Autumn Walk

https://1x.com/learning/?read=45657

Canon 5D Mark II Canon 70-200mm 144 mm and 111 mmmm 1/100s and
0.4ss f/4 and 9 ISO2500 and 50

Autumn Walk
Tutorial by Jeroen Oosterhof
It was an extraordinary scene to photograph, so I
started setting up my tripod. But then the man
suddenly appeared, giving the magnificent trees scale
and adding an eye-catching element to the
composition. Before he disappeared down the lane, I
had to make some fast decisions that would pay off in
post-processing.
This photo of the forest in Heiloo, the Netherlands, was taken in
early autumn. I looked for an appealing spot with just the right
conditions, and found this lane with good composition, dynamic
range, quality and direction of light.

At 10:00 p.m. in September the sun wasnt too low or too high,
providing a nice quality of light and good dynamic range. The sunlight
was coming in from the right and created a striking contrast between
the shadows and the highlights. I use a tripod and a cable release to
ensure maximum sharpness and a polarizer to provide rich colors and
to increase dynamic range a little bit.

"I noticed when I was setting up my

gear that a man was walking by, and I
knew that he would fit perfectly into the
frame and provide a good sense of scale
to emphasize the majestic trees."

I noticed when I was setting up my gear that a man was walking by,
and I knew that he would fit perfectly into the frame and provide a
good sense of scale to emphasize the majestic trees. I had to move
quickly so I set up my tripod and camera, which still had the polarizer
filter attached to the lens. I didnt have the time to remove the filter,
but I did want to freeze the scene, so I decided to make two
exposures.

I zoomed in on the subject with a focal length of 144 mm and took

an ISO 2500 exposure at an aperture of f/9, which provided a fast
enough shutter speed (1/100 second) to ensure sharp focus. After
that exposure, I waited for the man to move out of the frame as I
focused on a good composition. I reduced the focal length to 111
mm and lowered the ISO to 50. This way I could avoid creating noise
in the RAW file, and the final image would be sharp and clean. The
polarizer provided better colors and a little more dynamic range, so I
didnt remove it from the lens. At f/9 I had to compensate with a
slow shutter speed (0.4 second) so that the light and brightness
would match my previous exposure.

POST PROCESSING
The images were processed in Lightroom and Photoshop.

1) I opened up the two exposures in Lightroom, but I only made

some adjustments to the environment/forest exposure. The original
already had good exposure and contrast, but I wanted a little more
light and detail in the tree trunks and the leaves. I copied the original
and moved the Exposure slider a little to the right, about half a stop,
to brighten the image. Then I made a Tone Curve adjustment with a
slight S-shaped curve, which affected mainly the midtones. Now I
had three RAW files: one untouched RAW file of the man, one
untouched RAW file of the environment and one processed RAW file
of the environment. I exported the three files to Photoshop.

2) In Photoshop, the base/background layer was the untouched

exposure of the environment. On top of that was the processed layer
of the environment and on top of that was the untouched layer of
the man.
3) I selected the processed layer of the environment and added a
black inverted layer mask. I painted with a soft white Brush, set to
about 40% Opacity, on the black layer mask to reveal some light and
detail in the trees.

4) After that I selected the top layer, the man, and then made a
selection of only him with the Pen tool. Once the selection was
completed, I copied him into a new, transparent layer. I moved the
subject around the frame to relocate him to a more effective spot. I
then scaled the man using the Transform tool until he was the
correct proportion (Edit > Transform > Scale).

5) I copied the layer with the man again, changed the blending mode
to Multiply, changed the angle and scale with the Rotate and Scale
tools (both found under Edit > Transform), blurred it with the
Gaussian Blur filter and lowered the layer's Opacity to create a
shadow. Then I merged all of these layers into one single layer.

6) I wanted to change the color of the leaves, so I used the Color

Range tool (Select > Color Range) to make a selection of all the green
tones in the image. I selected the green tones with the eyedropper
and then added and subtracted colors from the selection with the
corresponding eyedroppers of the Color Range tool. I also played
around with the Fuzziness to refine the selection.

7) Once the selection was finished, I used it as a layer mask for two
Solid Color layers and a Curves adjustment layer. A red Solid Color
layer's blending mode was set to Color. On top of that, an
orange/yellow Solid Color layer's blending mode was set to Overlay
for more contrast and deeper colors. I reduced the Opacity of the
two layers until I was satisfied with the result. The Curves
adjustment layer was applied to slightly increase the light and
contrast.

8) Using the Clone Stamp tool I cloned some leaves to fill in some
gaps in the trees, and I also used it to remove some distracting
elements.

9) Finally, with the Crop tool, the image was cropped to a square
format and sharpened with the Smart Sharpen tool at a high Amount
of 120% and low Radius of 0.4 pixels to emphasize all the little
details in the image.
BIOGRAPHY
I am 36 years old and I live in Amsterdam, Netherlands. I work as a
profiler behind the customs at Schiphol airport. I also work as a
freelance photographer. I started photography five years ago. Last
year, in cooperation with the organization Orticola Di Lombardia,
my forest pictures have been displayed in the Modern Art Gallery in
Milan, Italy. My work and interviews have been published in several
national and international photo magazines/websites. In 2012 I
photographed weddings, which also have been published, and since
then, the demand for my wedding shots has increased a lot. I very
much enjoy combining wedding photography with my personal
photography. The latter is mainly focused on nature and portraits and
always involves post-processing.
Check out my homepage: http://www.jeroenoosterhof.nl