Color Manipulation

Intro

The core of my brand lies in the colors I produce in each image. Whether it’s portraits, landscape or street photography, my mission is to present rich colors that enhance the viewer’s experience.

Example

On Saturday, E.Buckles and I were working on a Mother’s Day project (photo/video), when I saw a gondola passing through City Park. At the time, we were looking for a location so I quickly opened my bag, grabbed the first camera I could, and started taking a few pictures. Below is one of the images I took. As some of you may be able to tell, this picture is overexposed. Typically i like to underexpose photos because I know I can recover more details in the shadow, but I was in a rush to get started with the Mother’s Day project. Although overexposed, i saw the potential of what this image could look like after post-production.

Editing

Just like writing, photographers should create an outline of how they’d like to edit each photo. Planning before editing is important because it speeds up post production. Prior to editing, I knew I wanted to decrease the exposure, evenly expose the trees (right side of the photo), and change the color of the trees. Below is an image of the my color panel is Adobe Lightroom Classic CC. Based on my knowledge of color theory, I knew I could manipulate the greens so they look like gold. I felt as though the gold would create a magical feel for the image. If you’re interested in color manipulation, i suggest reading about color theory. Once I adjusted the colors, I went to the adjustment tool to overexpose the trees to the right. As a result, I was able to produce the image below. If any of you need help or want feedback, contact me at theoptimistdreamer@gmail.com. Don’t forget to drop a comment below.

BeforeNikon D750 w/ Nikkor 85 mm f1.8GISO 100 f/ 2.8 1/250 sec

Before

Nikon D750 w/ Nikkor 85 mm f1.8G

ISO 100 f/ 2.8 1/250 sec

AfterNikon D750 w/ Nikkor 85 mm f1.8GISO 100 f/ 2.8 1/250 sec

After

Nikon D750 w/ Nikkor 85 mm f1.8G

ISO 100 f/ 2.8 1/250 sec