Lighroom comparison

[Nikonoff]

I've been trying my hand at PP, Lightroom specifically and the two following images show a before and after effort. Unfortunately these were taken as JPEGs so the editing latitude was limited. Curious to know how else I might have improved the after result.

[Ross M]

It is definitely an improvement. I'm sure there are more expert users on this forum, but I'll jump in quickly.

I would:
Adjust the converging vertical, which are evident on the bridge pylons. Go to Lens Correction, select "Manual" and move the "Vertical" slider. Also adjust "Rotation" until the verticals are vertical. If you check the box labelled "Constrain Crop" Lightroom will automatically crop out the resulting tapered frame shape so the result is rectangular again. Note that this will mean that you lose the top part at the left and right. After I learned this adjustment I had to learn to shoot wide to leave room for processing.
Go to the Basic Panel. Increase the contrast.
It's sometimes good to reduce the highlights, depending on how much you increase contrast.
Decrease the blacks level. I find that this helps the look of the contrast in this situation.
Use the graduated filter tool and position at the top. Reduce the Exposure slider to darken the sky and clouds.
Reduce the White level to further reduce exposure on clouds.
Increase the Clarity. This is also found in the Basic Panel, under "Presence". It might be best to select the adjustment brush and set it to clarity. You can paint over the bridge and leave the sky alone, so as to keep the sky smooth, unless you like the look it produces in the clouds.
The shot looks a little soft. Use the Adjustment Brush with Sharpness selected, adjust the slider and selectively sharpen the bridge. Use a small radius value and a large value for masking. Don't over do sharpening though.
Maybe increase the saturation a bit more.

I hope you don't mind, but I've attached a version with my processing, as close as I could to match my description, so you can see the look.

[Nikonoff]

Thanks Ross, I greatly appreciate your suggestions and the edited image which details what you explained. The straightening of the verticals seemed so obvious (a slap to the forehead uttering D'oh) and what an improvement it makes to the image overall. I did use the adjustment brush on the centre brick supports to introduce a bit more warmth and colour and dehazed selectively plus a bit of exposure and contrast tweaking.
I'm uncertain if it's possible but it'd be helpful if the editing data (LR EXIF?) could be embedded like the original shot images.

[Plays With Light]

I had a go with this image too, and went for a more romanticised finish in Lightroom with it. Not too bad for a three minute edit! I decided not to warm and colour the pylons to a uniform appearance, as I liked the differences to them.

• I straightened the converging verticals using the guides, placing two guides, one on the brick on the far right and one on the bridge support on the far left.
• I warmed up the image, taking the Temp to the yellows and the Tint to the magentas
• I boosted the Contrast, universally
• I lowered the whites and highlights to -100%, which brought back the details to the clouds
• I opened up the blacks and shadows, till I liked what I saw universally
• I applied some Clarity to the entire image
• I boosted the Vibrance and Saturation a bit, universally
• I applied some Clarity and Sharpness to the bridge and brick on the right, using the Adjustment Brush
• I applied some warmth to the pylons, taking the Temp to the yellows and the Tint to the magentas, and some Sharpening and Clarity, using the Adjustment Brush
• I applied some warmth to the grass, taking the Temp to the yellows and the Tint to the greens, also applying some Contrast, Clarity and Sharpening, with the Adjustment Brush
• I played with the Saturation and Luminance, boosting Sat. of everything except the blues and aquas and lowering the Lum. of the greens and yellows
• I applied Sharpening and Noise Reduction universally too
• In Lens Corrections I Removed CA's, normally I would apply the lens fix here too, but you dave stripped that exif data from your image so I couln't
• I also applied and elongated Vignette, with a smaller centre, larger feather and kept the highlights.

Phew! That took a heck of a lot longer to type, than to do!

Hope it helps you in some way.

I love Lightroom, as much as Tony (Tannin) hates it! It's quick, easy and non-destructive.

[Ross M]

Thanks Ross, I greatly appreciate your suggestions and the edited image which details what you explained. The straightening of the verticals seemed so obvious (a slap to the forehead uttering D'oh) and what an improvement it makes to the image overall. I did use the adjustment brush on the centre brick supports to introduce a bit more warmth and colour and dehazed selectively plus a bit of exposure and contrast tweaking.
I'm uncertain if it's possible but it'd be helpful if the editing data (LR EXIF?) could be embedded like the original shot images.

You're welcome. After I posted my version I realised I need to spend more time on it and increase some of the adjustments and use more brushwork. Mine wasn't much different to yours except for the verticals. I was clearly telling you a lot that you already know.

Since last night playswithlight has quickly produced a much better processing job and a detailed description of adjustments.

Regarding your question about documenting Lightroom edit settings/data, this is beyond my experience but I vaguely recall people mentioning something similar during my internet explorations.
Again, other forum members may know better ways, given the expertise and supportive nature of this forum. Also I'm not sure if playswithlight will provide any more than the existing detailed description, which looks very helpful. It would be better if you could use those superior processes. Anyway I Googled my hypothesis and tried the following:

In Lightroom I saved the processing as a Preset.
I found the ".lrtemplate" file thus generated and saved it as a .txt file.
I have attached the text file so you can examine it with any text editor.

I haven't done this before and it yields a huge amount of data. It seems to capture what I have done.
I think if the .txt file extension is removed and the file placed in the appropriate Lightroom Folder, the processing could be used in Lightroom. It should appear in your User Presets list.
In my (Windows 7, LR 5.7.1) case, the location was: C:\Users\Username\AppData\Roaming\Adobe\Lightroom\Develop Presets\User Presets

Note that I have had another go at the processing after being embarrassed inspired by playswithlight's version. I basically tried to quickly approximate it and the result is attached. This is the version that the attached preset file matches.

[Geoff79]

I can't play in this thread as I don't own Lightroom, but I'm enjoying the thread nonetheless. These last two versions from Alex and Ross look good to me, keeping the detail, and even accentuating that interesting patch of cloud.


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[mikew09]

Not something I can really comment on as not a specific LS photog and only use LR as a cataloging tool. The LR edit is a definate improvement though and I see some photographs do very successful edits in LR along so keep up the great work.

[Nikonoff]

I had a go with this image too, and went for a more romanticised finish in Lightroom with it. Not too bad for a three minute edit! I decided not to warm and colour the pylons to a uniform appearance, as I liked the differences to them.

Phew! That took a heck of a lot longer to type, than to do!

Hope it helps you in some way.

I love Lightroom, as much as Tony (Tannin) hates it! It's quick, easy and non-destructive.

Thanks PWL, I appreciate the detailed explanation and examples of subsequent editing. Sorry about the EXIF, hadn't intended to withhold, I think it's a setting in LR that I need to change.

Thanks to you also Ross for digging into the AppData PC nether regions regarding the LR EXIF data, I'll have a sticky in there for myself and see what the files have to yield.