Técnicas para evaluar los impactos ambientales

The process of postprocessing is something every photographer must do. Some years ago it was done in the laboratory but nowadays it’s done using a computer. Because I always shoot in RAW this process will consist of two parts.

First you have to develop the photograph. You have many options to do this, such as using the specific software of the camera, a Photoshop plug-in called Adobe Camera Raw, or software like Adobe Photoshop Lightroom. I’ve tried all of them, and my choice is the last one. I always use Lightroom because it allows you to do many more things than the others but at the same time if you don’t want to complicate matters it is very simple and intuitive.

The second parts consist of importing the photograph to Photoshop (or any other similar software) and starting the retouching part itself. In Photoshop you are able to do whatever you want with your photo and here is where the magic begins.

Finally you only have to export the file as a JPG or any other kind of standard image format and you will be able to share your picture with the entire world.

EXAMPLE

I’ve chosen a black and white high key portrait to show you the whole process of postprocessing. I chose this image because in RAW you can see some imperfections in the model’s face which will be removed and the lighting is perfect for a high key image. A high key image is a lighting style which aims to reduce the lighting ratio and focus it towards the high lights.

First of all you have to import the folder where you have the pictures to Lightroom’s library, where you can see all the images without having to save them as JPGs. Now, when you have chosen the image you want to process, you have to click on the second tab in the right corner of the screen and you will go to the “develop zone” where you will start processing your picture.

In this part you are able to change the colour temperature, the hue, the intensity and saturation, the sharpness, you can vary the lights and shadows and change its tones, reduce the noise and chromatic aberrations and many more things, but these are the ones that I always use when I develop a RAW file.

In this case I increased the exposition and I softened the shadows. Moreover, I added warm colours to reduce the global contrast. I also increased the sharpness of the picture and reduced the noise in dark areas. Finally, I did a copy of the original RAW and exported the processed image as a PSD (Photoshop file format) to Photoshop CS3.

This is the step where you must spend most of the time taken up by the process. When you have your picture in Photoshop you can start doing what you want to do with your picture. In this case, I’m going to do a black and white high key portrait so, first, I have to remove all the main imperfections of the skin and soften the whole face a little bit.

The next step is to turn the colour image into a black and white image. There are many options for doing this. The simplest is to desaturate the picture but you won’t get good results. Another option is using “colour channels” but it’s too difficult and not worth it for the results you get. In my opinion, the best option is to create a black and white adjust layer. It’s easy and you can modify each colour as you want; if you want to give more relevance to red, for example, you increase your “reds”. Moreover, you can vary the hue.

Once I had the black and white picture I had to change the lighting a little bit to give importance to the lights and reduce the shadows. Then I erased all the little imperfections I didn’t like in her face and I cloned a hair that was over her eye and attracted too much attention. After that, I gave contrast and strength to her eyes and I softened the rest of the face again. Finally I increased the sharpness of the eyes.

1/80s f/4.5 ISO 400 50mm

CONCLUSION

When I started my project lots of questions and doubts came to me. Will I have time enough to take all the pictures I need to show everything I tell in the theoretical part? Will I find all the information I need? Will I fulfil my objective of learning as much as I can about this subject? And what about the technical part? Will I be able to finish the whole project in English? And the main technical doubt: Will I be able to manage the ISO, the diaphragm and the shutter speed? Because when you shoot with continuous spotlights it is easier, you just have to set your camera according to the light at each moment; but using speedlights you don’t see how much light will be when you shoot.

Fortunately, the answer is: absolutely yes! I have fulfilled all the objectives I had and, moreover, I’m really proud I have been able to complete the project in English. For me, it was like a goal I had to reach and due to this reason I have not had any lack of motivation. Moreover, I have been able to manage the speedlights without having a flash meter. I have had to do it by the method: test-error and repeat it until I had the light I wanted.

I didn’t start from any hypothesis; it was just a personal challenge. I wanted to learn about lighting in photography in an autodidact way and now, I can say that I’ve overcome my objectives. During the project I have been able to extend my knowledge of photography, specially in lighting and astrophotography.

I also have to say that it has not been as easy as it looks like. I’ve had to have it finished before December due to personal reasons, so I’ve been under stress the last days, which have been exams days. But the most important problem I’ve had to face has been the fact of doing it in English. I’ve thought many times to change the language because I realized that if I did it in Catalan I would express myself so much better and a lot faster. But on the other hand, if I had changed the language I wouldn’t have reached my goal so I tried to keep motivated and going on writing.

From every hard challenge you can always learn something, with perseverance and will you can do whatever you want.

Finally, I would like to thank everyone who has helped me, and special thanks to Natàlia Caimel, Jaume Casals, Isi Vila, Cristina del Río, Sofia Ratia and the tutor of my project Xavier Gimeno.

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