Welcome to my channel! Here you will find in-depth Lightroom and Photoshop tutorials, specifically for landscape photography.
I believe in providing in-depth tutorials that dig deep into the tools of Lightroom and Photoshop so you can learn both the "HOW" and the "WHY". This helps you to understand the concept behind photo processing, and is the direct path to creating the landscape photos you desire.
The result? You will learn a faster, easier, and more enjoyable photography workflow that is 100% custom for you - not someone else!
Looking for more tutorials? Make sure to visit my website, where you can learn even more about Lightroom and Photoshop...as well as download comprehensive tutorials for landscape photography.
Excellent tutorial. Just a curiosity (and stupid, I’m afraid) question: how did you add the color wheel? Are those 2 distinct files blend in one photo? Sorry for not catching the issue and again tx a lot
Thanks, happy you liked it! This is something I put together for the video, it's a generic color wheel and scale added to the canvas of my image. However, you can create your own color wheel from a photo and extract the palette here: color.adobe.com/create/image It's a great tool for balancing and will give you suggestions based on your current hues.
You are a phenomenal teacher, Christopher ! Cleared lot of my doubts in the use of Luminance range !🙏🙏👌 A small query ..... is there a way to transfer a mask created in ACR as a selection in Photoshop ?
I'm glad you found the tutorial helpful, thanks for the kind words! As of now, I'm not aware of a way to transfer a mask in ACR to a selection in Photoshop. However, as a workaround, you can convert the mask overlay to White on Black, take a screenshot of the image only (not the entire screen), and bring that over to Photoshop as a new layer lined up on top of your photograph...then use a luminosity mask to create a selection based on the lightness value of that screenshot (white, grey, black). Not perfect, but it's all I can think of at the moment and will be easier than trying to replicate that mask manually. Hope that helps!
I haven't seen someone delve so deeply into a topic and explain WHY! Why it's better to do something one way than another, and how that helps you understand the problem. Some other educators just show you how they do it, just moving sliders, but they don't explain why it's better than another way of processing or another solution. I watched Chris's LR course:The Masking Panel, which was made on the same principle. He explains things down to the smallest detail and is good not only for beginners but also for experienced LR users, including myself. Anyway, I enjoyed watching the entire course. 👌👌👌
Your comment made my day, thank you! I'm happy that an experienced Lightroom user like yourself still found the masking course helpful. Thanks for taking the time to share your feedback...much appreciated! :)
Hi Judith! The link is in the description for the video, but you may need to click "more" to expand and see it. Here's a direct link: creativeraw.com/lightroom-behind-the-mask/ Hope you enjoy the course!
The information that these videos (this one and others) convey is truly interesting. They go deep to the real substance. I watch various channels that deal with these topics, but this, without a shadow of a doubt, seems to me to be one of the best. Thank you
Great video, but I'm not clear how you "switched over to color channel" with your histogram. Pretty sure I've never seen that before and I've watched this segment three times and I'm not clear on what you did to bring that up. Thanks!
Thanks, glad you like it! You don't actually "switch" to a specific color channel, but rather you're able to SEE each clipped color channel as an overlay (instead of the standard red for all clipped highlights and blue for all clipped shadows). This will not let you switch to that specific color channel to adjust them independently...but once you know which color is being clipped, you can then pick one of your Develop tools and recover that data. The Point Color tool within a mask is your best bet, but also switching color profiles to a more neutral one can instantly recover those clipped pixels.
@@christopherodonnell thanks so much for the courtesy of the reply! I think I get it now hearing you explain it this way. Again excellent and helpful video! Appreciate it and the time you took making it!
@@Argolich My pleasure, thanks! The bigger point of this feature is that sometimes, when you've blown out pixels, you can recover them by only adjusting the lightness of a specific COLOR rather than the more global adjustment with your tonal sliders (exposure, highlights, shadows, etc). This is usually more accurate than adjusting all colors of a pixel.
Glad you like it Robert! The link is under the description for the video. It may be hidden under the fold, so you would need to click "more" to see the entire description.
Great tutorial Christopher. I almost missed it because I thought I already knew all of LRC's trick, but I was wrong! Thanks for your free course as well which I am going to download right now. Thank you.
good stuff, Christopher, thank you! Now, suppose we have overall exposure okay, but blown-out reds. How do we adjust that? Directly in the histogram: no Would we go to the tone curve and reduce the red channel until the over-exposure goes away? Any other ideas?
Glad you like it Norbert....and great question! So if those red pixels are clipped, then you need to adjust the LIGHTNESS in order to recover that detail. The tone curve set to red channel will not work here as that is a color shift....dropping it will push those reds into cyan. I have an in-depth video here on my channel about curves which explains this in more detail, but what you would want to do first is make sure you're in the best color PROFILE. The profile tells Lightroom how to define your colors...it sets the environment...which pixels should be categorized as red, etc. So if you find that your colors are getting clipped, I would check the profile first and see if switching to something more neutral (i.e. Camera Faithful or Adobe Neutral) will pull more detail out of that raw file and scale back on the clipping. From there, I would then use the Point Color tool within a mask (or the mixer if its more straightfoward) to reduce the Luminance of that specific color. Hope that helps!
Hi Andy! That's going to depend on how much clipping is occuring, and how much of that color is in your image. For example, if you're clipping just a few small areas of blue, then it would be ideal to first isolate that area with a mask and then adjust the lightness value of those blues. Your first step though is to make sure you're using the proper color profile, as this defines the environment that you're colors are in. If you're using a profile that's not suited well for your image, then it can clip your colors unnecesarily. From there, you can use the Point Color tool within a mask.
Christopher explains in great detail the different techniques and the theory as to what they mean. He is an extremely knowledgeable teacher and one of the best ones out there. I completed 2 of his free courses, Lightroom Behind the Mask and Luminosity Masks. He doesn't speed through them and his demonstrations are easy to follow along with. I had the videos on one monitor while I followed along with lightroom and photoshop on my other monitor so that I could achieve what he was demonstrating. This video on contrast was just as informative. Thank you Christopher!!
This comment made my day! I'm very happy to hear that you found the courses helpful...luminosity masks are my favorite subject to teach because they open up so many possibilities...fairly sure that I've used these masks on every single photograph I've processed. Thank you for the great feedback!
Thank you Christopher for such an understandable and explanatory video. I am an "old school" (and I mean old school) photographer and struggle with Lightroom in the digital age. But, being old school, I do understand B&W and can easily relate that to colour. So Thanks again.
"Old school" is the best foundation for photography! You don't get bogged down with the digital side which can be a huge distraction...much better in the long run to build your confidence with the camera and composition first. I believe it made a huge difference in my photography by starting with film. Glad you enjoyed the video!
Christopher fully understands these subtle visual attributes and their discrete effect on images. He then explains the what and how in clear, understandable English. Christopher is a quality teacher, delivering knowledge endorsed through a comprehensive understanding of LightRoom supported by practical experience.
Wow. So many click-bait videos dancing around the subject for 20 minutes and never providing an applicable answer. Thank you for making this video, sub'd!
Excellent. Clear, informative, handled like a skilled educator. I did not hear a quick recap of the sequence of the three sliders. Otherwise, an impressive presentation.
Thanks for the excellent feedback Bill, happy you found it useful! Since contrast is a brute-force, global adjustment...I recommend not using it at all unless your image is very flat with large gaps on both sides of the histogram. Instead, start with clarity, and then fine-tune with texture. If you find that your image is a bit lacking at the end of your workflow, you can then try the contrast slider within the confines of a mask (followed by clarity and texture)...making sure to keep an eye on that histogram. This can be a bit nuanced depending on your intent. I have a "cheat sheet" on my Lightroom workflow that you may find helpful. In it, I explain that processing should be done in several rounds of different INTENT (i.e. adjusting for light, color, and texture separately). If interested, you can download it here for free: creativeraw.com/lightroom-workflow-cheatsheet/ Thanks for taking the time to comment, it's much appreciated!
What an informative and educational video! Christopher is an excellent photographer with great tips for those who are seeking to enhance their photos! His videos are always so professional and helpful!
I'm very happy to hear that you found this helpful! My goal with these tutorials is make Lightroom and Photoshop a fun and creative outlet for serious landscape photographers. I think the best way to accomplish that is to first break these programs down into very simple steps....and once that foundation is laid properly, you can take on even the most advanced techniques with complete confidence. Now you can certainly get by with a novice understanding, but you won't have true fulfillment with your photography until you break through that beginner/intermediate plateau...so that is what I want to help with. Thank you for the very kind comment!
Chris, good explanation regarding clarity, contrast, and texture and how to use masking to improve images. I did not see a link to your tutorials. Did I miss something?
@@dalladymonglad you enjoyed the video. The links are listed in the description, but you may need to expand it to see. Here’s a direct link to the Lightroom masking course: creativeraw.com/lightroom-behind-the-mask
Great and concisely presented point on contrast in images and Lightroom. There are tons of videos with the pretention to explain or teach it all when it comes to Lightroom but I have not seen one yet that speaks in such a clear and genial way of the simple but extremely powerful relation between contrast, blacks, whites, midtones. Thanks so much!
Thanks for the generous and thoughtful feedback. I try to create videos that are on very specific topics and discuss them in-depth, so I am happy to hear that you found this helpful...I appreciate it!
Hi Christopher, I'm living in South Africa and I cannot get into your link for your Behind the Mask tutorial, can you please assist me in some way.I would really appreciate this course.
Hi John - Happy to help. If you could please send me a message through the following link with your email address, I can send you the course myself: creativeraw.com/contact-us/
