What have you got in your workflow?

I’ve used Lightroom since it’s first public beta.  Over the years I’ve added different presets, mostly in the Develop Module. (How many B&W presets do I really need!!??)   I’ve also incorporated additional editing software.  Various iterations of On1 products ,The Nik collection (Efex Pro, Viveza,Dfine Etc.) and recently added Perfect Exposure.  I was reminded that I have the NIK Collection ( It’s Freeee. ) after seeing this blog post How to Sharpen Your Photos using Lightroom and Nik Efex by Pete Demarco  I had a picture I could practice on. A Mother Duck and ducklings were out feeding in the morning recently. There was some nice early morning light giving them a bit of backlit effect.  However, I  was not happy with my results.  They were just too soft.  I’ve got a low end zoom lens so it wasn’t a surprise but it was disappointing.  Enter  the Output Sharpener. After adjusting the settings per Pete’s recommendation. I got this result:

 

On the left is the result using Output sharpening. Compared to the right Mom’s feathers are just a little better.  Where it’s more noticeable is the chicks fur and the water droplets on their bodies.  I outputted this from LR without any additional sharpening.  Now I need to practice with the other parts of the Collection!

Sunrise Calm

I always feel a little more elbow room with a panorama.  Digital makes it soo much easier to create them.  With landscapes it tells a more complete story.

Finger Rock Sunset

Last year I made the plunge into the smart phone waters. I got the Nexus 5x with Google fi.  I’ve gotten some nice shots with it. This is one of them.  Recently, Google updated the OS to 7.1.1. They improved the camera app by adding EV controls among other things.  This particular photo was enhanced with ON1 10.  I kicked things up a bit more than I usually do and cropped it so the bird is more easily seen.

Out Of Service

For several hours today we got a good soaking of rain.  It even kicked up a notch and pushed out a stream of debris from a nearby storm drain into the canal I live next to.

 

A Good Start to Hump Daay