Monday, April 15, 2013

Using Lightroom like a Painter

lightroom Develop/Basic tonal sliders
I have become a fan of doing the tonal adjustments “by hand” using Develop/basic Tonal sliders. Rather than the Tone Curves and Presets. This is because this approach matches the way I like to develop a drawing or painting. So here I will take you through my approach to developing a pastel sketch based (loosely) on this photo taken at Mt. Buffalo looking down into the gorge.

Rough CompositionDeveloping the midtonesStaring in the midtones, in this case I have selected a colour paper that is perhaps a bit darker than the mid tone i want to establish. So I am adding a few areas of colour and tone to set up the composition and develop the midtones

 

 

adding shadowswith highligjts and darksThese steps are bringing in more of the shadows and then emphasising the highlights. A few darks help settle the image and bring out the feeling of depth in the painting. The final steps are really just adding some extra colour and detail.

 

 

 

Putting in the finishing touchesThe Final Pastel Sketch

The Pastels Themselves

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