Blog Post

Photo Editing

Derek Smith • 21 July 2020

Faststone, Serif Affinity, and Skylum Luminar 4

Photo Editing

Editing of digital photographs is always an emotive subject, and one in which photographers will hold very varied viewpoints.

I was opposed to editing photos to a great extent, perhaps a little crop here, and a bit of contrast enhancement there but that was about it, I still believe fervently that you should concentrate on getting the images as good in the camera as you can, after all if the highlights are blown out, then no amount of software editing will retrieve those.

Now however I quite enjoy photo editing, and like many of our Society members I prefer the “one-off” purchasing model for software.

So, what do I use? Well on my Windows laptop I use a freeware program called Faststone, nothing that I’ve used on any operating system comes close to this for versatility, I primarily use this for reviewing my images for further editing, but it’s a powerful editing tool in itself. The Faststone viewer operates in full screen mode, move the mouse cursor to the top of the screen to see the images in the file that are being reviewed, move the cursor to the right to view the camera information, moving the mouse cursor to the left reveals the editing panel. What makes this software so great, well for me at any rate, are the keyboard shortcuts, use the right / left arrow keys to scroll through the images in a file. The keyboard shortcuts are all listed on the editing panel, so a typical workflow would be: “X” to crop an image, “CTRL + E” for the contrast, saturation, brightness, and colour  edits, followed by “CTRL + R” to resize an image, for web use, or club competition purposes.

My next piece of  editing software is Serif Affinity, the layers, and masking tools in this software are really easy to use and make this an ideal editor for composite images, the tone mapping, and split toning are also easy to understand and use, it is a very solid piece of software, the tools are easy to use, and there are excellent tutorial videos on the use of the software.

Next, is Skylum Luminar 4, for me personally the AI (Artificial Intelligence) controls are the standout feature of this software. As an example, sky replacement; in other conventional editors time is spent creating a mask getting the “marching ants” just in the exact place, then pasting in the sky, and adjusting the lighting afterwards. In Luminar 4, one click, yes one click replaces the sky, simply select the sky from a drop down list (even better choose your own), and the job is done, fine tuning controls are there to defocus the sky, change the direction of light to match the shadows around the subject, just so easy. One of the features that I really like with Luminar is that it doesn’t create a separate Library of images duplicating everything on your computer, it adds the location of an existing folder of images to the Library. On the “Edit” panel are 6 categories: Layers, Canvas, Essentials, Creative, Portrait, and Professional. A recommended workflow in Luminar 4 could be 1) “Canvas” – crop / straighten. Next, 2) “Creative” – choose Color Styles, and select a style for the image from the Profile, or LUT. 3) Adjust Tone, “Essentials” – adjust the AI Enhance / AI Structure sliders, there is also a conventional “Light” panel with the familiar WB, Temperature, and exposure controls. 4) Apply noise reduction “Essentials” – Denoise. 5) Apply saturation “Essentials” – Color. 5) Apply sharpening “Essentials” – Details Enhancer – Sharpen. I find the “Portrait” category very useful, the AI Skin Enhancer is almost magical, only working on the facial smoothing. In conjunction with this is the AI Portrait Enhancer, all of the sliders in this panel just “work”, move the sliders to make adjustments. For example; to redden the lips simply move the slider, no need to paint in or select the lips with a mask, that is the power of AI.

Luminar 4 also has a set of pre-sets, these are called “Looks”, and can be applied to any image with one click, you can also readily create your own “Looks” pre-set which is what I did on a recent photoshoot, to enable each image to have that certain style, the process is really easy perform all the editing on a single photo of a set of images from the same shoot, save those edits as a “Look” pre-set, and apply to the reminder of the images in a set.  

When complete Export the image to the desired location; CTRL / CMD + Shift + E, and a copy of the edited image will be saved, together with the original image.

Enjoy your photography.

Article, and photos Derek Smith

Louth Photographic Society

by Derek Smith 10 April 2025
Our member Chris Birchmore gave an illustrated talk last night titled "The Shopkeeper and his Assistant". Chris related details of his family origins, and family history in Louth, in particular his connection with Platts Provision Store in Eastgate. It was a very interesting talk which evoked many memories with those members who had themselves been raised in Louth. Many thanks Chris, the preparation, and talk was excellent.
by Graham Harrison 6 April 2025
Good Morning All With all this warm weather some insects are out and about to photograph, I took this photograph in our garden with a Sigma 105mm lens to get close in on the bee. It is another month now, so you need to think about your "Prime Time" project, if you are taking part. Last week at the club Brian McCarthy FRPS showed us his personal journey in photography, Brian takes most of his photographs in his shed building models with lighting and creating photographs that most of us would never think of. This week, Wednesday 9th April, our member Chris Birchmore who will be presenting a historical talk entitled "The Shopkeeper and His Assistant" specifically talking about a relatives memories of working for Mr. Platt the Shopkeeper. For those who have prints for the next competition, with the categories of "Curves and Open", you need to send Dave Turner a list of your entries and bring the prints in this week. Regards Graham
by Graham Harrison 30 March 2025
Good morning, All Last week we held our spring committee meeting, we discussed many topics including the new program which will be available to you all soon and did some preparation for the AGM. This week, Wednesday 2nd April, Brian McCarthy FRPS will be coming along to show us some more of his work. Brian is an ex-member of our club but has more recently been a member of Grimsby Photographic Society. You can also now start sending your print titles for the Curves and Open competition to Dave Turner. Regards Graham
by Derek Smith 27 March 2025
This year’s project is “Prime Time”, simply one photo taken each month with the same prime lens. The resulting 12 images will be shown to members on our “Project Night” next January. Why a prime lens? Well, a lens with a single focal length, a prime lens, provides a photographer with creative options. Composition of the image when using a lens such as this is essential, a photographer must choose a subject and move around that subject to obtain the photo. Every photographer should have a prime lens in their bag, and it doesn't need to be expensive. I recently switched from Fuji cameras to the Olympus / OM Systems camera ecosystem. Now, I use the OM Systems OM-1 camera with two zoom lenses and three f/1.8 prime lenses. For the “Prime Time” project, I'll creatively use the Olympus 45mm (90mm full-frame equivalent) f/1.8 lens, this lens is typically employed for portraits. This tiny, sharp lens, which captures beautiful portraits, was bought used for £149 from a reputable dealer.
by Graham Harrison 23 March 2025
Good Morning All Last week at the club we held our PDI competition for March, with the categories of "Including the Moon" and "Open" judged by Mike Bennett. It was a very good night with some excellent photographs entered in the competitions, especially the Open. There were three twenty points awarded out of twenty photographs in each subject, Tony Gaskins had a very good night winning both the subject and the Open. All the results are on our website under competitions. The NEMPF PDI Inter - club competition went ahead recently, not so many clubs entered this year, I think there were only three LPA clubs who had entered, Louth came 11th, I'll leave it there. Thank you to Harry for organising our entry. This week, Wednesday 26th March it is a committee meeting for committee members only to attend. To keep you busy though you could prepare your prints for the next print competition, with the categories of "Curves" and "Open". Regards Graham
by Derek Smith 20 March 2025
At our meeting last night we held our Projected Digital Image (PDI) competition with the categories of "Including the Moon", and "Open". The judge for the evening was Mike Bennett. Mike skillfully judged the 33 submitted entries in the "Open" category, providing excellent feedback on the various images. After the break Mike appraised the 18 images in the "Including the Moon" category, this had been a difficult subject for members to photograph, and was also challenging for the judge. Congratulations to Tony Gaskins for his first placements with "Moonbell, Mablethorpe" in the "Including the Moon" category, and "Dawn, Whitby" in the "Open" category. As is usual, the Competition page of the website has been updated with the top three placements in each category, and full results. Many thanks to Mike Bennett for judging the competition, and Dave Mann for providing the refreshments.
by Derek Smith 18 March 2025
This morning I took my used OM Systems OM-1 camera, and the used Olympus M.Zuiko Digital 75-300mm, f/4.8 -f/6.7 lens, recently purchased for £249, with me for a photographic walk around the nature reserve at Gibraltar Point. The weather was excellent, and I'm pleased with the resulting images of the various birds to be seen. I believe the bird reflected drinking from the pool is a Common Chaffinch, and the other bird perched on a log appears to be a Dunnock.
by Derek Smith 17 March 2025
One of our members, Richard Hildred is holding an Exhibition, and workshops in Fydell House, Boston, Lincolnshire. See attached posters for further details.
by Graham Harrison 16 March 2025
Good Morning All Last week at the club Dave Mann showed us what he had been photographing lately, Dave had been visiting Chesterfield, Devizes, Bath and Boston. Dave showed us photographs he had taken on his phone as well as his camera. There is a full report on our website. Thanks to Dave, and also to Derek for doing the door and Harvey for setting up for the break. This week, Wednesday 19th March, we are holding the monthly PDI competition, with the categories of "Including the Moon" and "Open". I found Including the moon quite a difficult subject so it will be interesting to see how other members tackled the subject. The judge for the evening is Mike Bennett. I mentioned the first two subjects for the new program and just to remind you here they are again, May, PDI competition, Seasons and Open and June , print competition, Britain's coastline and Open. Regards Graham
by Derek Smith 13 March 2025
Dave Mann gave an excellent presentation of last years outings to Devizes, and Bath. Dave showed many photos around the town of Devizes, and the incredible engineering construction feat of 16 locks that form the steepest part of the Devizes flight at Caen Hill which is a scheduled ancient monument, Caen Hill (pronounced ‘cane'), is one of the longest continuous flight of locks in the country. With a total of 29 locks with a rise of 237 feet over two miles with a 1-in-44 gradient. In Bath, Dave showed many photos from around the city, and the stunning Pulteney Weir, featured in the released film of Les Misérables. Part of the scene where Inspector Javert commits suicide by jumping into the River Seine was filmed there in October 2012. Everyone knows of the famous Roman Baths in Bath, however Dave showed us photos of the less well known Cross Bath, all the thermal spa baths in Bath are fed by hot springs in Bath, from which the City derives its name. The springs are a wonderful, natural resource which deliver over one million litres of mineral-rich water every day, and uniquely in the UK, the mineral water is hot. Dave completed the evening with some more local photographs from Boston, Lincolnshire. Thank you Dave for a fascinating evening.
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