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Painting with light


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Hello, 

 

Can someone point me to the tutorial that matches the below article mostly. I take photo's with my drone and more often than not I would like to just brighten an area of the photo as sometimes the photos are a bit flat.

 

"In photo-processing the pros use a secret technique to rescue such flat lighting on images. We call it “painting with light”. No matter which post-processing software you use, there should be a brush tool where you can paint in some highlights and also some shadows"

 

https://djiphotoacademy.com/fixing-flat-light-midday-drone-photo/

 

I am just amateur trying to improve my skills

Thank you.

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There are a few ways to do this.  This one is one of the quickest and will work on most images.

1. Duplicate the layer (optional)
2. Add a Curves adjustment to the duplicated layer
3. Grab middle of curve and drag upwards to brighten all the image
4. Select the Curves adjustment layer in the layers panel and hit CTRL + I to effectively switch it off
5.  Choose a white brush at 0% hardness and paint over the area (on the curves layer) you want to "Paint by Light"

PS The Curves adjustment remains editable so you can go back in and tweak the curve to adjust the effect after you "Paint by Light"

paintbylight.jpg

To save time I am currently using an automated AI to reply to some posts on this forum. If any of "my" posts are wrong or appear to be total b*ll*cks they are the ones generated by the AI. If correct they were probably mine. I apologise for any mistakes made by my AI - I'm sure it will improve with time.

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On 13/10/2017 at 6:44 PM, Enord said:

PS - I am English but have lived in Germany since 1993 - so guess which side of Brexit I am on...

I'm Welsh and totally ashamed of the Welsh people who voted for Brexit.

But at least we're artistic. Eisteddfods and all that. And living in God's country. The Brecon Beacons National Park is literally just over the road. Photographic heaven.

Church and Cows_1400.jpg

Dave Straker

Cameras: Sony A7R2, RX100V

Computers: Win10: Chillblast i9 Custom + Philips 40in 4K & Benq 23in; Surface Pro 4 i5; iPad Pro 11"

Favourite word: Aha. For me and for others.

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ps. Please forgive maudlin stuff. Just consumed bottle of stuff called 'Delerium Tremens'. https://www.ratebeer.com/beer/delirium-tremens/1039/ Followed by half a bottle of red plonk. Ungamunga!

 

Dave Straker

Cameras: Sony A7R2, RX100V

Computers: Win10: Chillblast i9 Custom + Philips 40in 4K & Benq 23in; Surface Pro 4 i5; iPad Pro 11"

Favourite word: Aha. For me and for others.

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On 14/10/2017 at 9:53 PM, dmstraker said:

And living in God's country.

Dave

Another photo that looks strangely familiar! Hmm, now let me see... Well, my best guess would be the Llanthony valley in mid July. A wonderful place. Is it somewhere near?

Hopefully the DTs have worn off by now. O.o

Affinity Designer & Photo  :  Win 10

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On 13/10/2017 at 1:39 PM, carl123 said:

This one is one of the quickest and will work on most images.

Carl123

Thanks for the above technique. I can see this is going to come in extremely useful over the coming months.

You say there are a few ways to do this. Could you possibly mention other techniques we could look at?

Here in the UK, flat lighting is just one of several natural gifts that we get frequent opportunities to enjoy thanks to the Gulf stream.:2_grimacing:

 

 

Affinity Designer & Photo  :  Win 10

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9 hours ago, Roger C said:

Dave

Another photo that looks strangely familiar! Hmm, now let me see... Well, my best guess would be the Llanthony valley in mid July. A wonderful place. Is it somewhere near?

Hopefully the DTs have worn off by now. O.o

Almost. It's St David's church and the Skirrid mountain in, guess where, Llanddewi Skirrid.

You've still got me puzzled, Roger, about who you are.

Dave Straker

Cameras: Sony A7R2, RX100V

Computers: Win10: Chillblast i9 Custom + Philips 40in 4K & Benq 23in; Surface Pro 4 i5; iPad Pro 11"

Favourite word: Aha. For me and for others.

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Dave

Sorry for any puzzling on your part.

I take note of your threads as I'm a relative newbie to full-fat photo manipulation and seeing your avatar (along with a dozen or so others whose wisdom I venerate) is an entertaining short cut to learning the ropes and finding interesting ideas.

 

But as you can see from my face, I'm really just some random, fairly generic, guy off the internet .

R

 

(Time to stop. Feel guilty of taking up too much Affinity bandwidth with Off-topic old bloke guff.)

Affinity Designer & Photo  :  Win 10

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17 hours ago, Roger C said:

Carl123

Thanks for the above technique. I can see this is going to come in extremely useful over the coming months.

You say there are a few ways to do this. Could you possibly mention other techniques we could look at?

Here in the UK, flat lighting is just one of several natural gifts that we get frequent opportunities to enjoy thanks to the Gulf stream.:2_grimacing:

 

 

OK, here are a few:

Instead of a curves adjustment you can use other adjustment layers such as Levels, Brightness / Contrast, HSL etc

Or change the blend mode of the duplicate, like so....

Duplicate the layer
Change Blend mode of duplicate layer (e.g. change to Screen )
Add a mask
Invert the mask
Paint with white brush on the Mask

or use Tone Mapping, like so

Duplicate the layer
Use Tone Mapping persona to apply a brighter / different tone to the duplicated image
Add a mask
Invert the mask
Paint with white brush on the Mask

 

Which technique you use will ultimately depend on the picture and what you want to achieve with it

To save time I am currently using an automated AI to reply to some posts on this forum. If any of "my" posts are wrong or appear to be total b*ll*cks they are the ones generated by the AI. If correct they were probably mine. I apologise for any mistakes made by my AI - I'm sure it will improve with time.

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