‘Before and After’ will be a regular column here at Photography24seven.com and this is the first post showing an example of an image before processing and the same image after processing.

Manly Dam - Before (original RAW file)

Manly Dam - After (finished image)

The truth is that almost any image which has been shot in RAW mode (and if you want maximum flexibility when it comes to post-processing you want to shoot in RAW mode if your camera provides it) has been manipulated to some extent. The word ‘manipulation’ has a somewhat negative ring to it, but essentially that is what we do to our images when we start processing them. The point is, though, that when we manipulate our images in Lightroom, Aperture or Photoshop (or whichever software solution we use) many of the ‘tools’ we use are inherited from the traditional darkroom. Perhaps, therefore, we could as well say ‘develop’ instead of ‘manipulate’.

The image ‘Manly Dam’ shown above is an example of an image that has been ‘developed’ in terms of tones, contrast and colours as well as ‘manipulated’ in terms of removing some smaller unwanted elements in the image.

Let’s have a look at each of the adjustment layers applied in Photoshop (shown on the left):

The first layer is simply the original RAW file.

The second layer uses the Spot Healing Brush Tool to remove a little bit of sensor dust using the which was apparent in the sky and the water.

The third layer is the ‘manipulative’ layer as it alters reality. For this image I chose to clone out some signs along the shoreline i the background as well as some white buoys in the water by using the Clone Stamp Tool. Furthermore I cloned out a couple of small bright high contrast spots on the rock in the foreground.

The fourth layer is a Curves adjustment layer which adds contrast in the foreground and in the sky, but I have used a Layer Mask to withhold the adjustment from the darker land mass.

In the fifth layer I use another Curves adjustment layer with a Layer Mask. This layer tones down a brighter area in the water in the left-hand side of the image.

The sixth layer darkens the bright area in the left-hand side  a little bit more.

The seventh layer is a Hue/Saturation adjustment layer which increases the saturation of the reds (near the rock in the foreground).

The eighth  layer is a Hue/Saturation adjustment layer which increases the saturation of the blues (sky and water)

The nineth layer is a Hue/Saturation adjustment layer which increases the saturation of the greens (the bush on the landmass).

In the final tenth layer I use a Curves adjustment layer to darken down the water a little bit.

Everyone develops their images differently. One of the ways that I have found useful is to ‘listen to the image’ and correct the ‘issues’ that come to me first and then just work my way through the image until I am happy with the appearance.

Image manipulation is a highly personal and subjective process, but I think the idea of ‘listening to the image’ is a great concept to get the process started and by using adjustment layers (which are non-destructive) you can always go back and fine-tune things here and tweak things there.

I cannot lay claim to the idea of ‘listening to the image’, I just happened to come across it in a great book titled The Creative Digital Darkroom by Katrin Eisman and Sean Duggan. I was very intrigued by this idea though and I personally find this ‘organic’ approach to image processing much more appealing than the ‘cookie-cutter’ approach often promoted in the more average Photoshop books.

So next time you sit in front of an un-processed image just try to ‘listen to the image’ and see where it takes you.

Have fun!

If you liked this article, you may also like these:

• Before and After: Laura
• August Snaps 25 August
• The RAW Power of Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 2