Yes Mark , every day pretty much , improving all the time I hope ! Help from your good self and some others on RUclips have greatly accelerated my learning . Many thanks 🙏
I found this video extremely educational. I loved how you showed us your step-by-step process and why you make certain edits. It was VERY eye opening! Great job!
I'm about 2.5 years into photography and I did this exercise sometime last year and I was blown away with the difference with some of the photos I used. More local adjustments has been the biggest game changer for myself. Love your videos and they have been a huge help! Thanks Mark!
It's always fun to go back and re-read edit old photos after you've learned new techniques or after the software has been updated to make editing better.
Thanks for this Mark :) I have not had the motivation to do any photography for the past 3 months due to chronic back pain, which has led into depression. Just watching this video has motivated me to charge my batteries and I shall be going tomorrow. I find you to be the one photographer that I can actually sit and watch without skipping to parts, full of knowledge and charisma and a joy to watch. Thank you again :) I'm off to watch your other tutorials now.
negative clarity with positive texture is ALWAYS the way to go. I usually do a x2 - clarity to x1 + texture. So if I -20 clarity, i'll do a +10 texture. It just really helps soft the image without losing your sharpness and texture, so beautiful!
One issue I saw with the complimentary pair of luminance masks is that the border between them ends up looking strange - you can see this in the trees on the horizon when zooming in at 09:55. Just something to keep an eye on - I really liked the techniques shown here otherwise!
That's precisely the reason why nobody uses luminance masks anymore to tackle such high contrast scenes since LR got it's powerful blacks/shadows/hightlights/whites sliders.
Wow, I love this. Comparing yourself to your old self. It’s also inspired me to change my photo editing methods to more local edits. I’ve never done much local edits unless I had a specific reason for it. This is great Mark!
first 5 minutes i'm learning stuff i had no idea about, thanks man. I realise lightroom got a massive upgrade this year...tbh i've been super lazy about bothering to learn the new tricks. New stuff looks well worth delving into though!
I just wanted to say thank you for all your informative videos. I appreciate all your effort. You have helped me tremendously over the years with my editing as well as composition. I always liked photography but I didn't fully commit to learning the craft until 4 years ago. It was intimidating until I found people like yourself on youtube willing to help the new guy along. I've spent the last several hours going through old edits from years ago when I didn't even know what it meant to do a local adjustment. WOW! You have sent me down a rabbit hole I my never climb out of LOL. Thanks Mark, keep up the great work!
I usually start in Lightroom, often go to Photoshop and then finish in Lightroom. Your videos have been a great help in demonstrating the capabilities of the Lightroom and Photoshop tools. One question though: would you always do targetted adjustments before global adjustments? Thanks for another thoughtful video, Mark.
Fantastic video Mark! It has been a while since you've done one of these types of videos. I really liked it. It's amazing to see your progress. Keep it up man! I learned several things in this video. I love how you retouched it the 2nd time.
This made me subscribe. So many edit for social media with trendy styles and colors that at the end that’s what the original edit feels like. I really value the tips you introduced here, have never heard of or seen anyone mention it. Was blown away that you were able to get all the detail of that tree and truly storage it. Sure it’s built in to the software, but it’s those things one picks up with many years of use. Hope to continue to indulge in your content and apply what you show! The final edit feels more editorial, not true to life which I try not to go too crazy with my edits but have also fallen to noob tendencies (cough) -100 holts & 100 shadows😅
I love this idea! I did learn a couple of things watching you edit, I never thought to do all my local edits first. I will try this approach and see how it goes. Thanks for the great tips Mark!
Wow wow wow. What a difference! I loved watching how you did this new edit. Again, I always learn so much during these exercises. Thanks for sharing this.
@@MarkDenneyPhoto yeah, I think I'm a little heavy handed with increasing details and must learn restraint. It doesn't help that I'm using a smartphone, so I don't have that crispness and clarity that your camera puts out. Your editing examples are always so helpful for me.
you were right your edits now are way better all down to your experience over time and how much you have improved over the years Super video Mark. Thank you
🇨🇦/🇺🇸... Hey there Mark. I am a VERY LONG TIME photographer. I had a full-colour darkroom back in the film days. Over the years I have come to realize that... the subtley realistic AND the overt contrasty, super-saturated, with obvious "local tone mapping" applied are BOTH "valid". If you go to a street art fair, like in Ann Arbor, MI, you will see people CROWDING around the GAUDY booths and fewer around the realistic, subtle, large-format camera booths. I used to think, those people DON'T have a clue about what is good. NOPE, just a different sense. EXCELLENT TUTORIAL though, bro! CHEERS!!! 😀
Starting to be one. I've just recently moved up from the iphone camera. This video is transformative for me. What you did with the hillocks was awesome! I've never considered using more than 2 or 3 masks.
This is a great way to see where you are going not only with editing but also photography. Part of the changes we see in our editing process can also be related to current trends and editing program capabilities.
Hi Mark, I’m loving your self criticism and how you are seeing eye to eye with your audience who are going through your past experiences that we can learn from! A true gentleman and scholar! Thank you for your help, it’s priceless sir!🫡 sent with respect 🫡
This. This is what I want to see more of. I know how to use a radial filter, linear gradient, etc. I also know how to put paint on a paintbrush and put paint to canvas. That doesn't mean I can paint the Mona Lisa. I want to see more about the creative choices you make when editing your photos. It's that creativity that separates the wheat from the chaff.
Wow! That's a huge difference! I've only started to play with local changes here and there but I'm beginning to find that they have become more and more essential as I get into trying to do more realistic and artistic editing. This was incredibly informative as I don't really know how to intersect masks and I have never seen anybody actually do a workflow like this. Very very interesting, and I intend to try this myself the next time that I can sit down to edit! And yes, I use Lightroom almost exclusively. So Lightroom tutorials are very important!
Thanks for your videos, effort and transparency. I noticed you do not have Lightroom tutorials regards how you organize, rename, etc your photos. Things related to the Library Module. Is there perhaps a chance of this in the future?😊
Fantastic video Mark. I learned several techniques plus I really enjoyed seeing how you applied some of the radial filters. Please don’t hesitate showing earlier work and how you would do it now.
Wow! Your edit is simply amazing! Loved to watch this and listen to your thinking as you decide on each choice. Thanks for sharing your process! And, yep, I'm a Lightroom user.
Obviously everyone edits in different ways but it's also fascinating to see how one's approach may change over the years. Thank you for neatly highlighting so many features in Lightroom.
Thanks Mark for a great video. I have used local adjustment quite a bit but after global adjustments. I’m going to try your approach on some older photos. One thing I have noticed is that I use much less sharpening and saturation than I used to....I guess everyone overdoes those in the beginning.
Hi Mark, I watched your latest video this morning and I felt that I'd had a similar issue with masking on a few occasions. I just used the Intersect Mask with Luminance Range technique and I was impressed with the results - I'll definitely use that again! Thanks for the great video.
You did a very nice job on what you did however it’s now not a photograph it’s an art piece with the assistance of light room which you demonstrated exceedingly well!
This is a fabulous lesson, Mark. I have committed all of those post-processing sins in the not so distant past. You have given me the tools to look again and improve my masking techniques. Heartfelt thanks!
I was the same as you. At first I would use too much texture, contrast, clarity and saturation. But overtime I looked at some of my older photos and I cringed. I went back and tinkered and tweaked the same images and I started using more tools like radial and linear gradients. The difference is night and day
Lightroom has come a long way during that time as well. I have photos on Flickr from 2010 through now and I also look back and see how I have changed over the years. One thing about the photo that I would have done is to add some warmth to the swing and the tree to emulate the setting sunlight.
Cool technique; thanks for the tip, Mark! Were you using your old Sony at this time? Have you ever done any Sony/Fuji image compares using roughly the same subject?
Wonderful video. I am getting back in after a few years and one thing I struggle with now is sharpness, clarity and grain. I take more "landscape" photos and wildlife, vague question, is it better to + or - sharpness or clarity to get a cripser smooth matte like photo rather than up the sharpness if that makes sense?
I don't use Lr but I do use Adobe Camera Raw, same difference. However, that's just to get started. I do the fine details in Ps. I find that I have great control over subtle edits. To each his/her own. By the way, I've been asked to do a presentation for a local park department on Nature Photography. I went back through my images to make selections. I didn't feel comfortable sharing any of my images that were more than two years old.
I'm currently using Lightroom 5 and considering upgrading to Lightroom Classic subscription from Adobe. With all the recent news issues to do with Adobe, would you recommend upgrading to Lightroom Classic or going with another software that is similar to Lightroom to process/edit your photos?
Mark, i don’t trust my Laptop for Colors. From Camera to Laptop to print is a Lot of error Chance. How old is your iMac and do you think a 5 year old IMac could still be good enough to start with?
Mark, great video. Do you happen to know how to do these masks with LR cc for iOS? I only have an iPad Pro, and suspect it can be done, but wondered if you had tried it on iOS.
Great video Mark. I actually liked your original photo too, although, as you said, it is a bit "strong" in places. I'd be tempted to take both images into PS as layers and play around with the opacity and blend modes to see how a mix of the two images might look ! Thanks again.
Humm, I kind of like the first image as well as the second. I wonder if you went between he two if you would have a image that would pop more. I like the new edits a lot but the picture leaves me blah but the first edit made it a bit more interesting. Odd as i shoot mostly portraits and I know that IG likes the stronger colors and edits but I dont do those on my landscapes. SO in a way I am a bit torn by this edit.
Some difference alright, looks a lot better. I have done in the past, looking back on old photos and hate the editing on them 😂 I need to do it more often
🌟QUICK QUESTION: Are you a Lightroom user?
yes, not very good though
@@liamditchburn Well we all start out that way:)
Yep
@@gregorboyd 👍
Yes Mark , every day pretty much , improving all the time I hope ! Help from your good self and some others on RUclips have greatly accelerated my learning . Many thanks 🙏
I found this video extremely educational. I loved how you showed us your step-by-step process and why you make certain edits. It was VERY eye opening! Great job!
I'm about 2.5 years into photography and I did this exercise sometime last year and I was blown away with the difference with some of the photos I used. More local adjustments has been the biggest game changer for myself. Love your videos and they have been a huge help! Thanks Mark!
It's always fun to go back and re-read edit old photos after you've learned new techniques or after the software has been updated to make editing better.
That luminance range tip is incredible. Thank you for sharing your knowledge!
That tip for masking the tree was a big help! I have a lot of photos like that.
Such a good reminder, and dandy little LR tutorial. Thanks.
Thanks!
Final comparison was just wow!
I'm really glad I found your channel!!
Brilliant use of the gradient mask!!!
Thanks for this Mark :) I have not had the motivation to do any photography for the past 3 months due to chronic back pain, which has led into depression. Just watching this video has motivated me to charge my batteries and I shall be going tomorrow. I find you to be the one photographer that I can actually sit and watch without skipping to parts, full of knowledge and charisma and a joy to watch. Thank you again :) I'm off to watch your other tutorials now.
Chronic back pain sucks! It is inspiring to read that you are fighting back and picking up your camera again. Hope you had a good shoot.
negative clarity with positive texture is ALWAYS the way to go. I usually do a x2 - clarity to x1 + texture. So if I -20 clarity, i'll do a +10 texture. It just really helps soft the image without losing your sharpness and texture, so beautiful!
Great vid!
Just beside the improved own skills the LR editing capabilities really boosted the last years.
Thanks Mark, great suggestion of checking where you are on the editing timeline.
Thanks for let us know about this idea and a big well done for this great video
Fantastic tips, thanks Mark.
Love this video-one of my favorites so far! Keep up the awesome work!
I think you can see what kind of content we (your public) are seeking for. Great upload!
One issue I saw with the complimentary pair of luminance masks is that the border between them ends up looking strange - you can see this in the trees on the horizon when zooming in at 09:55. Just something to keep an eye on - I really liked the techniques shown here otherwise!
That's precisely the reason why nobody uses luminance masks anymore to tackle such high contrast scenes since LR got it's powerful blacks/shadows/hightlights/whites sliders.
Chalk and Cheese. It’s a great suggestion to grade yourself. Thanks Mark. Another excellent video.
Holy moly, that's a huge difference! Great video!
Great to hear you enjoyed it!
Greta idea for a good exercise... I will try this tomorrow and I will let you know how it goes.
Thank you Mark. Your tutorial opened my eyes how to edit like pro
Mark, your videos inspire me each week. I almost *always* like the result better when I rework old images!
Wow, I love this. Comparing yourself to your old self. It’s also inspired me to change my photo editing methods to more local edits. I’ve never done much local edits unless I had a specific reason for it. This is great Mark!
Glad to hear you enjoyed it!
Same!!
why English is around being old?
basically you compare yourself to young self, not to 'old' self )
first 5 minutes i'm learning stuff i had no idea about, thanks man. I realise lightroom got a massive upgrade this year...tbh i've been super lazy about bothering to learn the new tricks. New stuff looks well worth delving into though!
You explain the process with clarity and I can actually follow and understand. I saved this for reference. Thank you for sharing.
Thank you, great content. Just started to use the mask tool more intensive and this helped a lot.
I just wanted to say thank you for all your informative videos. I appreciate all your effort. You have helped me tremendously over the years with my editing as well as composition. I always liked photography but I didn't fully commit to learning the craft until 4 years ago. It was intimidating until I found people like yourself on youtube willing to help the new guy along. I've spent the last several hours going through old edits from years ago when I didn't even know what it meant to do a local adjustment. WOW! You have sent me down a rabbit hole I my never climb out of LOL. Thanks Mark, keep up the great work!
Yes I’ve been a long time LR user. Still is my go to. Love the new version with the masking and content aware improvements!
This tutorial is fantastic. Thank you
Not been playing with lightroom long, few months, but so far I've found subtle is best.
Brilliant work indeed 😊
Excellent idea to intersect an overall mask with a luminance mask to pick out a subject from a sky. Thanks for that tip.
Excellent video. Less is more for sure! I loved the luminance tip dodging with colour too.
Another really interesting and useful video Mark. Thanks!
I usually start in Lightroom, often go to Photoshop and then finish in Lightroom. Your videos have been a great help in demonstrating the capabilities of the Lightroom and Photoshop tools. One question though: would you always do targetted adjustments before global adjustments? Thanks for another thoughtful video, Mark.
Fantastic video Mark! It has been a while since you've done one of these types of videos. I really liked it. It's amazing to see your progress. Keep it up man! I learned several things in this video. I love how you retouched it the 2nd time.
I don't know what you did at the beginning to be able to better select the tree, but I have a feeling I need to know. It looked pretty mind blowing.
This made me subscribe. So many edit for social media with trendy styles and colors that at the end that’s what the original edit feels like. I really value the tips you introduced here, have never heard of or seen anyone mention it. Was blown away that you were able to get all the detail of that tree and truly storage it. Sure it’s built in to the software, but it’s those things one picks up with many years of use. Hope to continue to indulge in your content and apply what you show!
The final edit feels more editorial, not true to life which I try not to go too crazy with my edits but have also fallen to noob tendencies (cough) -100 holts & 100 shadows😅
Excellent. Really learned a lot,
this was really helpful for me sir
Great suggestion to go back to an old photo for editing comparison. And super editing tips, very clear explanation!
Nice work, will try on Affinity I use
Yes I use Lightroom but a self taught through the helpful instruction of users like you. Your input has been most extremely helpful!😊
I love this idea! I did learn a couple of things watching you edit, I never thought to do all my local edits first. I will try this approach and see how it goes. Thanks for the great tips Mark!
Awesome idea!
Excellent video. Thank you.
What an amazing difference. I can't wait to try this on a few of my old pictures, I have just the shot in mind! Thanks for another great video!
Thanks for checking it out Frank!
Wow wow wow. What a difference! I loved watching how you did this new edit. Again, I always learn so much during these exercises. Thanks for sharing this.
Thanks so much Andrea!
@@MarkDenneyPhoto yeah, I think I'm a little heavy handed with increasing details and must learn restraint. It doesn't help that I'm using a smartphone, so I don't have that crispness and clarity that your camera puts out. Your editing examples are always so helpful for me.
you were right your edits now are way better all down to your experience over time and how much you have improved over the years Super video Mark. Thank you
🇨🇦/🇺🇸... Hey there Mark. I am a VERY LONG TIME photographer. I had a full-colour darkroom back in the film days. Over the years I have come to realize that... the subtley realistic AND the overt contrasty, super-saturated, with obvious "local tone mapping" applied are BOTH "valid". If you go to a street art fair, like in Ann Arbor, MI, you will see people CROWDING around the GAUDY booths and fewer around the realistic, subtle, large-format camera booths. I used to think, those people DON'T have a clue about what is good. NOPE, just a different sense. EXCELLENT TUTORIAL though, bro! CHEERS!!! 😀
Starting to be one. I've just recently moved up from the iphone camera. This video is transformative for me. What you did with the hillocks was awesome! I've never considered using more than 2 or 3 masks.
This is a great way to see where you are going not only with editing but also photography. Part of the changes we see in our editing process can also be related to current trends and editing program capabilities.
Hi Mark, I’m loving your self criticism and how you are seeing eye to eye with your audience who are going through your past experiences that we can learn from! A true gentleman and scholar! Thank you for your help, it’s priceless sir!🫡 sent with respect 🫡
Excellent video Mark and what a great comparison. There is always so much to learn and thanks for sharing.
This. This is what I want to see more of. I know how to use a radial filter, linear gradient, etc. I also know how to put paint on a paintbrush and put paint to canvas. That doesn't mean I can paint the Mona Lisa. I want to see more about the creative choices you make when editing your photos. It's that creativity that separates the wheat from the chaff.
Wow! That's a huge difference! I've only started to play with local changes here and there but I'm beginning to find that they have become more and more essential as I get into trying to do more realistic and artistic editing. This was incredibly informative as I don't really know how to intersect masks and I have never seen anybody actually do a workflow like this. Very very interesting, and I intend to try this myself the next time that I can sit down to edit! And yes, I use Lightroom almost exclusively. So Lightroom tutorials are very important!
Honestly….kind of afraid to go back and look at some of my older photo work :). Great video. You and your family have a wonderful Thanksgiving!
Thanks Mickey! Happy Thanksgiving to you and yours!
Thanks for this, very useful
Nice progression 👏
Great for masking the tree. Been there and struggled.
Thanks for your videos, effort and transparency. I noticed you do not have Lightroom tutorials regards how you organize, rename, etc your photos. Things related to the Library Module. Is there perhaps a chance of this in the future?😊
omg, is that a sport walkman? I LOVED mine!
Fantastic video Mark. I learned several techniques plus I really enjoyed seeing how you applied some of the radial filters. Please don’t hesitate showing earlier work and how you would do it now.
Thanks a million Chuck!
Wow! Your edit is simply amazing! Loved to watch this and listen to your thinking as you decide on each choice. Thanks for sharing your process! And, yep, I'm a Lightroom user.
Amazing video Mark, thank you.
Glad you think so David!
Obviously everyone edits in different ways but it's also fascinating to see how one's approach may change over the years. Thank you for neatly highlighting so many features in Lightroom.
great job sir
Great exercise Mark. Always good to learn from our past mistakes and gauge our growth over time! Thanks.
Thanks Mark for a great video. I have used local adjustment quite a bit but after global adjustments. I’m going to try your approach on some older photos. One thing I have noticed is that I use much less sharpening and saturation than I used to....I guess everyone overdoes those in the beginning.
Hi Mark, I watched your latest video this morning and I felt that I'd had a similar issue with masking on a few occasions. I just used the Intersect Mask with Luminance Range technique and I was impressed with the results - I'll definitely use that again! Thanks for the great video.
Great information
Great one
You did a very nice job on what you did however it’s now not a photograph it’s an art piece with the assistance of light room which you demonstrated exceedingly well!
Love this thanks
brilliant video. What version of Lightroom are you using...? thanks
This is a fabulous lesson, Mark. I have committed all of those post-processing sins in the not so distant past. You have given me the tools to look again and improve my masking techniques. Heartfelt thanks!
Thanks for that, Mark. It opened my eyes to the potential of using 'masks' in Lightroom; I have much to learn.
Mike in Oz
A very good advise to revisit for insight of photos of previous years. Appreciate Mark for wonderful thought provoking tutorial. Thanks. 👍
Thanks so much!
I was the same as you. At first I would use too much texture, contrast, clarity and saturation. But overtime I looked at some of my older photos and I cringed. I went back and tinkered and tweaked the same images and I started using more tools like radial and linear gradients. The difference is night and day
Nice cassette player!
Lightroom has come a long way during that time as well. I have photos on Flickr from 2010 through now and I also look back and see how I have changed over the years. One thing about the photo that I would have done is to add some warmth to the swing and the tree to emulate the setting sunlight.
Cool technique; thanks for the tip, Mark! Were you using your old Sony at this time? Have you ever done any Sony/Fuji image compares using roughly the same subject?
Your Squarespace ad at the beginning looks familiar :) It's a popular place in the Polish Tatra mountains :)
Wonderful video. I am getting back in after a few years and one thing I struggle with now is sharpness, clarity and grain. I take more "landscape" photos and wildlife, vague question, is it better to + or - sharpness or clarity to get a cripser smooth matte like photo rather than up the sharpness if that makes sense?
I don't use Lr but I do use Adobe Camera Raw, same difference. However, that's just to get started. I do the fine details in Ps. I find that I have great control over subtle edits. To each his/her own. By the way, I've been asked to do a presentation for a local park department on Nature Photography. I went back through my images to make selections. I didn't feel comfortable sharing any of my images that were more than two years old.
When you said turn the highlights down and crank the shadows up, I laughed 😂 I thought we were having a 1 on 1 consultation 😂
I'm currently using Lightroom 5 and considering upgrading to Lightroom Classic subscription from Adobe. With all the recent news issues to do with Adobe, would you recommend upgrading to Lightroom Classic or going with another software that is similar to Lightroom to process/edit your photos?
useful 18mins of adobe Lightroom related content.
Mark can you make a video about hdr photography?
Mark, i don’t trust my Laptop for Colors. From Camera to Laptop to print is a Lot of error Chance. How old is your iMac and do you think a 5 year old IMac could still be good enough to start with?
Thanks for the video. Did you use the software as it was 8 years ago or the current version.? That’s important I think.
Yes
Mark, great video. Do you happen to know how to do these masks with LR cc for iOS? I only have an iPad Pro, and suspect it can be done, but wondered if you had tried it on iOS.
Great video Mark. I actually liked your original photo too, although, as you said, it is a bit "strong" in places. I'd be tempted to take both images into PS as layers and play around with the opacity and blend modes to see how a mix of the two images might look ! Thanks again.
i like the first image more
Humm, I kind of like the first image as well as the second. I wonder if you went between he two if you would have a image that would pop more. I like the new edits a lot but the picture leaves me blah but the first edit made it a bit more interesting. Odd as i shoot mostly portraits and I know that IG likes the stronger colors and edits but I dont do those on my landscapes. SO in a way I am a bit torn by this edit.
Some difference alright, looks a lot better. I have done in the past, looking back on old photos and hate the editing on them 😂 I need to do it more often
Thanks Trevor!