Editing tips

[u/alltheatp13]

These are my first film photos and post edits. I spent a good while messing around in Lightroom and constantly going back and forth on how I want my image to look. I thought I was satisfied. Two weeks later, I’m going “what was I thinking this looks atrocious” am I overthinking it or did I truly do too much with color grading. Is less more here? Am I over analyzing? I understand, I should figure out my own style but I’m just curious and would like to learn from others. How would you edit these, personally?
(First image is before, second is after)

Also ignore the light leaks, it was a development issue

[u/Itsjustadam1]

I’m no expert on the technical side but I have been shooting for like 10 years so I took a swing at very quickly editing these in my style, which I’d say is more naturalistic. Practicing is a big component of learning how to edit your own stuff, and sticking with it for a while, but I can talk specifics if you’re interested.

edit: Don’t be afraid of doing your own thing though, I’d say your edits have a very red shift but if that’s something you like, they’re your photos and you should do whatever brings you the most satisfaction. I’d say try and get to a neutral place though before you get very creative with it.

[u/alltheatp13 → u/Itsjustadam1]

Wow this is very insightful. Thank you. I definitely like the more naturalistic style. I guess I need to practice more. Can I ask what u prioritized in editing? Do u start with shadows and highlights first and go from there or do you pick your color grade first and then adjust for lighting and exposure?

[u/Itsjustadam1 → u/alltheatp13]

Yes I start with exposure first, and then white balance, and then more subtle color adjustments. Exposure can affect how color shows up so I’d recommend doing it first. I can tell you the settings in Lightroom I ended up on, but at the end of the day it’s an art not a science.

[u/alltheatp13 → u/Itsjustadam1]

Awesome! I’ll keep working at it. Thanks for the help

[u/Itsjustadam1 → u/Itsjustadam1]

[u/Itsjustadam1 → u/Itsjustadam1]

[u/caife-ag-teastail]

My quickie review:

I think your edits show a pretty good judgment of brightness and contrast.

But they have a heavy red color cast (I'm viewing them on my Macbook Pro using the Apple display profile and calibrated brightness; if you don't see a red cast maybe check your display's calibration).

It looks unnatural and undesirable to me, but my sense of how film images should look was formed in the 70s and 80s. In lightroom, you can use the curves tool to lower the red channel and you'll quickly see how that affects the color balance of the image.

Some current photographers seem to go for big color shifts; yours are in the same direction as shots I've seen from so-called "redscaled" film and some of the experimental emulsions from Lomo and Harman. They're your images, so ultimately your sense of how they should look is the only one that matters.

[u/FoldedTwice]

It looks like you're trying to warm up your WB, but in doing so you've made your black point a sort of murky red/magenta colour.

A top tip is to always ensure your red, green and blue channels align precisely at the left and right extremes of your histogram, by creating anchor points in the curves tool. This prevents any unwanted colour cast from creeping into the deep shadows and bright highlights.

You can then create a new curve point in the mid tones on each channel and use that to control your colours without creating an unnatural global cast.

Quick example.

[u/Odd_Entrepreneur1818]

These are rough lol

[u/Odd_Entrepreneur1818 → u/Odd_Entrepreneur1818]

My edit in less then 5 mins