Monday, October 11, 2010

Photogeddon - Day 15

Going Down


Patterns

Something in the Water

Lines Everywhere

Into the Abyss

Free Lightroom Preset: CMS Eyes Enhance Local Presets

Today's Lightroom presets are for the local adjustment brush inside of Lightroom. One of the powerful features of Lightroom is the Local adjustment brush. This gives the photographer the power to make specific changes to certain parts of the photograph without affecting the entire image.
In the image on the left I have already made my adjustments to everything in the basic tools (exposure, brightness, etc) as well as adjusted the tone curve.

Making these global adjustments before making local adjustments is critical because adjusting these after making local adjustments will adjust the entire image, including the local adjustment areas. So when you have your local adjustments just right, any global adjustments you make after can create a huge mess of your local adjustments.



Eye Whitening
 The first preset is the CMS-Eyes – Whiten preset. This local adjustment brush preset is used to whiten and brighten the whites of the eyes. Two secrets to applying this adjustment is to turn on Auto Mask, set the feather slider to 35 and zoom in at least 1:1, 3:1 if you need to have a little more control.


Then paint with the brush in the white areas of the eyes. The whites of the eyes will soften a little and whiten and brighten up. If you look at the before photo (above) and the after photo (right) you can see a subtle difference. The important thing to remember is that the eyes need to be properly exposed to begin with for this brush preset to be most effective.

 
 
 


Dark Blue Eyes
 The CMS-Iris Enhance - DK Blue local adjustment brush preset is used to enhance blue eyes, to make the blue pop with a darker tint.


It can also be used to change the color of the subject’s eyes.

The photo on the right has the effect painted onto one eye and not the other to give a great representation of the effect.

Also applied here is the CMS-Eyes – Whiten preset, mentioned above to give you a glimpse of the combined impact of the two effects. Apply this brush to the iris of the eye only.

 
 


Dark Green Eyes
 The CMS-Iris Enhance - DK Green local adjustment brush preset is used to enhance greenish or blue eyes, to make the green pop with a darker tint.


It can also be used to change the color of the subject’s eyes.

The photo on the right has the effect painted onto one eye and not the other to give a great representation of the effect.

Also applied here is the CMS-Eyes – Whiten preset, mentioned above to give you a glimpse of the combined impact of the two effects. Apply this brush to the iris of the eye only.

 
 


Hazel Eyes
 The CMS-Iris Enhance - Hazel local adjustment brush preset is used to enhance green to hazel, to make the hazel pop with a lighter tint.


It can also be used to change the color of the subject’s eyes.

The photo on the right has the effect painted onto one eye and not the other to give a great representation of the effect.

Also applied here is the CMS-Eyes – Whiten preset, mentioned above to give you a glimpse of the combined impact of the two effects. Apply this brush to the iris of the eye only.

 
 


Light Blue Eyes
 The CMS-Iris Enhance - LtBlue local adjustment brush preset is used to enhance grey to blue, to make the blue pop with a lighter tint.


It can also be used to change the color of the subject’s eyes.

The photo on the right has the effect painted onto one eye and not the other to give a great representation of the effect.

Also applied here is the CMS-Eyes – Whiten preset, mentioned above to give you a glimpse of the combined impact of the two effects. Apply this brush to the iris of the eye only.

 
 


Light Green Eyes
 The CMS-Iris Enhance - LtGreen local adjustment brush preset is used to enhance green to blue, to make the green pop with a lighter tint.


It can also be used to change the color of the subject’s eyes.

The photo on the right has the effect painted onto one eye and not the other to give a great representation of the effect.

Also applied here is the CMS-Eyes – Whiten preset, mentioned above to give you a glimpse of the combined impact of the two effects. Apply this brush to the iris of the eye only.

 
 


No Color Eyes Enhanced
 The photo on the right has the effect painted onto one eye and not the other to give a great representation of the effect.


Also applied here is the CMS-Eyes – Whiten preset, mentioned above to give you a glimpse of the combined impact of the two effects. Apply this brush to the iris of the eye only.

Download Entire Set Here

To install the preset, copy the file in the zip (xxx.lrtemplate) to your Local Adjustment Presets folder on your computer. If you don't know where to find this folder, open Lightroom. Click on Edit menu and select Preferences. Click on the Presets tab and click the Show Lightroom Presets Folder... button.

Bleeping Bleeper is Bleeping Me Off

What can I say about today outside of not being to upload photos to my blog? If today was to be described by a sailor, it would include enough explicative words that I would be able to nearly fill an entire paragraph with a single word repeated over and over with some strategically placed conjunctions and nouns. That single word is bleep. “That Bleepin, bleeping bleepity bleeper bleeped me in the bleepin bleepity bleep!” Feel free to fill in the blanks!


So without resorting to my past life as a sailor I will simply say that today is like a festering blister on the rectum of someone suffering from irritable bowel syndrome or maybe like an anal hematoma; painful and messy as hell . My current mental state is in the dumps, but rather than whine about how bad things are and list each and every problem I am facing, I am going to focus on the people and things that are making my life better, stronger and more fulfilling. This is part of my Photogeddon goals by the way.

First off: My wife rocks! Although she is now a nefarious and notorious killer of arachnids, she is good to me and more importantly good for me. She keeps me balanced when I go a little off my rocker. Okay, since she may read this at some point in the future, when I go off my rocker, it is never just a little. Some may say that at time I frequently redefine the depths of the “deep end”. When I do go off in the abyss it is my wife that is there to pull me out with common sense and logic. I have been known to respond to her on occasion with, “Oh, there you go again bringing logic and commonsense to the discussion.” I love my wife, and she obviously loves me, I mean she hasn’t put a bag over my head and played out a horror movie scene on me… yet. God knows that I have given her plenty of motivation to do so in the last five years, but she continues to show constraint. Thanks honey.

Next up is my photography friends. This is the local close network of photographers I have been working with for the last several months. Not only are the gifted and talented photographers and artist, they are kind, caring and supportive. It amazes me how much positive energy I glean from these guys, whether we are talking photography, geeking out on technology or just talking about life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. Nathan, Chris, Chris and Michael… these are the guys The Beatles were thinking about when they wrote the song “I get by with a little help from my friends”.

Next is my photography group. It amazes me that a group as large as 60 active members can get along so well and have such wonderful ideas and enthusiastic energy. The Salem Digital Photo Group has grown from the ashes of the what group used to be a year ago and this growth is attributed to the determination of the group’s members, enduring a growth spurt and steep learning curves as we figured out how to make it work. How this eclectic collection of personalities continues to get along event after event and meeting after meeting defies my understanding of human nature, but I am not one to question it. I just enjoy the camaraderie and good time we all continue to have.

Next is photography in general. Without photography I would be lacking part of my voice. I have a need to be heard (don’t all artists?) and photography is a part of my voice. Writing, music, teaching and sketching is another part of my voice, but these take so long to get the results I need to feel fulfilled. Photography allows me that instant gratification I need to allow my voice to be heard. It allows me to create a world I see from the world I live in, which in many cases are two completely different things. I find it odd that my primary voice is sourced from my eye and my heart. I wonder if there is a book title in there; I don’t know, maybe.

Finally, I would like to acknowledge myself. While I may be difficult to live with and even more difficult to understand at time; I refuse to give up on myself, my dreams and my vision. Without myself, I would be one tenth of the man I am today. So to myself, I say thank you. Continue to grow. Continue to develop. Continue to be who you are and everything will be fine.

So this is me signing the bleep off for now.