Purrfectly Adorable: Photo Editing Tutorial for a Cute Exotic Shorthair Orange Persian
Before
After
Welcome to my first “Before&After” blog post! I thought this might be fun to do and give you a glimpse into the steps to my end product. I hope you enjoy!
Below are the gear and settings I used:
Canon EOS 5D Mark II, EF85mm f/1.8 USM, ISO 200, 85mm, f/2.0, 1/200 sec
Step 1: I modified my Point Curve to bring up the mids so we could see more light and detail on Saffron’s face and fur.
Step 2: Modified the global Vibrance and Saturation a tad bit to make it warm.
Step 3: Create 3 Masks
Mask 1 - Subject: Lightroom’s AI recognized Saffron as the subject. I then modified the Temperature, Tint, Hue, and Saturation to bring out the natural Orange color of her fur.
Mask 2 - Brush: Using the brush tool, I brushed over Saffron’s eyes. This allowed me to control my edits to be strictly for her eyes. I then upped the Exposure, Contrast, Highlights, and Whites to make the eyes brighter. By changing Hue and Saturation, I was able to bring out the natural colors of her eyes.
Mask 3 - Linear Gradient: With the goal of overexposing the background, I used the linear gradient. By using the bright natural light from the window in the background, I started the gradient at the top of the photo and feathered it to the top of Saffron’s head to achieve a glowing feel.
Example of Masking using a Brush (ie. Mask 2 above)
Step 4: Using the Crop tool, I did a little Straighten action on the photo so that Saffron’s hammock is all lined up.
After completing these steps, I was happy with the way Saffron’s fur and eyes shined with the window backlight. The color of her soft fur felt natural. At this point, I felt I was ready to Export.
There are so many things you can do with Lightroom that these steps barely touched the surface on. I’m looking forward to learning many more techniques and sharing them on my next “Before&After”! Don’t you just love the outlet that photography gives… where you can come in with an open mind and constantly learn and create? I’m proud to say that I’m a lifetime learner.
