LUKAS KORYNTA EDITING TIPS // Editing is a hot topic in photography currently. I'm being asked about presets and my post processing all the time on Instagram and the questions are mostly the same - "Do you sell presets?" and "How to achieve a film look?" (Update: You guys asked for it so here it is, I finally released my presets, CHECK IT OUT HERE). Having a good preset is a key but I believe editing is all about your tendencies and personal preferences. Here are some of my editing tips for soft skin tones and earthy tones to help you find the look you're going for.
1. Fix Yellows for Earthy Tones
Out of all these editing tips this one has probably a biggest effect. Yellows and greens tend to be oversaturated during a bright sunny day and bringing the saturation down a little bit will change the mood significantly. Wether you prefer rich tones or muted tones, try to be as consistent as possible with other photos too. You can find the slider in HSL section in Lightroom.
2. Whites vs. Highlights
If you use latest Lightroom, you probably noticed "highlights" and "whites" as well as "shadows" and "blacks". Choosing which ones you'll bring up or down will have significant effect on how soft or harsh your edit is going to be. Moving highlights up and shadows down can create a nice soft look but it doesn't work for all types of photos. I suggest to experiment with this to learn how these sliders works.
click the image to switch between BEFORE / AFTER
3. Curves for better Contrast
Playing with curves is a perfect way to make your photo pop a little bit. Adjust the curve to a little S shape to make it more dynamic. I prefer adjusting the curve instead before playing with contrast slider. I just think it looks better and more consistent throughout the set.
4. Don't fear the Vignette
Lightroom offers amazing feature that automatically removes the vignette based on what lens you used. Although it can be very helpful sometimes, I prefer a little vignette in all my photos. I don't mind dark corners, they bring attention to the middle of the shot and create nice soft look.
5. Warmer is Better
When photos feel too washed out and people have very unhealthy looking skin tones, it's probably a white balance issue. If you shoot with your camera on auto white balance, photos usually end up being too cold. At least for my taste. So I like to go crazy with temperature slider in Lightroom and then slowly move back until it feels right. For some reason it works better for me than moving the slider up.
Bonus Editing Tip - Soft Skin Tones
One thing we should always nail in our editing - skin. Nobody likes unhealthy skin tones that make people look like they are either very cold or like they just ate something bad. Luckily skin tones are very easy to fix. Start with temperature slider and then fix the skin tone using HSL section. Sometimes you might need to add a little luminance to make person's face brighter and skin softer.
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