How to edit a picture in Color Efex pro 4

I told you before and I'll tell you again: I'm a Nik Collection fan! Googles free and easy to use collection of presets. 

Today I tried Color Efex Pro 4. A user friendly preset that is compatible with the Adobe software. I used it in combination with Lightroom. Here's how it works. 

Open Lightroom, pick an image and follow your normal workflow. Then, for even more editing, move to Color Efex Pro 4. 

Go to Photo > Edit in and choose Color Efex Pro 4

A pop up screen appears 

 

Most of the time, you'll choose the first option and click on Edit.

Your picture will now, with all the Lightroom edits, be opened in Color Efex Pro 4.

On the left side you have a lot of presets available classified by category.  For example Travel presets:

When you choose a preset, you can fine tune it at the right side of the screen (Global adjustment)

At the top you can compare the picture with the original. 

You can do Local adjustments by using the control points. Activate a control point and click on a specific part of the picture. There you can change some local settings.

When you're done in Color Efex Pro 4, click on the save all button and the picture will be reimported in Lightroom.

Color Efex Pro 4 has tons of templates which can be helpful to edit a picture. In combination with the Adobe Sofware it's sure to  increase your creativity

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Creating HDR with Aurora from Macphun

Totally worth checking out: creating HDR with Aurora HDR from Macphun

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And have you already discovered our brand new Facebook page Humans of the Nordic Region?

Tutorial / Lightroom: creating a panorama

One of the cool new features in Lightroom CC is that you can now create a panorama without having to use Photoshop. 
In previous versions of Lightroom you had to edit a picture in Lightroom and sync the rest of your pictures before you could export them to Photoshop to create a panorama. After saving it in Photoshop, you got it back as TIF file in Lightroom. 
But now you can create the panorama in Lightroom CC itself! And the best news is that you'll get it in RAW.

So, how does it work. 
Start with importing your pictures in Lightroom CC. Then select all the pictures that you need for the panorama and Right Mouse click -> select Photomerge > Panorama (shortcut: CTRL+M) or in the Photo menu. 

         
Lightroom CC now gives you a preview with several options

You can either use the default or try spherical, cylindrical or perspective. If you ask me, I think default is the best. There's the auto crop funtion, for cropping your picture. No one says you have to use it. You can always crop your picture later on in Photoshop or in Lightroom.

Now click on the Merge button. Lightroom CC gets underway to create your panorama. Depending on how fast your computer is, this might actually take a while. 
But when it's done, you’ve got new Raw (DNG file) in Lightroom CC. How awesome is that!

This is the moment to start your usual editing. Normally I do contrast, blacks and whites, Shadows and Highlight, Vibrance and Clarity, Remove Chromatic Abberation and  Enable profile corrections, Sharpness and Luminance.Check out the before and after pictures after a bit of simple editing. (backslash (\) in Lightroom)

Right. A few tips: 

1. Find a good location for a panorama.

2. Shoot in Manual, so all your pictures have the same settings.

3. Shoot in portrait mode.  Have enough space under and above your main subject.

4. In the ideal situation you should use a Tripod with  a panorama head.  But you can do it handheld. To be on the safe side, be sure to be extra generous with your overlap allowance, 30% every time is a good starting point.       

5. Avoid moving objects in your frame.

6. And remember to have fun!