VIRB

Was reorganizing some of my storage last night and came across this sunset shot from a trip to Grand Cayman a while back and decided to revisit it and focus on some of the new retouching methods I've learned since then. I still clearly remember the day as one of the best sunsets I've seen, because the sky looked like it was on fire. Caribbean sunsets really are the best. Here's a brief step-by-step on how I did it:

Lightroom Adjustments

1. Straighten horizon


2. Reduce the 'Blacks' slider to eliminate any black clipping in the histogram.


3. Increase the 'Recovery' slider to recover some lost detail in the highlights, eliminating as much white clipping as possible.


4. Adjust white balance


5. Export to Photoshop

Photoshop CS3 Adjustments

1. Create a 'Curves' adjustment layer to increase overall contrast.


2. Create another 'Curves' adjustment layer only affecting the sky to add a bit more contrast to the clouds.


3. Added a 'Photo Filter' adjustment layer, with a warming filter, to warm up the scene a bit.


4. Dodged and burned a bit in the clouds and the suns rays to bring them out a bit more.


5. Flatten image, convert to LAB color.


6. Use the 'Apply Image' to give the color a bit more punch. Settings: Soft Light blending, 'B' channel. (The 'B' channel in LAB mode controls the yellow to blue spectrum)


7. Convert back to RGB


8. Duplicate background layer, use High-Pass Filter for sharpening (4px). For those not familiar with the high pass method, Leggnet has a great write-up.


9. From there I set the high-pass layer to soft light, flattened the image, save and brought back to Lightroom and VOILA.

Sorry I didn't get the chance to do screenshot throughout the process, was kinda late last night when I did it and I was jamming to get through it. As always, if you have any questions, hit me up in the comments. Oh and if you like it, don't forget to add to your faves on flickr

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