Creatively Green is the blog of freelance writer, avid crafter, and La Mamma Verde (the green mom), Wenona Napolitano.
This blog features everything about her creatively green life from green crafting to eco-gardening, green parenting and green living in general.
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Lightroom App Photo Editing Tutorial with Lynette Charrier
Hi Everyone! My Name is Lynette Charrier and I'm the Author of The Frelsarien: Battle of Eirbor.
In addition to being an Author I'm also a Photographer and Interior Designer. The tips that I'd like to share with everyone today is my favorite technique for editing photos with the FREE Lightroom Mobile app. That's right, this is a completely free program that anyone can use. I use this technique most when taking pictures outdoors, but it can also be used anytime you need to separate the subject from the background.
When taking the initial picture, place the subject in the shadows and then expose the picture for the highlights. Shadows are easier to bring back than highlights, so if you have to choose between having a dark subject and blowing out the highlights, choose to have a dark subject, or balance them out so that you have a semi-bright sky and a semi-dark background. The picture I'm editing demonstrates the former.
Start off by using the "Light” tab at the bottom of the screen to balance out the brightest area of the photo first. Ignore the darker areas for now, just focus on the background. Here I brightened it up but dropped the highlights so that the white isn't overwhelming.
Next, use the masking tool at the bottom of the screen to select the subject. It’s usually pretty good at selecting the subject, but if it doesn't work then you can also us the brush tool. Once selected adjust the light to brighten the subject so that it’s balanced in comparison to the background/ highlighted section that you’ve already edited. Ignore the section that you haven’t edited for now.
Keep in mind that shade casts a blue tone on the subject, so add a little bit of warmth while keeping white balance in mind.
Once you’re done with this save the mask by clicking on the checkmark in the top right-hand corner.
Now we can edit the rest of the shaded area. Select the subject again, except this time open the tab on the left and click on the invert option. This will select everything except the subject. We already edited the lightest area to the way we like it though, so on the right-hand tab, you can use the minus sign to remove part of the mask. In this case, I used the luminance range to do the subtraction, but a brush would also work. If you do use the luminance, use the circle selector and place it over the light area, then use the slider to fine-tune the amount of luminance that needs to be removed.
Now the rest of the shadows can be adjusted. I raised the exposure but dropped the blacks so that the dark areas didn’t get washed out.
Technically the subject could be edited with this current selection but I prefer to edit them separately so that I have better control and I can really make my subject POP. Sometimes I want more contrast in the background, or sometimes I want my subject to be slightly brighter, or sometimes I want to drop the clarity of the background and raise it on my subject. Either way,
Finally, we can edit the image as a whole. I always go to the color mixer so I can edit the colors individually. In this case, I brought the Blues way up. This brings up the color of the water without oversaturating the skin tones. Some of my clients also want to look more tan, so the way I accomplish this is to raise the orange saturation and drop the luminance a little bit. Key word… “a little bit”. Try not to make them look like Donald Trump.
Here’s a comparison between a photo edited with this technique vs a photo edited as a whole. As you can probably see I wasn’t able to decrease the contrast in the water because that would have washed out the dark areas of the boat, so it’s left looking stormy. I also wasn’t able to bring up the blues in the water because there’s such a bad blue cast on the subject's shirt. I also wasn’t able to soften the shadows on the subject
because I didn’t want to lose contrast in the boat. Overall, the Photo that I edited in sections looks a lot more natural.
The Frelsarien: Battle of Eirbor
The Frelsarien Chronicles
Book One
Lynette Charrier
Genre: Fantasy
Date of Publication: 3/13/2022
ISBN: Hardcover- 9798985598025
ISBN Paperback- 9798985598018
ISBN Ebook- 9798985598001
ASIN: B09Q5BPV5Y
Number of pages: 445
Word Count: 102K
Cover Artist: Covers By Christian
Tagline: Cursed bloodlines; Two warring nations; Three mortals trying desperately to return to their home world
Book Description:
One hundred years of peace have shattered, and the gods have sent the most unlikely of Heroes, mortals.
On the planet Eyon, one hundred years of peace has ended after the kingdom of Elmoria invaded the neighboring kingdom of Tharon. Desperate to regain their lands and citizens, the Tharians beseech the gods to deliver Frelsarien to them-mythical prophets who, in the past, have used the power of the gods to bring peace to the land.
Meanwhile on Earth, Idun, Ayla, and Colton have no idea their bloodlines carry a curse that enslaves them to the Overseers - supernatural beings whose divine rule stretches across the universe, earning them the status of godhood. After the Overseers come to collect them, the three humans learn that they must bring peace between two warring nations, or be damned to a life on this planet with no hope of returning home.
When the three Frelsarien arrive, the Tharians are disappointed to discover that the gods sent nothing but ordinary humans. Some give up hope that they will be of any help, while others cling to faith. The Frelsarien must either find a new way to prove their worth to the overseers, or attempt to develop the powers they were promised. In the face of adversity, will they be able to rise up to the challenge?
In a gripping page-turner, author Lynette Charrier pieces together an epic tale against a backdrop of tyranny, strength and resilience. Battle of Eirbor is the first novel in the Frelsarien series, a masterpiece of epic crossworld fantasy.
Idun’s
eyes flickered open. She had been dreaming again.
A
throbbing pain pounded within her skull. She groaned and rubbed the back of her
head and felt a large welt. Her bruised fingers glided around to the right side
of her head, where she found another welt. She sighed while slowly propping
herself up and looking around. Her eyes were still hazy, but she could just
barely make out the silhouette of a woman sitting across from her. Idun rubbed
her eyes before reopening them.
“I doubt
that will help,” the woman said, just as Idun came to that very conclusion.
“You have a concussion.”
To her
surprise, Idun recognized the voice.
“Ayla?”
The
woman stood up and moved towards her, taking her seat on the bed next to Idun.
There were two of her in Idun’s eyes, but she could still make out the features
of her lifelong friend. She didn’t look like herself. Her long, curly,
brown-black hair framed a smooth face, free of acne, and unhidden by glasses.
But the most striking difference was her weight. The last time Idun saw her, she
was skin and bones and likely less than one hundred pounds. The Ayla sitting in
front of her looked… healthy.
“Jesus!
How long have I been out?” She wondered if this was still part of the dream.
“Idun!
Language,” she snapped.
Idun
chuckled and put her head back down on the pillow. “Seriously, though, how long
have I been out?”
“Almost
twenty-four hours.”
A
confused expression crossed Idun’s face, and she looked up from her pillow.
“Can’t be. Don’t take this the wrong way, but there’s no way you look like this
after just twenty-four hours. And my hair doesn’t grow this fast either,” she
said, holding up a lock of auburn hair which was now longer than the length of
her arm.
“These
are our Frelsarien bodies…” She said as if that were obvious. She waited a moment
as if to see if this triggered a memory, but it didn’t. Idun had no idea what
that meant. “So, you really haven’t been briefed on this?”
“What?”
Idun picked her head off the pillow and looked up at the blur which was Ayla.
“What are you talking about?”
“Where
do you think we are?” Ayla questioned.
Idun
looked around the room, which, from what she could tell, was made completely of
stone and decorated in red. “I don’t know…”
Ayla
sighed. “What is the last thing you remember?”
“The
last thing I know for sure wasn’t a dream.” Idun had to think for a moment. “I
climbed that cliff just outside of town.” She rubbed the back of her head
again. “I must have hit my head when I fell, though. I had this weird
hallucination about being chased by the grim reaper.”
Ayla
stood up to pour Idun a glass of water, then walked back and placed it in her
hand. “Idun… that wasn’t a hallucination. It wasn’t the grim reaper, though,”
She said, with a laugh.
Idun
brought the cup to her lips but stopped, giving Ayla a confused yet doubtful
glance. She opened her mouth to ask her to elaborate, but Ayla beat her to it.
“It’s
called the soul splitter. It separated our souls from our bodies on Earth and
brought them to our bodies here on Eyon.” She waited for a moment to study
Idun’s expression again; Which happened to be one of disbelief. “Does any of
that ring a bell?”
“Not
even a little one.” Idun tipped back her cup and then placed it down on the
table. “I’m actually pretty sure I’m still asleep.”
Ayla
reached over and pinched the skin on the underside of Idun’s arm.
“What
the heck!” Idun propped herself up with a jolt.
“Well,
you’re not asleep,” Ayla giggled.
Idun
scrunched her eyebrows together and massaged the back of her arm. “And you’re
not Ayla...”
About the Author:
Lynette Charrier was born in Manitoba Canada but grew up in Southern California. There she met her husband who whisked her away back to his hometown of Naples Florida. Not long after she earned her degree in interior design and quickly found a job in the field. However her true passion lies with the writing community. Ever since she was little she had been making up stories of distant worlds and far off galaxies. Now she's excited to finally share those stories with the world.
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1 comment:
Great article, thanks for writing it :)
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