Westminster | Weekly Photo #51
I’m not fortunate enough to be out with the camera taking photos every day and building up an image backlog that I will never have enough time to go back and edit. Having a full-time job and only getting out with the camera once a week, twice if I’m lucky means I’m never more than a couple of months behind on my post-processing.
With movement restricted for so many people due to the global situation, opportunities to head out with the camera have been near impossible over the last couple of months and without regular photography trips, I eventually ran out of new photos to process. To make the best of a bad situation, I’ve been spending a bit of time looking back at my library and editing some of the photos that I feel needed a bit more work.
Fujifilm X-T10 | XF18-55mm | 18mm | 28 Seconds | f/9 | ISO200
Since I took this photo back in 2017, I’ve tried and failed to get the edit right, in fact, this might be the third version I have created from the original raw file. When I captured the photo, it had all the hallmarks of a good long exposure shot. It has interesting clouds, a great subject, and nice light but in the end, I think I lacked the right tools and editing knowledge to get the particular look I was after.
In a previous post, I wrote about three reasons why photographers should revisit their older work and one of the reasons was that editing tools and skills will improve over time and I think that’s the case with this photo. Back when I first edited this photo, I struggled to control the dynamic range and I was frustrated because as much as tried, I couldn’t realise the photos full potential. That was then and a few years have passed. My technique has changed, my Lightroom skills have improved, and with tools such as range masking now available in Lightroom, I was finally able to edit the photo and achieve the look I wanted.
I’m still not fully sold on the crop. It might be better in a panoramic 2:1 ratio but for now, I’m happy with the final image and looking forward to revisiting a few more photos that I have previously struggled to process.
While I continue to avoid travelling to London for the next few weeks, I’ll shortly be heading to the UK’s South Coast and providing I come back with a keeper, I’ll be sure to share it on this Weekly Photo feed in the future.
Until next time.
Trevor
This post is featured in my Weekly Photo series where I post a new photo every Monday. To have this delivered directly to your inbox, you can subscribe to the mailing list here.