I have always wanted to capture the beauty of nature in photography. I don’t know why but I was 11 and asking for a camera for my birthday present. I have always loved nature, it is my sacred place and I enjoy sharing it with others.
And while I never need to edit my photography for problems, 30+ years of experience does that for you. I decided to edit my photos for a dramatic impact. Read below for a run down on what I did and why I did it.
The before is on the left and the after is on the right. Now first let me say that I am more than happy with the photo on the left. Right out of the camera and with no editing at all. Editing for drama is more about editing for artistic vision. Or for me sometimes it’s how I see it when I take the photo. It is also about showing you my joy and love when photographing nature.
This photo didn’t need anything but I wanted to make it look for dramatic. Why, well for someone who lives in the northeast those first snow crocus that pop up are dramatic. They are a sign of spring, and no matter how cold it is they are there letting you know that warmer temps are on the way.
I started by exporting this image over to BorisFX. I enjoy this software mostly because it integrates seamlessly with Photoshop. The first filter I applied was an edge-aware blur, this blurs regions of similar color while preserving the edges between different regions of color. I use it because it somehow softens things without losing details.
The second filter I applied was a film stock filter that mimics a fuji film. This is something I could’ve done in camera but when I’m taking a lot of photos I usually forget to do it. This just deepened the cooler greens in the foreground. Next was a denoise which just decreases any grainy spots, the background for this photo, and minimizes the loss of quality while it does it.
The last filter I added for a hint of drama was a star 4pt filter which put a few little pinpoints of light up near the top of the flower as if it had a bit of glitter on it. Probably not needed but I thought it added that extra little touch.
Lastly, I moved it all back to Photoshop to run it through camera raw where I slightly deepened the shadows a bit more and softened the overall image.
It sounds easy but it took about half an hour. I tend to play with effects and layers going back and forth just to experiment as that is how I learn.
If you enjoyed reading this and want to see more please let me know on any of my social media accounts. And please feel free to share a link to this article on your social media.
I use my Fuji X-T30, photoshop, and Boris FX. No AI is used in this image.