Masking and noise control in Adobe Lightroom Classic
Photo Editing
Handling challenges.
A dark gallery featuring X-rayed fish in Morrill Hall, Nebraska State Museum.
I enjoy editing — post-processing. I started in the early ’60s in analog, black and white, in darkrooms, staining my shirts, and learning to manipulate highlights and shadows, contrast and luminosity under dim amber safelights (so called because used properly, they wouldn’t “fog” the printing papers, causing a subtle degradation of the image). We had more techniques and tricks than I recall, but everything was hands-on. I had sets of “dodging paddles” in varying sizes taped to piano-wire handles. Dodging was holding back light to make a too-dark area lighter. If I had a too-hot highlight that resisted being “burned down” — adding more light while holding it back in other areas — I might resort to “flashing,” using a dim penlight with a diffuser to add a couple of deliberate seconds of white light to the offending area, a controlled fogging that knocked down a blown highlight.
Most post-processing apps that can dodge and burn use icons for the tools that look like their antecedents: a little lollipop for a dodging paddle and a hand making a ring for burning since most of us used our hands, only resorting to a card for a more precise outline.
These samples were all shot in raw only (I never bother with JPEGs) in my “half-frame” Sony A6400 APS-C mirrorless body, mounted with my trusty fave Sony/ZEISS Vario-Tessar T E 16–70mm f/4.0 ZA OSS (Optical Steady Shot), which helps as I shoot handheld most of the time.
What I should have done, but needing a tripod could have done, was to bracket the exposure for HDR. Handholding a bracket isn’t recommended, but I didn’t think to give it a shot (pun fully intended).
Still, I produced passable pictures using tried-and-true techniques. I’ve used a trick for a long time in high-contrast situations: "Highlights down, Shadows up.” The highlight slider goes all the way to the left stop, and the shadow slider goes all the way to the right. I learned it from Anthony Morganti. It’s not a cure-all, but it works remarkably well when it works. I often apply it, then walk back the shadows for better balance. Good editing is a delicate dance. Tiny increments. Watch the subject, not the tools. If it looks overcooked to you, it probably is.
My ISO was 8000, so predictably the noise was what we used to call “golfball.” I could see it with the naked eye, never mind at 100% (see the two detailed enlargements above).
I have the full suite of Topaz Labs AI tools, and I tried them but was disappointed that not only was the noise not fully suppressed, there was also a too-visible moiré pattern that I couldn’t filter out. I put it down to my initial mistake of underexposing the scene (honestly, I was afraid I’d blow out the bright fish), but there I wuz, stuck with a bunch of useless images I could never show because they were just bad.
But wait: It happens that Adobe’s latest iteration of Lightroom Classic (I don’t know about the several other versions for phones and tablets) has a brand-new AI noise reducer. I, for once, was unimpressed with Topaz’s effort, so I tried the Lightroom AI, and that is what you see above. I was surprised since, until now, I have had nothing but successes using the Topaz AI tools, but tools is tools, and that’s why we have boxes full of them. I’ve now started regularly using Lightroom Classic’s DeNoise AI. It works well, and if it doesn’t, I have lots of other apps to try.
Subject Standout
We usually want to have our main subject, which prompted us to make the exposure in the first place, to stand away from its surroundings. One reason we place a high value on fast lenses (f/2.8 or wider) isn’t entirely their light-gathering power so much as their ability to isolate a subject, surrounding it with blur or bokeh.
Four main factors affect apparent Depth of Field:
1. Aperture (a.k.a f-stop)
2. Subject to Camera Distance
3. Lens Focal Length
4. Camera Sensor Size. (Smaller sensors call for shorter focal lengths; shorter focal lengths have greater DOF at any given aperture.)
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A fifth is the distance of the main subject from its background. In this case, it was too darn close. The model behind was too sharp and the colors seemed to blend too well. It was not what I wanted when I shot it.
Lincoln is about three hours from Ashfall Fossil Beds. About 12,000,000 years ago, a Yellowstone hotspot eruption dropped immense quantities of hot ash across a wide swath to the east, including future Nebraska. Thousands of animals were trying to get some relief at a watering hole, but the inhaled ash savaged their lungs, killed and buried them deeply. Above is the skeleton of Teleoceras major or barrel-bodied rhino. The curators cleverly created a model to show the skeleton racing alongside itself.
My problem was that they are literally cheek-by-jowl. I wanted to hold the skull sharp, letting the background blur, but even wide open (almost all my lenses are f/4.0), there was hardly any separation.
I think this version does a pretty good job. The skull and spine were carefully masked in Lightroom with a small, sharp brush, then inverted so I could darken and blur the background. I made multiple masks getting the effect.
Barbourofelis fricki
Barbi for short.
This nightmarish saber-toothed monster is not a cat. Not related to cats. Not even an ancestor. You do not reference this critter as a cat unless you want his daggers buried in your skull. This is an instance of convergence, where different species develop similar and sometimes confusing features.
That said, Barbi is an old pal of mine, entertaining visitors on the fourth floor of Morrill Hall. I have dozens of photos from every possible angle. This time, I wanted to emphasize the articulated mechanical skull that shows he could almost unhinge his mandible like a snake. (No wonder they called him One-Bite Barbi.)
The challenge here was that Barbi is brilliantly illuminated — the skull not so much. I stood off some distance to get a perspective compression, framing the skull as you see. I shot wide open (f/4.0), focused manually on the skull (yeah, handheld, how’d you guess), but it still wasn’t enough. I went back to masking. This is a double mask, one on the critter to darken and further blur him and the other to lighten and bring out more detail in the skull. It’s basically dodging and burning but with greater precision.
If you see someone walking one of these in the park, keep your considerable distance and do NOT call it a cat. 😦
📸As always, gratitude for looking in. I sincerely appreciate it! 😊👍
