Lightroom CC 2015 Dehaze Slider

Sun Setting in the Fog

One of the new additions to Lightroom in the CC 2015 version is the DEHAZE SLIDER.  Here is what Julianne Kost wrote about this control "The new Dehaze control in Lightroom CC and Adobe Camera Raw 9.1 can help you to dramatically improve an image by removing haze. The Dehaze technology is based on a physical model of how light is transmitted, and it tries to estimate light that is lost due to absorption and scattering through the atmosphere. For the best results, you’ll want to set the white balance for the image before using Dehaze. Then, in the Effects panel, move the slider to the right – to easily remove the haze from the original scene. Move the slider to the left to add a creative haze effect.You can choose to make very subtle to very significant adjustments – if you’re pushing the slider to the extreme, you might want to refine the image using the Basic panel (increasing the shadow detail or refining the Vibrance slider) in order to achieve the exact look that you’re after."

The other day, I went out to Gooseberry to photograph the sunset, and a fog bank came in and created almost a pure white sky except you could see the outline of the sun.  I photographed the scene, and since both Photoshop and Lightroom CC 2015 updates were released.  I download the the new releases onto my computer and decided to try out the new dehaze slider.  Here are my results.  Only Lightroom was used for all my adjustments without the use of any third-party plug-ins.

Original Photograph Opened in Lightroom with Only Vibrance and Saturation Adjusted

Same Photograph with the Only Addition Be in the Use of the Dehaze Slider

My Adjustments in the Basic Panel

Sliding the Dehaze Slider to the Left You Get a Different Result¶

Therefore, in my opinion the dehaze slider makes it worth the price for subscribing to the $10/month price for Photoshop and Lightroom.

Adjusting Photos Utilizing Photoshop

I have posted the picture of the Northern Hawk Owl with its wing folded so only one I was peering out at you on various sites. Originally of the I just did post-processing to bring out the colors and depth of the picture. On one of my sites that I posted a few people liked it but thought that the trees that were behind the owl took away from the picture. When I first shot the picture I was with a group of people and when I was tracking the bird I only had about 10° on either side to track otherwise I would have gotten portions of the people on either side of me in the picture.

Since I have been home with a slight cold this week, I decided I would show my readers two different methods of changing the picture utilizing Photoshop CC.You can also utilize Photoshop 5.

The first method is to isolate the bird on a background of sky and clouds. No matter where I am photographing, if there is an interesting sky and clouds I take pictures of of them and keep them in a background folder so they can be utilized in a bland picture.

Step one

Step two

Step three

Steps 4 5 and 6

Step 7

Finished

The second method is to remove the unwanted objects from the picture.
Step 1

Step 2

Steps 3 and 4

Steps 5 and 6

Animated GIF showing the original and the post processed pictures

 

If you have any questions don't hesitate to email me and I will get back to you as soon as possible to help you

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Feeling Artsy

Yesterday, I was in an artsy mood.  I had taken some pictures of Black-eyes Susan that were flowering at my condominium and decided to see what different ways I could process them that was pleasing to me.  My steps were to first take the original:






Then I applied my basic settings:

Next adjusted the basic settings:

Exported the picture into Topaz photoFXlab, open the plug-ins, utilized Clarity and then added Detail in re-imported the picture back into Lightroom

I then used copies of that picture to run a number of different filters on it to give me many different results from natural, surreal to impressionistic.

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