I’m always looking to improve my photography. Usually, my focus is on the compositional aspects of creating an image. But, occasionally, I have to remember that how I process my images is just as important as what I do before I press the shutter button, and I need to put in more effort to develop my processing skills.
I was reminded of this a couple of weeks ago. For some reason, I began researching setting white and black points in Lightroom and what that does for a photograph. I have very rarely used these sliders and, when I did use them, I didn’t really know what they were doing or what I was doing for that matter. What I discovered was that setting the white and black points can expand the tonal range of the image and is very useful if the photograph looks flat.
I was excited to try this out on some of my images, so I looked through my files to find a photograph to experiment with. Perusing my archives, I came across an image I had taken about this time last year on a visit to Blanchard Springs. I always liked the photograph with its Autumn colors, the arching bridge, and the flowing creek. But, I could never process it to my liking, so it sat there languishing on my hard drive.
Going through my usual processing, I was still disappointed with it. But, this time, I put my new found knowledge to work and set the white and black points. The difference was subtle but noticeable and took an image I was disappointed with to one I am now quite proud of.
Obviously, I did other things to get to this final image. I increased the color temperature and reduced the overall exposure. I spent a good amount of time adjusting contrast between highlights and shadows. I used the masking tool to darken the foreground, adjusted the luminance and saturation of the background leaves, cloned out some distracting items, such as a patch of leaves in the right edge of the foreground and a single bright green leaf on the left edge.
But, even with those adjustments, it was setting white and black points that finally made this image work for me.