How to get these kind of tones?

[DScience]

Here's my take:

 

[Braineack]

So what I did here first was adjust for distortion. I like vertical lines--that's just me.

Then I simply adjusted the black and white points to where I liked them, then adjusted the shadows to bring the mids to a point I was happy. Without increasing the shadows i thought the fore-area was too dark, but i didnt bring them up so far that there was still a look of difference between areas in shadow and areas in direct light.

By default, i add 10 clarity, 20 vibrancy, and 2 saturation based on my import settings. I bumped the colors just a touch cause I thought it still looked a bit dull.

Then I added warmth to the shot via the WB, pushed the tint to red, and still thought the shot looked too green, so I went in and dropped the green saturation.

lastly bumped up the sharpness ever so slightly.

oh yeah, almost forgot, i did paint an area of the sky with an adjustments brush and dropped the exposure and highlights to bring back up the detail in the one tower, but not too much where the sky turned to gray since it was blown out.


I like bright, vibrant realistic looking images. But I love shadows and contrast as well, so I tend to exaggerate lights and darks depending on the scene. I never use presets. I adjust image-by-image and start from scratch, i've downloaded a bunch of presets and only find them useful when im blindly trying to mimic an artist style -- like matte blacks, or cross-processing, or the "ultimate fighter" look.

Do you sync images that are similar or still process them one by one?

I'll sync shots in the same series and spot check the same edits looked good.

 

[robbins.photo]

A good photographer always have an idea of how his images will look at the end.

I know I always do. Kitty. Not a kitty. Kitty. Not a kitty.

 

[nerwin]

@Braineack Thanks for your help man, it was really helpful. I also like keeping my photos natural but I also don't want them to be flat either. But I don't want them to go over the edge also. Its really not easy haha.

I've read a lot of blog posts about finding your own processing style and they never really talk about it, its more like "buy my presets". Or apply a vintage fade for a cool effect. Meh.

 

[Vtec44]

A good photographer always have an idea of how his images will look at the end.

I know I always do. Kitty. Not a kitty. Kitty. Not a kitty.

Try sexy kitty next time

 

[nerwin]

My sexy kitty

 

[astroNikon]

Man I suck. I have absolutely no vision when it comes to post processing my images. The only thing I can do is start with a preset that I like that gives me a basis for my edits and just roll with it. I don't know what else to do.

start learning about each feature/option in Lightroom and play with each slider/function.
Just like you read and learned about each feature on your camera ... right ?

 

[nerwin]

There must be a good book on this stuff that really explains what everything does. I understand the basic panel just fine, but the tone curves really intrigues me because boy that really changes the image.