The ON1 Photo RAW 2023.1 update is free to existing users and might just convince users of older versions that it’s time to upgrade. It also makes this software’s AI credentials that little bit more convincing for anyone weighing up ON1’s do-it-all photo editor against Skylum Luminar Neo.
Tutorials
How to go from color to moody mono in Lightroom
This under-the-pier shot is a classic composition in black and white – you’ve probably seen a lot like it already – but the color original looks very ordinary indeed. So here’s a step-by-step guide to how I transformed it into a powerful graphic image in Lightroom.
Lightroom color adjustments made easy
Sometimes the colors in your image aren’t quite right and it’s not all of them but perhaps one in particular. White balance, saturation and vibrance adjustments affect the whole image, so how do you target specific colors? In Lightroom it’s easy.
How seriously do you take your camera’s in-camera effects?
I’ve reviewed a lot of cameras. It’s been my job for many years. And I’ve quickly figured out that in-camera effects are mostly boring and unimaginative or just a bit crass. But there are exceptions.
When LUTs can be a lifeline
LUT stands for LookUp Table. It’s a digital file that shifts colors and tones in hue, saturation, luminance – usually all three. LUTs are used widely in video editing and cinematography, but are becoming increasingly popular in regular stills photography. They are like ‘pre-processing’ for images. They give you a whole new look without involving any of the editing tools – unlike presets.
When to use a high key look and how to create it with curves
A high key image is one which consists almost entirely of bright tones. This works really well for subjects with white or near-white tones and gives a very bright, airy look. Not every image needs a full range of tones from solid black to brilliant white, and not every image needs the ‘perfect’ histogram. Histograms are there to tell you what’s happening, not what to do.
Color editing is the secret sauce of photo enhancement
All image-editors offer color controls that let you target a specific color or color range and then change its hue, saturation or lightness. In this example, I’m using the Color Editor in Capture One, but any photo editor with HSL color controls will let you do the same.
Preset picks: Silver Efex Pro Hollywood Glamour
What’s in a name? Preset effects typically have names to give you an idea of the kind of subjects they might work with, but in reality you should just choose a preset that gives you the ‘look’ you want. For this dramatic seascape I turned to the Hollywood Glamour preset in Silver Efex Pro, one of the key plug-ins in the DxO Nik Collection.
Capture One 23 Cull tool: how does this new feature work and how useful is it?
Capture One 23 comes with a whole series of new features, and one of these is the Cull window, a workspace for filtering out your best shots and ditching the rest.
Don’t just accept Lightroom’s default Adobe Color profile
It’s easily done. You view a RAW image in Lightroom, it applies the default Adobe Color profile and you don’t even bother to question it. You can see what you don’t like, you do some editing – sometimes it takes a while – and you fix it. But often you’re fixing an issue introduced by the default Lightroom profile, and not something that actually needs fixing!