#trying my hand at lightroom editing

[nomaptomyowntreasure]

[pnwander]

Hey friends! ICYMI, I was asked to share some before & after walkthroughs, so I thought I'd start with Cheveyo the bald eagle (original post here). This is an older edit, but I had it on hand, and it speaks to a little bit of everything that was asked for (in-camera & post).

BEFORE

✱ KIT Panasonic GH6 + LEICA DG 100-400 ✱ SHUTTER 1/125 sec ✱ APERTURE f/4.8 ✱ ISO 12800

WHAT'S ALL THIS, THEN?

I took this at Northwest Trek's Hoot 'n Howl event, meaning this is late in the evening, very low light, with the widest aperture I could get under the circumstances. I did bring my tripod but felt bad about pulling it out given the kids all around, so I held my breath and shot this handheld. All of which is to explain my buckwild ISO of 12800. I normally cap it at 6400.* *if none of that made any sense, and you'd like it to, check the cut at the end of this post. So we've got a whole bunch of noise, and some pretty lackluster lighting, but sharpness could be worse:

We used to have to deal with ISO noise manually in Photoshop. These days, I like Lightroom's Denoise button pretty well, within limits, and that's what I used here. Sometimes Topaz Sharpen and/or Denoise can also help, though with fur and feathers it can get sort of smooshy and odd.

EDITS

Curves for that sort of cinematic look; color grading to taste. That's pretty much it here. I did a lot of desaturating in greens/blues to make Cheveyo pop, along with some color grading in the shadows and midtones. Some people hate this look, but I'm less interested in how the camera captured it than how it felt at the time. YMMV! Throw on a gradient mask to brighten her up and draw the eye where we want it, and I would normally add another mask around the iris, but apparently I didn't find it necessary this time. And we're done!*

AFTER

*But remember that I'm simplifying the edit for the sake of clarity. I usually start with one of my baseline presets that I've made for myself, and then I tinker with it a while. Just play around with the edit til you're happy. It's not always linear.

Feel free to send any questions to my ask box! I try to catch tags & comments, but there's always a risk they'll get buried in my notifications. Let me know if there's any shot in particular you'd like me to deconstruct next! 🤍

under the cut: CAMERA SETTINGS ANNOTATED

✱ KIT Panasonic GH6 + LEICA DG 100-400 This means: I'm using a really long lens. I shot this at 161mm. The widest aperture I can get at that zoom is f/4.8, and shooting handheld makes me less steady, risking an out of focus shot. ✱ SHUTTER 1/125 sec I was in Aperture Priority mode (AP), so this setting was automatically adjusted by the camera according to the ambient light available. It's as high as it is because my aperture is as wide as it is and because my ISO is as high as it is. ✱ APERTURE f/4.8 The lower the number ("f-stop"), the wider the lens opening, the more light gets in. More light = faster shutter speed & a lower ISO = less noise, less risk of motion blur. Also a shallower depth of field. If you think of aperture like an eyeball, if you're at f/1.2, your eyes are absolutely bugging out and you can practically see in the dark. At f/22, you are squinting like your life depends on it. People tend to confuse this because they think a "bigger" number (f/22) should mean "wider." Instead, think of it like that your eyeball is 22% closed, versus 1.2% closed. This is not real camera math, but it can help you remember. ✱ ISO 12800 The higher the ISO, the greater your sensor's sensitivity to light. A higher ISO increases your shutter speed, reducing the risk of motion blur. On a bright sunny day, your ISO, if set to auto, might be 100. Anything over about 1600-3200, depending on the camera, starts to risk ISO noise, which has to be handled in post. Sometimes it can't be fixed, so you want your ISO only as high as it has to be to get the shot. (I'm in my office right now, pointing my camera at my bookshelf. If I manually adjust my ISO to 100, my shutter speed drops to 1/2 sec. At ISO 6400, my shutter speed is 1/200 sec.)

My camera is usually capped at 6400, because it's built for that to be okay, if not ideal. This means that my camera will read the light situation and decide what my ISO should be, but it will not go over 6400 unless I tell it to. For this shoot, I turned it up because I was photographing animals at night.

TL;DR: Shoot in Aperture Priority, as wide open as possible, with ISO on auto or set to something high that you know your camera can handle, for a low-light shot of a subject that is moving little, if at all.

[lewiswhatshisname]

I suppose I ought to introduce myself

I like taking photos with odd cameras. I am by no means a professional. I just have loads of cameras I've picked up second hand from various places, and like mucking about with them in different ways.

Right off the bat, I don't care about taking the perfect shot. That's boring to me. While I don't go out with the goal of intentionally taking wonky shots – I do actually try to make sure each shot is focused and exposed properly – quite a lot of my cameras are broken or weird in some way. My main film camera technically works, in that the lens attached to it is in good nick, and when I push the shutter button, it goes click. But the shutter fires inconsistently, and will often misfire at the lightest touch, it doesn't really fire at the speeds it's set to, the ISO dial is loose as hell and is always changing itself, and even if it wasn't doing that, the light meter really has no idea what light is in the first place.

It really only gets better from here. All of my cameras have some sort of physical malady by dint of being second hand, and in many cases, straight up antique, or because they're Holgas and have a deliberately imperfect design. I've got a couple of "toy cameras" as well, with cheap plastic lenses that make any given shot look a bit weird. None of these categories are mutually exclusive either.

But I also just like to do terrible things to both my cameras and the film I shoot on. My favourite thing to do is shove the wrong format film into the cameras. Sometimes I don't feel like cutting down film to fit into my 127 cameras, so I'll cram a 35mm roll in there. Or I'll stick one into one of my 120 or 620 cameras just for the hell of it. I like to redscale film, soup it, and just generally fuck it up before and after shooting. When I develop the film here at home, I don't put a lot of attention into making sure everything is perfect down to the tenth of a degree and to the second. I am not that fussed about any of it, frankly. As long as the roll comes out of the tank with photos on it, I'm happy. If they're messed up, whatever. That's part of the fun.

Right now, I'm slowly working through uploading my backlog over here. I've got even more photos on deviantART, and I post them to Patreon a month before I put them anywhere else. I also try to remember to put prints up, but that's a whole process on its own. In addition to uploading my backlog, I've been spending much of my time just working on scanning and editing a whole other backlog of negatives.

And according to Lightroom, right now that comes down to nearly 400 photos that I've yet to post, and a further 5,000-odd that I've not even looked at for editing. Plus the five or six rolls sitting on my printer waiting to be scanned.

You'll find a mix of birdwatching and urban photography, along with some random other things. I have favourite subjects I like to go back to again and again, and you'll get used to seeing them through a variety of lenses.

TL;DR, I take a lot of photos, many of them odd or wonky, and I'm never going to be done with this backlog. And the photos I have in Lightroom are only from the last few years. Multiple hard drive crashes have caused me to lose all of my digital photos a few times over.

Current Gear:

Canon EOS Elan II E (35mm)

Canon EOS Rebel XT (dSLR)

Fujifilm Instax Mini 90 (instant film)

Holga 135BC (35mm)

Holga 120 WPC Panoramic Pinhole (120)

Kodak Jiffy Six-20 (620)

Kodak Brownie Target Six-20 (620)

Kodak Brownie Starmatic II (127)

Kodak Brownie Starflex (127)

Kodak Ektar H35 (35mm)

Kodak Ektar H35N (35mm)

Minolta Maxxum 3000i (35mm)

Minolta Maxxum 8000i (35mm)

Pentax MG (35mm)

Ricoh KR-5 Super II (35mm)

Sawyer's Nomad 620 (120/620)

Super Ricohflex (120/127/35mm)

Plus photos from a variety of iPhones

[journalofawinchester]

The Next Pages...

Here are the next two pages I worked on, featured in Season 1, Episode 10 - Asylum.

A screencap from the episode:

And here's my re-creation in my journal:

The left page is a calendar page - July 10/16, 1989. At the very top we have some runes followed by a black and white photo/image, which I found to be called 'John Henry Fuseli -The Nightmare' - some information can be found on Wikipedia here

Below the first picture we have some more runes followed by a second 'stone carving' photo. Unfortunately I was not able to identify the name or any reference of where this is from.

After this we have a final line of runes

Both of the above photos can be obtained from my Etsy shop if you'd like a high-quality rendered edited photo. The first in 1024x1286px and the second in 1024x1820px. Just to give an idea of the quality here is a 'cropped' portion of each image to compare quality of what can be found online versus the upscaled edited high quality versions...

Here is the link - JournalofaWinchester Etsy

The Right page is a calendar page - Thursday, November 16 1989

The content appears to be the same as the 'first' page, but without the first sentence of 'I went to Missouri and learned the truth'

The text for this page:

In olden times in the West people used to say "I put my hand and seal" on a document when signing it. In the East this was literal in some cases. The emperor of Japan in ancient days "signed" important documents by dipping his hand in blood and putting a full bloody handprint on the page. In the history of pacts with the Devil, people were supposed to sign their names in blood. I have seen a couple of alleged pacts of sort from earlier centuries and neither, as far as I can tell, was signed in blood though they do bear signa tures of people. Blood undoubtedly stressed the seriousness of the signing. You were giving away your soul. "The Blood Is the Life."

______________________

I will try to post more regularly moving forward. I have been a little busy working on some other SPN related things recently. I have purchased some cowhide genuine leather and have started to have a crack at leather crafting to make my own hand-stitched and crafted journal for a more screen accurate look. I have also had an attempt in making the leather pouch cover for Bobby's hip flask.

Here is a sneak preview:

I have then been working very hard with Adobe Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign and Lightroom in the 'from scratch' recreation of the 5 different 'Busty Asian Beauties' front and back covers, as well as the first edition 'Busty Asian Lovelies'. I am quite pleased with the progress so far and will share updates soon!

Here's a small blurry 'peak' screenshot just for reference:

Thanks for following! - stay tuned for the next posts!

[parkerferrin]

Artist Statement

I’ve always found photography to be an interesting medium for art, so I’m glad that this class has required me to get my hands on a camera more. I was able to refine what interests me: framing, lighting and color, and type of photography. I feel like photography helps me slow down and look around more, it has helped me appreciate what is going on around me. Through taking photos and editing I feel I’ve grown as an artist and as a person, since I’ve gotten a better grip on lightroom too. I think I’m still growing my “voice” as I would love to have time to do more intricate set-ups for photos. I want to go back and try a few styles, but this has been a great opportunity to learn about styles I never would have thought of. I will definitely keep taking photos and I hope I can learn more about photography as I take photos.

[lonelychicago]

I posted 4,550 times in 2022

470 posts created (10%)

4,080 posts reblogged (90%)

Blogs I reblogged the most:

@swiftiediaz

@monsterrae1

@paqerings

@lostinabuddiehaze

@swiftiebuckleys

I tagged 2,329 of my posts in 2022

Only 49% of my posts had no tags

#eddie diaz - 362 posts

#evan buckley - 357 posts

#buddie - 339 posts

#911 fox - 213 posts

#scheduled - 194 posts

#911 on fox - 184 posts

#evan buck buckley - 161 posts

#911 spoilers - 158 posts

#buck x eddie - 141 posts

#buddie fic - 135 posts

Longest Tag: 139 characters

#and like maybe they can tañk about feeling inadequate as parents and how to deal with thar and stuff bc god knows those two are traumatized

My Top Posts in 2022:

#5

i can't stop thinking about photographer buck so...

It’s mostly a joke, when Eddie first mentions photography to him. Buck's editing a photo on Lightroom on his phone between calls, a photo of Eddie and Chris at the beach.

It's beautiful and Eddie loves it. Buck took it without them even noticing, the photo being even more special that way. Eddie is laughing at something Chris said, they're both wet from playing on the ocean and they have sand on their arms, hands and shoulders. The sun shining down and making the both of them look golden. The rays of sunshine forming almost a halo around them— the waves at the back making the picture even more breathtaking.

Eddie's half joking, half serious, when he tells Buck to buy a fancy camera to take pictures with.

He didn't think Buck would actually listen to him.

Next thing he knows, Buck's instagram becomes full of digitized film pictures of the 118, their family barbeques at the Grant-Nash's house. Pictures of Chris and Eddie at the beach, of Jee playing at the park, of Maddie laughing at one of Chim's jokes. A lot of pictures of Eddie, too.

Pictures of Eddie, of him rolling his eyes with a hand held out and half covering his face. A picture of Eddie mid-way through a laugh, an easy smile on his face.

And he swears, never before a camera has made his stomach do back-flips the way it does when Buck is trying to take a picture of him.

“I swear, I’ll break that thing if you don’t get that out of my face,” he snaps at him. They're in Eddie's kitchen and he's trying to follow a recipe Linda sent him last week, Buck being an enormous distraction and not helpful at all.

"I like capturing people in crisis, Eddie." Buck smirks, all smug and teasing. Eddie kinda hates him a little bit.

Except for the part where he doesn't hate him at all.

Buck grins, bright and unapologetic and Eddie loves him. So much he aches with it.

"Yeah, okay. Whatever." Eddie rolls his eyes, trying to suppress the fond smile that it's already forming on his face.

Later, he'll see the picture Buck takes. Eddie will be covered in flour, it'll be everywhere. In his arms, his clothes, his cheeks. The kitchen around him a mess of ingredients and half ass attempts at a meal. Eddie looking down with a small, shy smile. The warm, almost orange glow of the kitchen light making him look all soft and golden. Later, he'll see that picture and will think oh.

Oh.

He sees me the same way I see him.

Oh.

1,101 notes - Posted November 1, 2022

#4

Buck making dinner for his husband & their son! I will never be over this scene i swear

1,329 notes - Posted September 19, 2022

#3

THEY'RE SO HUSBANDS SHAPED

1,654 notes - Posted September 26, 2022

#2

insp

the balcony scene™ literally was:

buck: 🥺🥺🥺

eddie: kidding, i love you. marry me. pls don't be sad.

1,673 notes - Posted January 12, 2022

My #1 post of 2022

i love you fic writers, i love you appreciation posts for fic writers, i love you rec lists, i love you seven sentences sunday, i love you wip wednesday, i love you fics who make me smile and giggle at 3am, i love you fic writers in general, i love you readers who leave kudos and comments, i love you creators who make art inspired by fic, i love you creative wonderful people who make fandom a better experience.

1,721 notes - Posted August 21, 2022

Get your Tumblr 2022 Year in Review →

[scottdavenportphoto]

When to Stop Editing and Move On

If you enjoy posts like this, please support my work and support independent photography tutorials like this.

Not every landscape photo can be saved no matter how much time and effort you put into editing. The reason your photo can’t be saved can vary from poor composition, out-of-focus issues, lackluster lighting, or extreme exposure issues. Save yourself a headache and recognize when it's time to cut your losses and move on to a better shot. There is a balance between creative vision and reality. Knowing when to stop editing can save you time and frustration, allowing you to focus on photos that truly have potential.

Why This Photo Can’t Be Salvaged

When I captured this photo, I was very excited. I like the composition, the lines in the hills, the dirt roads cutting through the ridge lines, and the balance of foreground, midgraound, and background. Sunrise painted the sky in a pleasing array of colors. I was eager to edit it.

After working in Lightroom for (if I’m honest) longer than I should have, I couldn't get the photo to match my mind’s eye. I pushed sliders, applied masks, fiddled with color grading… nothing was working. I pushed the photo through other plugins in a futile attempt to bring the image to life.

This photo cannot be saved.

Why? The light isn’t there. Although the composition is good, the composition does not work with the available light. With the sun rising behind the hill on the left of the frame, the foreground is in shadow. The ridges in the foreground will not catch the morning light, to offset them from the valleys. As interesting as the lines are in the foreground, they are poorly lit. This composition at this location doesn’t work at sunrise.

A sunset photo using this composition would be much better. Imagine the sun at camera right, lighting up the interesting lines and ridges in the foreground. The sky would also take on color and the light throughout the scene would be much more balanced.

Without the light, this photo isn’t good. And no amount of editing will change that.

Capture More Than One Composition

Thankfully, this was not the only photo I captured during this sunrise. Panning right, I also captured smaller sets of ridges and they rolled toward the Pacific Ocean. Here is one example:

I freely admit I prefer my first composition over this one. However, what this second photo has going for it is the light. This second image is much flatter to begin with, though you can already see the lighting is more uniform. The ridge lines in the foreground are catching the directional light entering from camera left. The morning haze creates layers between the foreground and midground, even among the ridges in the more extreme foreground. And the sky still has that lovely orange color.

When editing this photo, I had light to work with. The golden light on the ridges popped forward during the basic editing. And the sky jumped to life as well… without “unnatural acts” of post-processing. That’s a clear sign you have a photo that’s working and that has good light.

Lessons Learned

I think there are a few lessons. First is to try and temper excitement when you’re on location. Take a few moments and think about light and measure it against your composition. Will the light work with your framing? Will the elements in the photo be lit well? Or will one area of the image be “heavyweight” and

Second, when in the field, don’t bank your entire sunrise or sunset outing on a single frame. This is a great reason to have more than one camera on hand. You can commit one camera to a particular composition that you’re in love with, or that will come together if nature cooperates with a perfect confluence of conditions. Then use your other camera to capture others. I’m happy I didn’t leave this location with just a composition that wouldn’t work.

And third, know when to stop editing and move on. I spent more time in Lightroom, ON1, Luminar, and other tools than I should have on the first composition. In hindsight, it was clear to me earlier on that the photo just wasn’t going to work. I wasted time on an image that would not be salvaged. Reduce your frustration, recognize when an image isn’t work, and move on to another that will.

[dantem2794]

INNER WEST FILM FESTIVAL DAY4

4/15 It has been three days since my previous trip to IWFF. During these three days, I had to spend a lot of time beautifying, editing, screening and editing videos and photos. After systematically using lightroom and davinci to pre-process all available photos, I began to upload them one by one to the online network disk shared by the staff. Due to the slowness of my home network, I had to spend a lot of time in front of my computer with it turned on to make sure the uploaded files weren't paused or lost. Unfortunately, bad weather conditions also occurred repeatedly during these three days. Although it was not a complete restart, it also affected the uploading progress of the material to a certain extent (one day, the Internet was completely disconnected for 8 hours. ) In short, before continuing to discuss my processing of the completed shooting materials, let me first record the content of the internship on April 15th. That day, my shift was scheduled at Dendy Cinemas Newtown. The time listed for me in the call sheet I received was 6pm. After the experience of the previous two days, I arrived at the scene at about 5:45. The situation at the scene completely exceeded my expectations. At first glance, the entrance to the cinema was surrounded by crowds and queues. The grand occasion was even higher than the busiest time of the previous day. Just when I thought I was too late and was about to apologize and start shooting as soon as possible, I saw the staff standing relaxedly near the main entrance, showing no signs of being busy at all. This bothers me greatly. Anyway, I packed up my equipment and belongings as quickly as possible, and came forward with my camera in hand to ask about the specific situation. The result is completely out of control. The staff told me that the IWFF media board was not sent, and there were no other organizers on site. All we had was two pillars, a table and some brochures. All the people present were there to take part in a photo session with another actor. It took me a moment to understand what was going on. I cautiously asked what I should do. The staff member helplessly replied that he didn't know, and half-jokingly said to me, "Try taking pictures of other people to participate in our activities?" ’ I also know that this is not realistic, and the most important thing is that it is inappropriate, but anyway I made some small attempts, such as putting the queue of people and the IWFF pillars into the same picture, and placing the brochure in a specific way. Display panels that shape and blur the crowds and other activities behind. Or trying to capture a passerby who comes to ask about our brochure. But the good times did not last long. In just half an hour, the people queuing up at the scene had gradually entered the hall where they were, which meant that the entrance area had become very deserted. As the staff evacuated, I had no choice but to end the day's work.

[photomattjames]

AI saves the day... again! There's a new-ish feature in Adobe Lightroom that has come to the rescue on a number of occasions, but on Wednesday night it truly stepped up to the podium. Tasked with photographing a private event at the Planetarium Copenhagen for International Powered Access Federation (IPAF), I was a little taken aback when I realised just how dark it was going to be in there. Makes sense – it's a planetarium! In these situations, flash photograph is always an option, but it can also ruin the mood somewhat. All those stars, planets and colours get washed away with a sudden burst of bright light, and I wanted to avoid using it as much as possible. The solution is to increase the camera's ISO settings, which essentially boosts the available ambient light – a bit like using a microphone when someone's speaking softly. But with increased ISO comes increased grain, and the images start to appear fuzzy. This isn't usually an issue at ISO 5000 (my go-to amount), but inside the darkness of the Planetarium's interior, I needed at least 10,000. This puts significant strain on the camera sensor, as it heats up to lend a hand. Back in the office I was faced with a conundrum: manually edit each image to remove the grain, or test Lightroom's "Denoise" feature across multiple images all at once. I felt it was definitely time to try out the latter, so I selected a batch of 150 images and waited for the technology to do its thing. Thirty minutes and one cup of strong coffee later, the results were in. Naturally I was expecting the images to look great, but I was more impressed with the amount of time I saved. Instead of going through the photos one-by-one and fixing them, I'd gained an additional half-an-hour, which I used to get on with other tasks. People often ask me whether I'm concerned about AI taking over my job. I'm not. But I am looking forward to seeing what other technical problems it can help me solve in the near future, so that I can continue to offer my clients a high level of professional service and high quality images. Thanks to Steven Webb and the team at KHL Group for trusting me with this assignment, and congratulations to all the winners and nominees of the IAPAs https://www.photographybymatthewjames.com/p/event-photography

[sunnyardn631]

Favourites from week 2 contact sheet

I continued to explore with self portraits this week with the attempts of having a natural light in an indoor environment. I played around with blocking the light with curtains which emphasised on the light and creates shadow. Also, I placed a laundry basket near the window, which had an interesting shadow on the face. I took this series of top angle shots and further edited these in Adobe Lightroom to enhance the exposure and contrast of the photo.

Then I also started photographing others outdoor and I chose my cousin for this week's model. I took half during noon and the other half after sunset to test out the different lighting and learned to adapt to lighting with my manual settings on camera. I quite like shadows of the patterns and the focus on the eye from the first image; and for the second image I like the overall balanced lighting, the cropping of the hands and the capture of the natural expression.

What I found difficult and need to improve on: I found it quite difficult to focus on myself when I was taking the self portraits and I think I'll still have to improve on the control of lighting as my photos were easily under or over exposed when I was trying to "eye" the manual settings.

This week's work was inspired by Laura Zalenga's natural light portraits where she incorporate something in front of the subject to create layers and dimensions for the image. Besides, I experimented with her lighting technique where she stand under the shades with a single light source coming in.

[yvelou]

Napo 🐆 male Jaguar. He is simply amazing, i was so happy to get this shot of him recently. (Trying my hand at big cat photography) to create this image I started by importing the RAW image into Lightroom to edit.

For those who are unfamiliar with editing an image from RAW, it is an image which holds all of the original information, however you do need to digitally edit it. It’s not the same as a a JPEG file where the camera will automatically do all that work for you. As the photographer you will need to edit/digitally process your image before you can share it.

It is a long process when you choose to individually edit each piece, however it gives you a lot more control as an artist because it is the cumulative process of your photography skills and personal visual aesthetic. As you can see here from the RAW image file, it lacks any real colour and depth, all of which you need to put back into the image.

This is my final edit of Napo. Hope you like. Yvette x 😊🐆🩵📸 #wildlifephotography #jaguar #napo #photography #photoedit #photographyediting

[fandomartdumpblog]

Your Kent Parson work is incredible!! How do you paint something like that??

Thank you, Anon!! It look me like nine hours to finish it - I’m very proud.

If you’re asking about my actual process, I typically rely on a few reference photograph images for the actual pose bc I’m a cheater and life is short. I outline the overall location and angles of the body parts using the reference photographs, but ofc end up making a million changes to fit the face/hairstyle/body type for the character.

From there, I draw out the features - sometimes pulling from reference photographs, more often by hand (Kent was by hand, though the expression was definitely inspired by the pose model lol). Transform tool and layers are definitely your friends here.

Then the important next step is to lay down a whole lot of block colors to establish where bone structure/facial angles will reflect light in different ways. I use a LOT of photograph references from different angles for color blocking because I’d have to be a master artist to do that shit from memory lmao.

Once I’m happy with my blocking and the general feel of the character, I’m finally ready to paint. I don’t like obvious outline lines in my digital paintings and tend to prefer using color to create the features instead. So I usually mute my outline real low and go WAAAAY too deep down the rabbithole of recreating the effect of lines and definition for each feature. It takes FOR-EV-ER, but I love the effect:

(Sorry for the crappy jpg lol - this is actually the slightly blurred mastered version bc I always forget to duplicate my raw layers before mastering them 🤦‍♀️)

I hate drawing hair with every fiber of my being, but it’s generally the same process. I luckily have a good brush to save me some time. Thank god.

I usually try to create clothing using a similar process, but I got lazy on Kent’s drawing bc I was already 8 hours in. So I just pulled a photograph of a hockey player wearing a white jersey and literally trace-colored the jersey. Hence the weird hyperrealistic effect on that element of the work. I’m cringing just looking at it 😅😅

Last step of painting is to use the transform tool to make any edits to the features of the piece, if something seems weird when looking at the overall effect. Embarrassed to say there’s usually a LOT of transform tool use at this stage.

To master, I apply a blur effect to mask any weird pixelation resulting from Procreate Whimsy™ - it makes the piece look a little better and more “painted”. Then I usually throw the work through an Adobe Lightroom filter to help with any weird coloring issues.

…and that’s about it! It’s definitely a technique native to digital art - there is no undo button or transform tool on paper - and I still see a million mistakes with every work I do. But it’s certainly a fun hobby!!

[scapegrace74-blog]

Love Stained, Chapter 8

A/N  For the record, it’s still Monday in Hawaii, so I managed to keep my promise to post this chapter only a day late.  So long as you’re in Oahu when you read it.

In all seriousness, I’m very sorry for the delay.  Work has been an absolute gong show lately, and I spend most of my evenings staring at Youtube videos and listening to the hamster wheel in my brain squeak.

What can I say about this chapter?  It was one of the first I saw clearly from beginning to end, although I flipflopped on how to relay the memory of Jamie’s assault.  In the end, I opted for the vague outlines of a dream, rather than an explicitly recalled memory.  I would still caution that this chapter contains reference to a past sexual assault, so please read accordingly.  If you want to skip over that bit, it is the italicized section at the opening of the chapter.

Now, before you all come after me with pitchforks, there is a happy ending to this story, and it comes in the next (last) chapter.  Provided my business trip this week leaves a little time in the evenings to edit, I will post the finale on Saturday, to make up for being a day late this week.  Until then, let there be angst!

The dream began innocuously, as it always did.  

A limestone streetscape, horns honking, the spring sunshine warm on his face.  Profusion of flowers, each donning its showy raiment of Easter egg colours.  The Luxembourg gardens, near his old flat.

She walked beside him, just a pace behind where he could not see her face.  Her hand was dainty in his own.  Pride filled him like a balloon, but she held him to earth in her surprisingly strong grip.

Laughter.  An outdoor café.  Bitter aftertaste to his beer.  More laughter.  The sunshine defragmenting like a kaleidoscope.  Spinning on a carousel.  Glass breaking at his feet.  Murmured apologies.  A narrow stairwell, endless trudging upward.

Waking in the dark, his bilge water brain sloshing about in his skull.  Sheets rough on his hyper-sensitive skin. Naked.  Cold.   He tried to move but he was pinned to the bed like a butterfly specimen.  Panic, muffled and confused.

Her voice again.  Taunting.  Blaming him for wanting to wait.  For being so desirable.  For making her want him.  Cruel laughter as he tried to squirm away from her touch.  Shame as his body responded without his consent. Begging.  More laughter.  Pressure against his cock, slick and foreign.  Eyes shuttered closed, acid in his throat.  Pleading.  No, not like this.  No. Not me.  No.

Jamie woke with the gasp of a surfacing free diver, pulse angry in his chest. He paced to the kitchen, running the tap until the water was icy cold, trying to rinse the phantom acrid taste from his mouth.  She’d drugged his beer, stolen the weapon of his strength and then taken what he wasn’t willing to give.  The irony was that he’d been considering sleeping with her, but wanted to make it meaningful, memorable.  Now it was the memory he couldn’t escape.

The clock read half four.  From experience, Jamie knew he wouldn’t find peaceful rest again tonight, so he dressed and prepared for a long, exhausting day.

***

His phone chirped as he stared vacantly out the studio windows at the retreating light.  Ostensibly, he was editing his latest work in Lightroom, but his thoughts were as scattered by fatigue as thistledown on the wind.

8:03pm: Are you free tonight?  I know it’s late notice, but Frank is having drinks with a visiting colleague.

8:04pm:  I really want to see you, Alex.

8:05pm:  Aye, I’m about.  It’s too late to drive to your bothy, though.

8:06pm:  I thought of that.  The Ibis near the University?

8:06pm:  Meet me in the lobby.  9pm.

There was no time to run home for a shower, so Jamie settled for the next best thing: three shots of espresso.  A clean pair of jeans, teeth brushed and cologne reapplied, he felt halfway human as he hurried down the street.

He was familiar with the Ibis but had never spent time there with a woman; a fact that seemed inordinately important as he entered the lobby and spotted Claire waiting for him, dewy and radiant as a freshly born star. He greeted her with a kiss on the cheek, like a suitor meeting his beloved.

“Have ye grabbed us a room?” he inquired, low enough to avoid being overheard.  Nine in the evening was a perfectly respectable time to be checking into a hotel, but his instinct was to protect her privacy.

“No, I only just arrived.”

Regretfully leaving her behind, Jamie waited in line to check in. Glancing over his shoulder as the clerk ran his credit card, he couldn’t help but feel a surge a pride that he was accompanying the loveliest woman in the room.

Key card in hand, his arm found its place around Claire’s back just as the elevator doors opened.  He was half-aware of the couple that stepped out, the woman half the man’s age and simpering.  Beside him, Claire froze.  Her cheeks, so recently a pretty blush pink, went ashen, her eyes wide with horror. The couple, wrapped up in themselves, crossed the lobby and out into the night.

“Frank.”  The word fell from her lips with all the quiet catastrophe of a precious vase tipping off a shelf.

Sizing up the situation quickly, Jamie caught the closing elevator door with his free hand and shepherded his companion into the confines of the cab.  Beneath his palm, he could feel her starting to shake.  The walk down the hallway to their room felt endless.  Claire stared straight ahead into emptiness, mute and robotic.  He had to let go of her to swipe open the door, and it was only then that she revived from her trance.

“That bloody bastard,” she whispered with as much vitriol as a scream. Twin pools of tears gathered in her eyelashes, but she refused to let them fall.

Jamie went straight for the mini bar, grabbing all four tiny bottles of sub-par whisky.  Pressing the glass into Claire’s hand, he sat beside her on the ugly blue bedspread.

“Ye didna know?” he asked, then winced when he heard his own words. He had learned the hard way that love obscured the view of a partner’s faults and failings.

“I… I don’t think I did?”  She sounded so unsure, so unlike the woman he’d grown to know and admire over the past months.  It hurt his heart.

“Will you stay with me, Alex?  I can’t…  I can’t go home to him right now.”

“Of course, lass.  For as long as ye need me to.”

It was an easy promise to make.  It would be a cold day in hell before he left her to face this alone.

He thought about turning on the TV, anything to fill the silence punctuated by her shaky breath.  Beside him, Claire downed her drink in three long gulps.

“God, I’m such a cliché,” she raged, her fingers crimping the edge of the mattress.  “Trying to save my marriage while that asshole fucks a teenager.  I bet she can get him off.  Probably has a pussy tighter than a snare.”

Mildly shocked by her vulgarity, Jamie was nonetheless relieved to witness the re-emergence of Claire’s fighting spirit.  Her passivity, however momentary, had scared him.

“I was going to make love to you tonight,” she confessed.  Her syntax wasn’t lost on him.  Frank fucked his mistress, but Claire was going to make love to him.  

“Aye, I ken.”  And he had. It was why he’d rushed out the door.

Rising to her feet, Claire placed her glass on the dresser with deliberate care.  He watched with rapt hunger as her hands traveled to the zipper of her dress, easing it down until the garment fell to her hips.  Beneath she was wearing something lacy and sheer, her plump nipples darkening each cup.

“Claire, I dinna think…” His words died as she shimmied the dress over her hips, revealing the matching thong.  She stepped between his parted knees, so close he could count each downy hair on her torso.

“Please, Alex.  Give me this one thing.  I just want to feel wanted.”

His resolve, already weakened by fatigue and desire, wavered. He could smell the perfume of her yearning, but also the yeasty tang of the whisky.

“No’ tonight, mo nighean donn.  Not while ye’re angry.  Not like this.”

He’d been prepared for the loosed arrow of her rage, but not that she would aim it at herself.

“Fuck, what’s wrong with me?” she cried in despair.  “I never should have told you about my back.  I’m hideous.  No wonder you don’t want me!”

“Not want ye?  Not want ye!” he rose to stand chest to chest with her.  “Lass, I have burned for you since the moment we first met.  Ye’re the most beautiful woman I’ve e’er seen, and if ye were mine, I would fuck you until your ears ring!”

Their panting breaths merged, their eyes tethered, and suddenly they were kissing.  With no heed paid to his caution, Jamie threw himself backwards onto the bed, dragging Claire with him.  They tore away his clothes until his impatient cock begged for entrance against the thin strip of fabric that guarded her sanctuary.  The torrent of lust that had dragged him to that point receded, letting the faintest glimmer of sanity sneak in.

He couldn���t do it.  If they ever came together, there would be only two people in the room, neither of them accompanied by the ghost of their faithless partners.  She deserved no less, and so did he.

But neither could he deny her heartrending cries or twisting limbs. Dragging his mouth downwards, he sought out the ripe heat between her legs, glorying in the satisfied wail that burst from her lungs as he wrenched her panties aside.  Mindless, he ate from her orchard, letting her juices baste his chin. Every flick drew more flavour to his tongue, and every immersion tightened the muscles beneath his hands until she sang like the strings on a well-tuned instrument.  So engrossed was he in her sensory symphony that he failed to realize he was humping his cock against the nubby-textured bedspread in time to her moans. The drop in atmospheric pressure somewhere south of his spleen signaled the onrush of his release, too late to suppress.  His yell of triumph and anguish was muffled in her flesh, which echoed with her own glory.

***

Jamie lay with his back to the door.  Claire fit perfectly in the nook between his shoulders and thighs. The soiled bedspread lay crumpled on the floor.

“What will ye say to him?” he asked as he traced the ivory slope of her shoulder.

“I suppose I’ll ask him to stop seeing her.”

His hand stopped moving.

“Ye mean, yer giving him another chance?”

Claire sighed impatiently.

“He’s my husband, Alex.  That still counts for something.”  A pause. “Everyone makes mistakes.”

Unable to stay next to her, Jamie swung his feet to the floor.  

“A mistake?  Forgetting your birthday is a mistake, Claire.  Leaving the kettle boiling is a mistake.  Not dallying with some schoolgirl while ye blame yerself for his disinterest.  Not taking away yer right to chose with pills and some rope!”

Realizing what he’d said in his exhaustion, Jamie fled to the bathroom.  He ran the water to cover the sound of his sobs.   There was no sound from the other side of the door, and he wondered if Claire had left. Realizing he couldn’t hide from the truth forever, he splashed cold water on his face.  He breathed again when she came into view, still lying amongst the sheets.

“I have to try, Alex.  I know what you must think, and you’re probably right, but I promised myself that I would never walk away from someone I love.”

He nodded his acceptance, not trusting his salt-abraded voice.

“Will you still stay?  Just to sleep?” she begged.

Of all the things he’d done or ever would do for Claire Randall, she would never know that this one was the hardest.  Donning his underwear, he slid beneath the sheets.  As though they’d practiced the move on a thousand other nights, Claire curled against his side, her messy curls spilling over his shoulder.

“Rest, mo nighean donn,” he murmured.  “I’ll watch o’er ye.”

Hours crept by, and Jamie marked their passing on the sleeping window of his lover’s face.  Sometime in the tungsten hours before dawn, he slipped into a dreamless sleep, waking only when the maid knocked on the door at noon.

A quick scan of the room told him what he already knew; he was alone.  Dressing in haste, he almost missed the single sheet of hotel stationery pinned between the bathroom door and its frame.

Alex,

I have no words to thank you for what you did last night. For what you’ve done since we first met.  

You looked on the broken parts of me, without pity or disdain.

I know you think I’m wrong, but I need to give him one more chance.

I won’t be needing your services any longer.  I consider myself wholly cured.  Geillis will have your full payment.

It’s none of my business, but I can’t leave without saying that whoever hurt you, whatever she did to you, it doesn’t define your worth.  You’re an amazing man, Alex, and I hope that you find the love that you so richly deserve.

Always,

Claire

Walking down the sidewalk busy with lunchtime traffic, it occurred to Jamie that for the first time since Paris, he’d slept next to a woman.  A woman who he loved.  And he’d woken to a nightmare all the same.

[karthik82]

《 ᶜⁱⁿᵉᵐᵃᵗⁱᶜ | ᶜʸᵇᵉʳᵖᵘⁿᵏ 》 Inspired by @_kaleemshaik_'s recent YouTube video on his Cinematic Night Photography, and having seen his Cinematic shots for quite a long time, I thought I'll try my hand at it too. These are probably a blend of Cinematic and Cyberpunk influenced shots, all with @samsungwithgalaxy #withgalaxy #S22 3X telephoto. Edited in Lightroom on phone, with a preset that I made (which itself is based on one of the default presets). I think they turned out interesting!#karthikabhiram #Cinematic #Cyberpunk #makenightsepic (at Hyderabad) https://www.instagram.com/p/CkdcHtiLAqc/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

[galina]

hello! what app do you usually use to edit? also, do you follow a certain mood? i saw an answered ask but vsco doesn’t have the grain option when it’s free. any app recos for grain?

more and more I try not to edit at all if possible. if I need to do a tiny adjustment (cropping, exposure, most basic edits) I use my phone's in-built camera app, if it's something more advanced like colour correcting I use photoshop, lightroom, afterlight. I like vsco but I use it less and less frequently these days because it's quite a heavy-handed tool

[louisdotmp3]

SPN Screencap Preset Pack: Bi Colors Edition

[Download Here]

Hey! I usually sort my presets by the overall color they lean towards, and so I have this folder full of a bunch of pink/blue/purple-y presets and I thought it would be fun to release some fun, colorful presets from it on Bi Visibility Day! These are entirely free to download and enjoy, but in the spirit of the day, I'm asking that if you have some money to spare that you consider donating to The Trevor Project.

There are both desktop and mobile versions of each preset. (Mobile Lightroom is free to use if you've never used Lightroom and want to try it out.) These presets won't necessarily look like this on every screencap, you'll have to play around with them to see what they work best on! And in terms of quirks, the Cassie preset tends to make the whites of people's eyes fairly pink. I usually color correct it with a bit of green tint in Lightroom, but I've left it in above to show you what it looks like.

Below the cut, I walk through how to download & install the presets.

If you have any questions, feel free to shoot me a message! And if you use these and you'd like to share, tag me with #useremmaj ✨

DESKTOP LIGHTROOM INSTALL

1. Download the four .xmp files.

2. In Lightroom, open the presets menu and click on the three dots in the top righthand corner.

3. Choose "Import Presets" and choose the four .xmp files and click "Import."

4. To use the preset, choose an image to edit and simply click on the preset in the Presets menu, the presets should show up under the "User Presets" group in your presets menu unless you manually add them to their own collection.

MOBILE LIGHTROOM INSTALL

1. Download the four .dng files to your camera roll. To do this, click the "..." in the top right corner of the file, choose "Open in", and then click "Save to Files".

2. In the Lightroom app, click on the (...) Settings option in the top-right corner of the app.

3. Choose the Add Photos option, and select "From Files".

4. Select the four .dng images. (Preset files are DNG files. When you initially open the image, you may get an error that says, “Cannot Load File”. This is normal. Press the check mark in the corner anyway.)

5. Click on one of the newly imported files, then click on the three dots inside a circle in the upper right-hand corner of the screen. From there, choose “Create Preset” from the menu that appears.

6. Name the preset, and press the check mark button in the top right corner of the screen.

7. Repeat for each .dng/preset.

8. To use the preset, choose an image to edit and simply click on the preset in the Presets menu, these presets will be found under User Prests unless you manually add them to their own collection