Warrior 1 James Abbott
New York is undoubtedly one of the most photogenic cities in the entire world, and images of the famous Manhattan skyline peppered with skyscrapers taken from a high viewpoint, like this one, never fail to impress.
The shot here looks like it was taken in bright and hazy conditions, so the challenge for my image-editing process will be to balance out the high contrast present in the scene. Beyond basic considerations like fixing the exposure and correcting the perspective, this image looks like the perfect candidate for a warm vintage-style colour grading, using the choice of presets offered in Adobe Camera Raw.
Correct perspective 1
The first thing that strikes me about this image is the perspective distortion that results from the high viewpoint the shot was taken from, and from the tall buildings from the front to the back of the scene. This is a simple one-click fix that will immediately make the image look better. I click on the Transform icon on the main toolbar, then select A for automatic. Photoshop then works its magic and straightens up the buildings, for a more natural-looking scene.
Crop to improve composition 2
With perspective corrections in place, the next job is to crop the image to tidy up the composition, removing distracting buildings from the foreground, and the edge of a building on the right of the frame. To do this I click on the Crop Tool icon, then drag the cropping guide over the entire image. I then hold down Shift to constrain proportions and drag one of the corner control points before pressing Return to crop out the unwanted parts of the image.
Apply ACR 3 presets
A fairly recent update to Adobe Camera Raw and Lightroom CC saw the introduction of presets that can be used to apply one-click effects. Some of these are better than others, but there are a few that stand out and are well worth trying. To apply presets, I click on the Presets tab below the histogram; under Creative, I select Red Lift Matte. Under Curve, I then add Lift Shadows to make the shot look even hazier and to lift the shadows.
Add basic adjustments 4
The new Range Mask controls have changed the way I make selective edits in Camera Raw and Lightroom. They allow you to target either a portion of the tonal range and restrict your edit to either the highlights or shadows, or alternatively target a specific colour. This means you can use a Graduated Filter to darken the sky, then enable Luminance Range Masking and confine the adjustment to the lighter tones, so that it works over the bright sky without bleeding into the land. Holding Alt while dragging any of the Range Mask sliders gives a greyscale view, which helps enormously by showing exactly what’s included.