. You aren't spending money (except for your time) to try new things out. The Joy and advantage of Digital Workflows means, low cost, more flexibility.  Try it... you just might find a new voice, or new style.

More Fort Hill Marsh, Eastham at http://www.bluefinstudios.com/blog/2014/1/image---marsh-on-fort-hill