How I edit photos in Lightroom
One of the most frequently asked questions I get on Instagram is what I use to edit my photos and how. Though each photo is different, and the process varies based on the lighting, setting, subject, etc. of the raw image itself, I generally employ the same process to most of my photos, which I am going to share in detail in this post! As a disclaimer, I almost always use Adobe Lightroom Classic on my laptop to edit, but the same process can definitely be applied when editing using the free Lightroom CC version on desktop or mobile!
Let’s start off with a raw image, in .CR2 format taken straight from my camera (Canon 5D Mark IV). In normal settings (ie. not sunrise/sunset, low lighting, direct sunlight, etc), I generally try to expose using Koda’s white fur as a reference, as that’s usually the first thing that gets blown out if I overexpose. Here is the original raw image straight from the camera:
Next, I’ll apply one of the KODA presets I created (available here for purchase!). For this photo, I decided to go with Koda 1, which accentuates the cool tones of the water, but still preserves the colors of all the fall leaves! I also decreased the exposure slightly because I love the moodier vibe it gives off.
The white tones in Koda’s fur look very slightly blue, so the next thing I usually do is adjust the white balance in the photo (temp & tint). For this photo, I adjusted temp +500 (less blue) and tint +6 (less green).
Next, I’m going to use the brush adjustment tool and my ‘Koda - Target’ adjustment setting to manually brush over Koda and make him stand out from the background. It’s usually a pretty subtle change, but I definitely find that taking this extra step can add a slight pop to the photo!
The last step here is to darken/blur the background a bit more. I achieve this using the radial filter and invert it so it applies to the space surrounding Koda. I’ll use the ‘Koda - Vignette’ adjustment setting as a foundation, but for this specific photo, I decided to further adjust the temp to make it more blue to add a bit of color to the sky. The background ended up being a little too dark so I adjusted the shadows back up, and increased saturation to make the trees in the back more vibrant.
And that’s it!! Some photos will be a bit more involved than others, but these are the few steps I will almost always go through for every one of my edits. Hope this was helpful, and if you have any photo editing tips / steps you swear by, I’d love to hear about them in the comments!
