TOP EDITING STEPS
Explore some of the most common processing techniques for close-up flower images
BLACK AND WHITE POINTS Set up the overall contrast of the shot by setting the Black and White Points in Lightroom or camera
Raw. Move the sliders until just before clipping occurs. This will ensure you have a good starting point without loss of detail.
SET LIGHT STRUCTURE Either darken the edges of the frame, using a light vignette, or use the Adjustment Brush (K) or Radial Filter to add a spotlight effect to selective areas of the scene. We brightened the flower and slightly darkened the background.
ADJUST COLOUR BIAS Lots of greens can confuse the auto WB systems in many cameras, so be prepared to remove excessive greens or too much magenta, to maintain a natural look, at least for now. If you colour grade later, this ensures no unexpected effects.
RETOUCH DISTRACTIONS Remove blemishes to suggest you chose the ideal specimen, even if this wasn’t possible. We used the
Spot Healing Brush to smooth out the petals, removing large pollen particles and scuffs. We also removed stems from neighbouring plants.
LOCAL COLOUR Add in creative colour to localised areas of the shot. This might involve reducing the saturation of a false background or changing the hue of natural background colours. Here we used the Radial Filter (Shift + M) to add some blue.
DODGE AND BURN To bring out some of the specular highlights of the background bokeh, we used the Adjustment Brush with +0.50 Exposure and clicked once on several highlights, with medium Flow. We also reduced exposure in some bright background areas.