For the demonstration, I selected the photo of Niagara Falls (American and Bridal Veil Falls). I took it in the early evening from Skylon Tower.
The scene was somewhat challenging. The water of the falls was much brighter than the rest of the scene. I intentionally set exposure for the brightest areas making sure I preserve enough details in the water. It resulted in underexposed capture making it more challenging to edit.
You can download the original RAW image and follow the tutorial step by step.
Download RAW Demo Image (20MB)
Download the demo image, import it to Lightroom and locate the Snapshot Panel in the Develop Module. Inside you will find 15 editing formulas I created for this tutorial.
By clicking on each editing version in the Snapshot Panel you can vitness the visual transformation of the demo image.
Let’s start from the top.
First, I apply one of my favorite presets from the Landscape Collection – Natural. The natural preset is the part of my Free Lightroom Collection as well.
What Natural preset does is it opens up the shadows, increases the contrast, amplifies the colors in general and specifically boosts the blue color (sky, water).
In general, I like what I see but since the original photo was underexposed, the result is too dark and I need help of TOOLKIT presets to fix it.
The TOOLKIT is the collection of Adjustment Presets. The presets that allow fine-tuning of a photo without altering the style and without the use of Lightroom editing tools.
What I need to adjust is to make the image brighter, paying extra attention to the shadows.
Below is the final result of two levels of preset editing.
Here are the exact editing steps I used to achieve the final look:
- Natural preset
- 01 Exposure +
- 08 Open Shadows ++
- 17 Clarity ++
- 31 Vignetting +
When I am happy with the final result, I use the Snapshot functionality of Lightroom and save my editing steps as a new Snapshot. For the name, I use Lightroom Editing Formula.
Lightroom Editing Formula
The Lightroom Editing Formula is the essential part of the Lightroom Rapid Editing System. The formula helps me to systematize the editing process and also let me share the editing steps with ease.
The Lightroom Editing Formula for the photo I just finished editing is Natural (01, 08, 17, 31). It starts with the name of the preset and follows with the numbers inside the brackets.
Each number inside the brackets represents a specific ADJUSTMENT preset from the TOOLKIT collection.
The Lightroom Editing Formula tells us what 5 editing steps (clicks) it takes to get from the original, straight from the camera photo to the final version.
Natural (01, 08, 17, 31)
I move forward by applying various presets from Landscape Collection
Preset: Tropical Morning
Editing Formula: Tropical Morning (8, 16, 21, 31)
Preset: End of Summer
Editing Formula: End Of Summer (8, 31, 34)
Preset: Drought
Editing Formula: Drought (7, 31, 34)
Preset: Broken Clouds
Editing Formula: Broken Clouds (8, 17, 30, 38)
Preset: Clock Tower
Editing Formula: Clock Tower (12, 17, 30, 34)
Next, I start applying presets from my Cityscape Processed Collection.
Preset: Sunblast
Editing Formula: Sunblast (8, 14, 18, 34)
Preset: Montreal
Editing Formula: Montreal (8, 16, 31, 34)
Preset: Hawaii Sunset
Editing Formula: Hawaii Sunset (9, 31)
When I am done with the editing, I have the Snapshot Panel of Lightroom filled with 10 editing versions for this particular photo.
I created 10 different versions of the same photo without touching Lightroom right panel where all editing tools reside.
The last step of Lightroom Rapid Editing Workflow is to select the editing version of the image I like the best and publish it.
Sometimes, if I like more than one editing version, I can use one for my portfolio and another for Instagram or Facebook.
Please note, in the real life scenarios I normally do not create 10 editing version of the same image. I did it with the purpose to better demonstrate the power of my new system. Normally, I create 2 or 3 versions before I am ready to make a selection.
Also, in most of the cases, I still use Photoshop to do the final touches. For me, the use of Photoshop is more a habit than a necessity and it can be bypassed altogether.
Conclusion
Originally I created Rapid Editing System for my personal needs. The main goal was to simplify my entire photography workflow and free myself as much time as possible.
After I shared new system with my readers and followers, I realized that different photographers use it with the different goals. For example:
- The beginners use it as the tool to learn Lightroom. They apply my presets and then reverse engineer them. They dive into Lightroom editing tools and learn how the effects were archived.
- More experienced photographers use Rapid Editing to accelerate the process of developing a personal style. They use my presets as the launching pad for creating their own looks and styles. Ultimately they build libraries of their own presets which reflect their personal styles.
- For advanced photographers, the main benefit is simplicity and speed which results in substantial time-saving.
I am sure you can find my system beneficial for your photography by tailoring it for your specific needs.