From the course: Photo Tools Weekly
Finding the keeper
- [Chris] Hello, I'm Chris Orwig, and welcome to another episode of Photo Tools Weekly. I am super excited that you're here because this week we're gonna go above and beyond talking about tools related to technology, because one of the most important tools that we have as photographers is how we creatively think, and here I wanna share with you the thinking behind trying to capture and actually find the hero shot. Which this was one of those for me when I was recently in Minnesota. So what I wanna do is just talk through my process in order to inspire your own process for capturing and creating wonderful photographs. So let me tell you a little bit of the backstory here. So there I was in Minnesota, in Minneapolis. I'd never been there before, and it was a beautiful day which was great and was walking around and searching and trying to find a location for a shoot. It was on top of a bridge. This is the view one way and then another, and I wasn't really inspired with anything yet. And then I heard of this park and this is looking down from the bridge below to the park, and I'm just capturing these with my iPhone at this point. And I think, okay, this is gonna work. There's this kind of intriguing structure down here that I wanna work with. So I get down there with friend, Luke, and at first we're gonna do some jogging stuff, but then I said, well Luke, what if you kind of hang off of the structure? And you can see he's kinda holding onto it, and I'm capturing some images, and I said, well could you kinda climb up on that? He's like, oh yeah, that'd be so much fun. And so now here he's climbing up on it, and I'm trying to figure out what is the image? And so he's climbing up just a little bit, and he's actually not that high. He's maybe like three feet off the ground at this point. And so it's almost just like a high pullup bar, but I'm trying to get a low perspective so I can get his feet above these buildings, right? 'Cause that really isn't working. And the idea for this shoot was kinda this athletic shot of an athlete doing something. And then I got a little lower and this started to work. This was the first moment where I thought, okay, there might be a photograph here. You can also see I'm shooting with a depth of field, I think it was F22, so I'm getting that sunburst effect as well. And then I'm just shooting through all this 'cause I'm thinking this is kinda fun. There he is hanging. Again, it looks higher than he is because I'm really low on the ground. And when I get to this point I'm getting excited. Like, okay, okay, there's gonna be a cool image. I love the structure, I love the silhouette, I love the sun. And then I asked him if he can hold on with one arm, and he says of course, and capture this frame. So it took a lot. I mean if I exit out of full screen mode for a second and go over here you can see it took like a ton of images, a ton of trying, a ton of mistakes to get to this point. And for me this really is the keeper. This is the hero shot. And when I was editing, like going through the images, I was hoping, okay please, I please hope that works. And it works, but the problem is that these buildings, they kinda take away from sort of the mysteriousness of the photograph, 'cause this structure is so curious and odd. So I realize, I need to fix that, and so in Photoshop what I did was cropped in just a little bit and then I changed the color, of course, just brighten it up, add some more blue, which wasn't that difficult to do, and then brought down some clouds down here. My clouds aren't perfect. I could probably do a little better work on them, but that worked a lot better than this, right? You can kinda see the difference there with how that came together. And I guess to the image I did here he's looking towards the camera, the one I selected with that. And then after that I tried to shoot some more, he jumped down and that was the end. And so the point with all of this hopefully is helping you realize is that when you are shooting, part of the process is when you look at other people's photographs like this, realize there's always a story behind it. Realize there's always some effort. There's always some experimentation. There's always, there's always mistakes behind it. And then when you start looking for your locations, you gotta really search and you gotta look for something that catches your eye, inspires you, and then you just work it. I mean, you just experiment. You just try. Say, okay, what about this, what about that, what about maybe doing this, maybe it's a silhouette. Maybe I can do something kinda fun like this, and then you get to that moment, sorry I passed it there. You get to that moment and then that's the image that you work on. And so what my hope for you today is that you get out there today and you go make some images and you really work the environment. Now some people will say you shouldn't overshoot or you should have the previous realization of the idea ready before you shoot and you should get it all ready, and you just click and magic happens. And I imagine that does happen for some people, but it's never happened for me. For me there's always this type of critical thinking process. And the tool of being able to critically think and search and explore is such a huge tool to have as you're seeking to create better photographs. Now this is important to know when you're shooting, but then also when you come back to Lightroom, so that in Lightroom when you're on image number like whatever this is, 33, and you're like oh my gosh, I am horrible, this is horrible, oh my gosh, I can't believe I call myself a photographer. Seriously, if other people saw this they'd be like, Chris, really? But you can't let that self talk get you down, rather you have to replace it with oh I'm getting there, I'm getting closer, I'm searching, I'm digging, it's almost like a pirate digging for treasure, right? And you're like almost there. Then you're there, you're close, you're close, and you're like, yes, I got it, I got it. And that really is, at least for me, the art and craft of photography. All right, well on that note, that wraps up this week's episode, and I hope you get out there and do some shootin' and have some fun with that, and then of course bring that same passion and energy and enthusiasm back to your work in Lightroom, and if you bring that back to the process it can really help you to create something which is wonderful. Have a fantastic rest of your day, and I'll see you next time. Bye for now.
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Contents
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Workflow strategy when shooting Raw + JPG3m 54s
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Quicker processing with review and camera calibration4m 15s
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Creating a concept layout with Lightroom and Photoshop8m 56s
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Fun layer project in Photoshop and Lightroom7m 43s
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Brush away unwanted objects in Lightroom CC5m 11s
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Using blur and type, part 14m 26s
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Using blur and type, part 26m 16s
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Better black and white workflow, part 19m 28s
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Better black and white workflow, part 24m 4s
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Action sports retouching, part 18m 57s
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Action sports retouching, part 26m 14s
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Face-Aware Liquify6m 59s
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Fixing teeth in a fashion photograph7m 51s
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Replace the sky in a drone photograph9m 6s
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Creating a great exposure from a single frame, part 15m 30s
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Creating a great exposure from a single frame, part 29m 29s
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Creating a luminous black-and-white portrait, part 14m 13s
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Creating a luminous black-and-white portrait, part 28m 8s
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Fixing overexposure with Camera Raw, part 15m 10s
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Fixing overexposure with Camera Raw, part 28m 52s
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Creative layer blending with Adobe Mix9m 58s
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Making a composite with Adobe Mix9m 35s
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Bring out detail in a landscape photograph, part 16m 20s
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Bring out detail in a landscape photograph, part 27m 51s
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Export a image from video footage9m 9s
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Finishing an iPhone photo11m 38s
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Combining the best expressions from two images5m 30s
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Celebrity portrait workflow in Lightroom: Part 15m 51s
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Celebrity portrait workflow in Lightroom: Part 26m 22s
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Creative layer blending project9m 14s
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Replacing a background and creating vivid colors6m 7s
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Jump for joy: Finishing a beach photo in Lightroom and Photoshop8m 57s
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Becoming an expert with masking in Photoshop6m 12s
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Advanced masking speed tips8m 29s
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Preparing a portrait for Instagram with Lightroom5m 25s
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Finishing a portrait with Photoshop7m 59s
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Using Lightroom to creating a stylized look that prints well5m 22s
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Cleaning up a creative portrait6m 37s
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Hacking Lightroom to create layouts for other projects6m 17s
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Using Content Aware Scale to add to the composition4m 25s
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Extending and filling in the background projects7m 27s
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How to create Gradient Tone Mapping color effects9m
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Creating more precise Gradient Map effects6m 47s
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Natural wrinkle reduction7m 10s
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Advanced wrinkle reduction12m 50s
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Tips for viewing and organizing your layers in Photoshop8m 11s
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Becoming an expert in layers in Photoshop5m 17s
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Using VSCO in Lightroom7m 27s
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Syncing adjustments in Lightroom7m 18s
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High-impact color with Camera Raw and Photoshop6m 57s
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Using Lightroom and Photoshop to create vivid color6m 1s
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Intro to better B&W with the Silver Effex Pro plugin5m 47s
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Taking a deeper dive into Silver Effex Pro10m 10s
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Creating a Panoramic Photo in Lightroom4m 47s
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Advanced Lightroom and Photoshop Pano Workflow6m 55s
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Opening raw files into Photoshop4m 13s
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Three ways to work with Camera Raw and Photoshop8m 14s
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Smart Filters: Using Smart Filters for creative options6m 53s
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Stacking up Smart Filter effects6m 2s
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Cleaning up and removing the background of an image8m 8s
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Two ways to add a new background8m
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Covering up problems in the frame7m 36s
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Removing a person and finishing a photograph9m 20s
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Photoshop Fix to Photoshop CC workflow11m 22s
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Add light to photos with Lightroom10m 56s
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Use Lightroom Collections to process color and black-and-white images6m 39s
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Skin smoothing with the Imogenic plugin Portraiture7m 27s
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Advanced Skin Smoothing Control with Portraiture9m 7s
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Accurate sharpening with Lightroom6m 4s
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Create Collections in Lightroom8m 12s
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Craft creative looks with the Alien Skin Exposure plugin in Lightroom10m 25s
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Use the Alien Skin Exposure plugin in Photoshop11m 32s
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Quick mobile retouching with Photoshop Fix7m 47s
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Add Lens Flare with more precise control9m 50s
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Two ways to crop in Photoshop and extend the canvas6m 9s
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A few methods for working with canvas size7m 45s
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Use plugins in Photoshop for special effects: Analog Efex Pro6m 57s
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Use plugins in Photoshop for special effects: Analog Efex Pro Advanced5m 41s
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Lightroom cropping shortcuts7m 59s
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Remove unwanted objects in Photoshop4m 30s
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Remove unwanted objects in Photoshop: Advanced5m 56s
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Use plugins in Photoshop for better results: Color Efex Pro11m 10s
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Preserve tones with the help of Lightroom clipping indicators6m 3s
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