One of the coolest thing about digital photography is the way that software allows you to change the look and feel of an image. This evening I played around with some different presets in Luminar 3 and got a look to one of my recent umbrella shots that I really like—almost like an antique photograph.
I tend to be somewhat of a minimalist when processing my wildlife photographs. I shoot in RAW, so I normally will tweak things like contrast, exposure, clarity, highlights and shadows, but except for cropping that is pretty much it. Shortly before leaving for this trip I downloaded Luminar 3 as part of a special deal in a pre-sale of Luminar 4.
I haven’t really used it much, but I decided to experiment with it during this trip. I tried some different looks with a recent photo that I really like. There are dozens and dozens of presets and all are adjustable, but none of the color ones satisfied me with the images.
I really like black and white and there are a whole range of options in the Tonality group of presets, including one that covers Toning. I liked the Sepia preset a lot, but settled on one called Gold and Selenium. After I made a few adjustments I got this look.
What do you think? Do you miss the bright colors of the umbrellas and the foliage in the altered version? Although I published the original shot recently, I decided to reprise it here for ease of comparison.
I like both versions a lot, though I must admit that the “feel” and “vibe” of the separate images are quite different.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Mike Powell 