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12-step Correction Sequence for my Class

My next Railroad Photo-101 Class at the Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania is scheduled for 9am Tuesday, November 18.

See: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/railroad-photography-101-fall-session-two-tickets-1897150832209?aff=oddtdtcreator

I’ve altered my syllabus for this session to include some guidance and philosophy on how to process digital RAW files.

For one of the lessons I’ve included the following 12-Step Correction Sequence using Adobe Lightroom to demonstrate how I interpret a difficult lighting situation and use the histogram to make corrections.

I realize that the Word Press file compression may make it difficult to delineate some of the more subtle changes, but I thought I’d present them here anyway. This sequence shows screen shots of the Lightroom work window including the relative position of the adjustment sliders. I’ve presented each of the steps in order, with only one change between each image. (Note the slider positions at the right of the image).

Watch how the changes alter the exposure histogram at top right. My goal is to make the most of the data caputured by the camera.

Unaltered Nikon NEF RAW image. (No adjustments)
Highlights adjustment.
Overall exposure increase following the highlight adjustment.
Overall contrast reduction.
First Shadow adjustement: Shadows lightened.
Black point adjustment.
Second overall exposure adjustment to place midtones at the center of the histogram (top right).
Clarity adjustment slider to alter contrast and broaden the exposure histogram. This change improved midtone contrast.
Selecting the sky.
Using the sky mask to locally adjust sky highlights.
Final sky adjustment.
Final adjustment; setting the white point by moving the white slider to the left.
Scaled version of the final photo.

Tracking the Light Examines Railroad Photography!