How to get the perfect golden edit on my photos...

[Aedai]

I'm finally getting better at taking the photos and now I need some help getting better at processing my photos.

I absolutely adore Paint The Moon's editing style, the soft and golden style and I try to recreate it and I fail miserably. I'm not even sure where to begin.

Does anyone know what sort of process it is?

I own both CS6 and Lightroom

 

[Derrel]

Check out these as well Little Lusker Photoshop Actions

As far as "where to begin", I would literally begin with an order and your debit card. Unless you have two to five years' worth of Photoshop study and practice, and a tremendous wealth of established knowledge, it's just easier and better and more intelligent to BUY what you need.

$149 sounds like a lot of money...but one or two YEARS' worth of time spent Photoshopping thousands of images is worth more than any price that can be put on it. A lot of internet forum people who have good PS skills will give you bad advice and tell you, "Oh, you can just do this yourself by ___________ and then ___________. And finally by ___________ and _______."

That's bad advice. THe big problem is that many people do not understand the difference between investing in tools and being a cheapskate unwilling to spend a few dollars to literally BUY capabilities that would take years to develop.

Again--the web is filled with people who assume a huge degree of knowledge that many people simply DO NOT POSSESS! They cannot fathom how a beginner cannot understand how to make five or six layers, and do a 10-step process on hundreds of images, or how one cannot mask four or five items and selectively make critical adjustments on multiple layers and so on.

 

[Aedai]

Well I've used Photoshop for 8 years now... I'm just having a hard time achieving this look and don't have the money to afford $149 for something that I KNOW I can do on my own. It's just getting started.

I used PS for digital art rather than photography for 8 years so I'm wondering if I'm looking at my photographs as another art piece rather than a photograph for a client (or rather, myself as I'm not professional yet).

 

[waday]

...it's just easier and better and more intelligent to BUY what you need.

$149 sounds like a lot of money...but one or two YEARS' worth of time spent Photoshopping thousands of images is worth more than any price that can be put on it. A lot of internet forum people who have good PS skills will give you bad advice and tell you, "Oh, you can just do this yourself by ___________ and then ___________. And finally by ___________ and _______."

I can relate to this so well. When I first bought Photoshop years ago, I wanted to start right away and I thought my images were going to look great. They didn't look great, because I had no clue how to use it. I looked online for tutorials on how to process images and could recreate EXACTLY what that person did, but it provided me zero knowledge of the program or even what I was actually doing to the photo. I truly believe the online tutorials made me worse in Photoshop.

At the time, little did I know that the 'looks' I wanted to get were absolutely beyond my capabilities. I broke down and bought some presets a year or so ago, and while they still don't look exactly how I want them, they got me closer to understanding what I need to do to get what I want out of the picture. I am now able to go into Photoshop or Lightroom and start to process the image without the help of any presets whatsoever.

...don't have the money to afford $149 for something that I KNOW I can do on my own. It's just getting started....

Not many people have the money to afford... anything, really. They realize that investing in something they need now could help turn a profit in the future. I have no doubt that you will learn how to get the look you want after hours of practice. Just remember to balance the time needed to learn the program yourself with the costs of having a little nudge along the way.

 

[Derrel]

I'm finally getting better at taking the photos and now I need some help getting better at processing my photos.

I absolutely adore Paint The Moon's editing style, the soft and golden style and I try to recreate it and I fail miserably. I'm not even sure where to begin.

Does anyone know what sort of process it is?

I own both CS6 and Lightroom

So...apparently you've been using Photoshop for EIGHT YEARS, and you say you are still "failing miserably".

Seems like a few dollars spent on achieving what you want might be worth avoiding the self-described "failing miserably", which is what your eight years' worth of experience has allowed you to achieve.

 

[astroNikon]

She has some pretty nice equipment too --> What's In My Bag? Annie Manning, Paint the Moon Photoshop Actions | Photoshop Actions for Photographers by Paint the Moon

If you click on each piece of equipment she goes over some details about it and how it affects her photography.

If you are looking for that background out of focus look .. it's from the equipment

 

[astroNikon]

I'm also not sure what specifics you are trying to achieve.

Alot of those before and after are basic Lightroom skills for post processing - at least from what I've been learning.

Why not post a few photos of yours, say what you want to improve on and see who can edit it that way.

 

[Aedai]

So...apparently you've been using Photoshop for EIGHT YEARS, and you say you are still "failing miserably".

Seems like a few dollars spent on achieving what you want might be worth avoiding the self-described "failing miserably", which is what your eight years' worth of experience has allowed you to achieve.

8 years of digital art, one month of photography editing. No need to talk down on me, I found my problem I just didn't realize I've been approaching my photos wrong until I wrote my last post.

And I have been. Digital art is all about manipulating photos together to get what you want, photography is about enhancing what you have in one photo.

Still working on it, but 5 minutes in and I feel like I stumbled across the ancient secret of the universe. Any tips?

 

[Scatterbrained]

Head over to youtube and check out the Phlearn channel.
This kind of editing is quite popular right now with portraiture so I can't imagine the web not being flooded with tutorials.

 

[Aedai]

I did look for tuts on google without much luck, I didn't even think of youtube though. Thank you

 

[JohnnyWrench]

I'm finally getting better at taking the photos and now I need some help getting better at processing my photos.

I absolutely adore Paint The Moon's editing style, the soft and golden style and I try to recreate it and I fail miserably. I'm not even sure where to begin.

Does anyone know what sort of process it is?

I own both CS6 and Lightroom

So...apparently you've been using Photoshop for EIGHT YEARS, and you say you are still "failing miserably".

Seems like a few dollars spent on achieving what you want might be worth avoiding the self-described "failing miserably", which is what your eight years' worth of experience has allowed you to achieve.

Ouch... somebody wake up on the wrong side of the bed?

PS for the sake of digital art and design vs. PS for pure photography are somewhat different skill sets. SOMEWHAT.

I can relate... I've been in PS for many years as a designer and there is definitely a learning curve when transitioning to photography. The good news is you probably have a good idea of what's going on in the program. Now you just need to expand your skill set within it. There are tons of tutorials out there that will help tremendously. Phlearn.com is a great resource. Check out the free section. It covers quite a bit.

EDIT: Aaaand Scatterbrained beat me to it...

 

[Aedai]

Well I'm a graphic designer as well so I put together flyers and business cards mostly at work for almost 2 years now... I had a hard time approaching design work as well when I started and I should've realized I was having the same problem with photography. Which is still very new to me. Still learning the basics, still studying my manual, etc. I'm getting there though (I hope)... I'm at the point where I just kind of expect to be good at anything related to Photoshop and that's not the case I guess.

Ha, but yes, once I get my toddler to take a nap I'll have to check out. Thanks so much!

 

[DevC]

all a good amount of gradient maps, layer fills, and masking.

 

[ndancona]

Have you looked at Meg Bitton's work - meg bitton - souls-imagined she seems to be the master of this style. She does online workshops where you can watch her edit.. They're not cheap but could be helpful.

 

[vintagesnaps]

I think what's going on with the first one is all the grasses and foliage being edited to be the same color (and the girl's skirt isn't so purple anymore but grayish). Looking at the original there's wheat color and green; if it were edited to enhance the wheat color to be more golden and the greens maybe lightened that could work. The entire image might have benefitted from being brightened up, it looks like the exposure was somewhat off.

If you want a golden color it would probably take finding some tall grasses, corn stalks, etc. that are already yellowish. I'd suggest you try going out and looking at how colors look in a scene in bright sunlight, and take some test shots; then go back and shoot the same scene later in the day to see how the light changes the colors. Probably as the days get shorter it might be more limiting trying it this time of year but you might still get some nice fall photos.

I think the technique in the first link is rather limiting because the originals don't looks as if they were properly exposed which means they need to be edited to correct that, then enhance the colors etc. And shooting every shot wide open doesn't necessarily work either, you need to meter and adjust depending on the existing light, how far you are from the subject, etc. If you can learn how to get a properly exposed image then you can enhance it to get the look you want.