Not Standardizing Your Workflow
When post-processing, it’s easy to want to start by correcting whatever problem stands out most in an image. That’s a mistake. Don’t jump around in your work habits. It’s more efficient to establish a consistent workflow and get into the habit of using the same sequence to process each image.
Suggested RAW Workflow
1. White Balance. One of the easiest ways to achieve true color in Adobe Camera Raw (ACR) or the Develop Module of Lightroom is to access the Eyedropper Tool and click it on a white area (not a bright spot coming from light, but from actual color in paint or clothing, etc.).
2. Auto Selection. Both ACR and the Develop module in Lightroom have an “Auto” button in the Basic>Color section. Try clicking that first. It can be undone if you don’t like it and want something more customized. If it’s a good start, keep it and then go on to make additional tweaks.
3. Exposure, Clarity, Shadow, Highlight. All four of these functions provide the potential for major improvements. Clarity is a more “delicate” way of handling contrast. Try this before adjusting the shadows and highlights. (Note: Take care adjusting the Clarity slider in portraits because it accentuates lines in the skin; more on this in section 77.)
Then, go to the Shadow and Highlight sliders to see how they affect the image. Continue to check the histogram as you go. Click the upper right or left arrows in the histogram box to check for “clipping” (the absence of pixels in very dark or light areas). Another way to check for clipped pixels is to hold down the Opt/Alt key while moving the sliders.
4. Whites/Blacks. Adjust the Whites and Blacks according to your vision for the final image. Enhancing the Blacks works well for landscape photos.
5. Vibrance. Vibrance is to Saturation as Clarity is to Contrast. It is light-handed and intelligent. Saturation brings up all the colors linearly, while Vibrance works more with the skin tones. Because it softens oranges, this tool is especially useful when retouching portraits that show a lot of skin. The same feature, conversely, makes it a poor adjustment to use with sunsets.
6. Vignetting. Vignetting helps the subject stand out from the background. This tool has a tendency to be overused in retouching. (In Lightroom, you’ll find this tool in the Effects panel.) Become familiar with the way the Amount, Midpoint, Roundness, Feather, and Highlights settings affect an image and use them to suit your specific vision. In Lightroom 5 and later, you can also enjoy using the many options of the Radial filter.
What About Cropping?
Some people include cropping as an initial step. However, cropping is not advised for stock images because an art director might have a need for a different crop. Why do all that retouching work on a cropped photo only to find out you need a different aspect ratio? (More on this concept in section 69.)