The hardest part with following along to these videos is the houses are always beautiful! Show me the 1,000-1,500 Sq/Ft house with yellow lights throughout and not neutral walls.
Hi mate. Feel free to send me some example files through to anthonyeditsyourphotos@gmail.com and I can take a look at creating a video on tackling problematic spaces. I don't have a library of these images as frustratingly I tend to get hired for the bigger homes - which weirdly all seem to come with white walls!
The purpose of flambient technique is to eliminate the color casts often associated with houses that are predominantly light by the yellow lights. It is not to match the interior exposure with the exterior. The flash with an WB of about 5500k renders a neutral interior.
@@archiphotoI too would love to see a video with houses we would more typically see with lovely colour casts and dark interiors. Love your work and your videos.
Thanks for this! I'm downloading the plugin now and will watch your video again and get mastery over it! I hope!! I use a Nikon Z6ii for photography and it's amazing how much light range it captures so there is probably no real need for so many bracketing shots. Thank again!
Hi. Nice one. The Lumenzia panel ( bit.ly/3dpGeub ) is really great for this kind of work (and landscapes too). I shoot with a Nikon D850 which has a lovely 14.8ev dynamic range which is a smidge more than the z6ii (0.4 stops according to DxO) and I still make sure I bracket for these high contrast scenes. It just gives you more colour-rich highlights and less noisy shadows for those files that end up being printed larger in magazines or even billboards.
Key point on flash vs ambient is that in Architectural modern designs light is part of the design so you always got a nice spread of ambient and fixtures in most rooms to work naturally. In real estate, plenty of properties with dark rooms and small windows, low ceiling etc, bad layouts etc - no chance making them look good without flash.
I appreciate what you're saying. Do you have any small room examples that you have a bracketed set for? If you can send them as raws to anthonyeditsyourphotos@gmail.com I can take a look because I'm not convinced that flash is necessarily the "correct" solution. But without seeing an example it's hard to be definitive in saying that.
Agree 100%. This might be a nice HDR blend but can anyone tell me what is the colour of the floor tiles? I see blue, purple, yellow, greyish... same thing with the colour of the table. I guess it's black but you can't tell by looking at this image. The wall behind the table... white or yellow? Wherever I look all the colours are off. Look at the window frames, are they black, brownish or what? Interior designers will spend hours choosing different shades of colours trying to make perfect blend / match and then you send them this? Not sure if they would be happy. Honestly I could use this method but I would have to spent bit more time trying to fix the colours.
I would say the technique you are choose is an abstract thing. One my prepare flash, another might prepare exposure blending. For me exposure blending looks more realistic if it is done corectly. Flambient looks to fake sometimes IMHO.
Hi Nick hope your well mate, I really appreciate this video I'm a portrait photographer new to architectural photography thanks again for sharing. Do host workshops in London?
Thanks and no worries. No London based workshops I'm afraid. I live in New Zealand although I still haven't lost my English accent! All the best for your venture into architectural photography! 😀
Anthony, Yes please do a tutorial on the complete workflow for blending exposures for Architectural Photography and Real Estate. Thank You for all your hard work, Conrad
hey! this was most helpful however i got stuck when you began using Lumenzia. My photoshop doesnt seem to have that option. Either that or I cant find it, any help?
Hi Michel, thanks for the vote on a full workflow video, here it is: th-cam.com/video/_BrFUT9t7oA/w-d-xo.html A start to finish walkthrough on an architectural edit.
Mmm yes I agree that this method is better suited for architectural photography and when the light condition is good, commercial photography too (hotels, restaurants); I still think however; that it's good to have flambient in your tool kit as sometimes you have no choice but to shoot on an overcast day, especially when the client or yourself can't reschedule. As of today, what technique between luminosity exposure blending and flambient is more in demand (for architectural and commercial photography)?
For sure. The more techniques we have available to us allows us more scope to solve any lighting situation we're in. Flambient is definitely worth having in your toolbox of tricks. I shoot about 95% with this technique and only a few situations with flambient. My clients don't specify which to use as they just trust me to get the results they're after and tbh they don't know the names of the techniques or how I post produce anything. I think flambient is used much more heavily in real estate shooting and (in my opinion) often done badly and ends up in a pretty fake result - but done well it can look really nice, it's just I don't see it done well that often. I had an architect contact me to do a full reshoot on a project where they went cheap and got a real estate photographer in, who shot their high-end project flambient style, and the images all looked flat and lifeless. Sure the colours were "accurate" but it still looked fake, hence the need for a reshoot.
THANKS for this video! Very well done as always. However, in making small adjustments to the verticals using auto synch, the adjust DO apply to each image BUT are NOT carried over to to the merged HDR. Tried multiple times, but the HDR does not see what I did to the verticals. Also, the merged image doesn't look that different in the windows (still blown out). What did I miss? One of your videos did cover how the image may look the same, but I cannot find it (you have a LOT of videos! And that's a GOOD THING!)
Hi mate. I've now done an architectural editing tutorial start to finish. You can check it out here: th-cam.com/video/_BrFUT9t7oA/w-d-xo.html Let me know what else you'd like to learn! 😀
That was super helpful but Im struggling to get a final image that doesn't look washed out. I can't seem to fine-tune the transparency of the highlights and shadows. any advice to really take advantage. seems like Im missing something in Lumenzia. huge thanks
I've got a few other videos where I've tackled this problem for others that said they were struggling with the contrast but t.b.h. the most in-depth info has been put together by the guy who created Lumenzia. He's got an exposure blending master course available here: bit.ly/3dpGeub
Outstanding video, mate! To the point with lots of valuable information. I’ve been in the business for 20 years but there’s always something new and interesting to learn. Keep up your great work!
Yes, for sure. I was using that approach for a long time before I came across Lumenzia. Tbh the panel is quicker and is better for isolating tones, particularly mid tones. Also now colour selection is there and it's better than PS's native toolset.
Hi, for the type of finishing I'm referring to Lightroom isn't really an option. It's so good at those initial steps of prepping the file but the finishing really needs to be done in more specialised programs such as ColorEfex Pro.
Excellent information Anthony. How many stops of dynamic range do you think a hybrid mirrorless camera should have to be suitable for real estate photography & video, & would you say it's the same or more for architectural work? Is this a real concern or not?
Since you're shooting with natural day light, why not set the white balance for day light? Then there's no adjusting needed and all frames in the stack have the same WB. Also, have you found any cameras with HDR shooting modes that produce good results you can use out of camera?
Very well presented and absolutely helpful video. Thank you for sharing your knowledge. Actually I was looking for a video for "high end" architectural photography, that looks very natural. I would appreciate a more complex example, with a more contrasty interior (here the light floods in from almost all directions) and the use of strobe which, I think, is the only way to eliminate large reflections especially on the floor. Or not?
Hi mate. Cheers for the feedback. I'm sure I can put another more in-depth example together if I get enough requests (takes a while to do the vids so I put it out there for "comment vote" as to what content I create). Yes minimizing reflections / overpowering them is a good use for a flash.
Thanks a lot Anthony. I truly enjoy your videos. Wanted to ask about bracketing - why do you use 1 stop jump and not 2 stops jump in the settings ? I saw in many of your tutorials that eventually you combine photos with 2 stops difference.
Sometimes +1 or -1 is a better base to start with than 0ev. I always like to cover my bases and have the best data available for my edit. So a 0 -2 +2 set may not be the best option. I'd sooner have access to a set based on 1 stop increments even if I don't end up using all of them. Hope that makes sense.
Great, but also quite time consuming. Would be nice to compare the result with the Photomerge > HDR, which is usually good enough for me for the most cases
I've been doing HDR photo shoots for real estate, but didn't understand evrything going on behind the scenes in lightroom. The way you broke this down using the controls was amazing. Thank you...
I hope you didn't fall for this fluff. It's all for selling beginner's unnecessary software tools that will actually handicap their skill level and slow down their output in the long run while integration fades or suddenly becomes incompatible, leaving the self-editing photographer stranded. Send your files off for editing and focus on shooting. Time is more valuable in real estate photography.
Why not import 16bit tiffs, do the shadow/highlight as a live filter, and then blend using blending options instead of mask? Similar results and live preview.
Great videos with tons of knowledge., Thanks., I was wondering what your thoughts were when blending 3 images with Layer Blend Modes., Darken for the highlights and Lighten for the Shadows. Then the "Blend If" sliders to clean up the midtones? Also maybe a "Apply Image" luminosity Mask that I made into actions? Is there something fundamentally flawed with this kind of work flow?., Thanks
Hi Michael, Good questions! I've played around with those approaches mentioned in the past and while there's nothing "wrong" with them I do prefer the ease and precision afforded by Lumenzia. I prefer to be able to visualise the precise mask rather than relying on the unseen maths that drives lighten/darken and blend if. Just personal preference. Also Apply Image, which I've done tutorials on before is a good option but a little more time consuming to get the mask dialled in. Because I do this as a business and time is money I prefer the quicker approach. Even through there's not much in it, the small differences magnify over multiple shoots and multiple images.
Thanks for your thoughtful reply. I have seen your videos with lumenzia and will eventually try that. For now I am trying to learn all the different ways to always have options and simply learn photoshop. Keep up the great work. It is much appreciated.
Hey this is so good, it finally work. haha. did not matched the midtones in the beginning - and now it looks great with lumenzia. Thanks for your work and sharing your knowlege!
amazing video, thank you Anthony...I'm something doing real estate photography (not high-end architectural) using my Olympus omd-em1 mark III and 7-14mm f2.8 PRO lens which is a cropped sensor by 2. Im considering doing more design and architectural photography and I'm not sure if I can achive the same/similar professional results with this kind of sensor and dynamic range compared to Nikon 45mpx camera. I would love to see a video where you will borrow and use this Olympus setup and do the same picture and brackets using Olympus and nikon and do your workflow if the results will be similar or harder to achieve with a smaller sensor. Thank you, love watching your content.
Thanks Hana. Tbh a bigger sensor will always be preferble. I'd love to be shooting medium format for example. However, this technique is designed to still work even when cameras don't have a great dynamic range. I used to use it even when shooting on my very old 12mp Nikon D200 - and still got excellent results!
Yeah, it's a great tool. What do you use it for? Obviously it's very useful in a landscape workflow too with brighter skies/darker land etc. But do you have other uses in terms of architectural photography editing?
@@theturnhams3905 I mainly use it for contrast when building the grade and also for creating masks. If I have to blend windows i use the pen tool, it takes longer but you have full control.
@@archiphoto That's easy to fix but I guess everyone has a different way to do things. Another thing you have to keep in mind with luminosity masks is that if for any reason you have to go back and clone something out you have to update the luminosity masks otherwise you would be able to see what was there before if that's makes sense. All the best
This is great! I won't even tell you what I was doing in LR before this : ) Although, my images didn't line up. Do I need to use the guided transformation in LR on all three images simultaneously? Thanks!
I find you can get a better result by first converting to linear light. This avoids tonal errors when merging. you can make your own luma mattes as well and save as a script.
Very nice. But here is a question? Why not just dump it into HDR function in PS or one of the alternate filters? I get you don’t want the “HDR look, “ but this is HDR! Most of the apps I see and own have the ability of quieting the dramatic aspects.
Hi Stephen. PS and LR's merge to HDR only create the 32bit file that contains all the data. You still need to bring back the shadow and highlight detail, whether that be with sliders or other techniques. The slider recovery is acceptable but more crude. This approach gives more control for a higher level finish. Yes there are good HDR merge software and tools out there and I've used most of them. I've done a few vids on using them too. This is still my preferred method but so many ways to achieve results it's just about finding what works for you.
Anthony... Wondering about Color fx pro 5. I see you use it to finalize images and I am wondering if you could include a tutorial about that program. Also, I see you have created numerous "presets" that you have created. I would be interested in knowing about your settings there as well. Thank you in advance, I appreciate what you do.
Thanks for the comment. Yes, I really love colorefex pro for the image finishing side of things. My presets are just subtle variations but tend to focus around 4 or 5 tools that work great for architecture once the initial heavy lifting of image correction is done. I'll try and cover it in an upcoming vid. Great suggestion!
@@AnthonyTurnham Thanks Anthony, that would be great. I have the collection as well as Greg's plugin as mentioned and both Luminar 4 and Neo. Just trying to navigate the best settings for everything to assist in editing.
@@bajonesinsf Yeah, while I love ColorEfex for finishing as part of my photoshop workflow, NEO has the edge of being able to batch process that finishing look whereas without running an action in Photoshop, colorefex is applied on each individual edit.
Hi Justin, I've covered exact amounts in other vids so won't go over it again, but enough to justify spending a little longer on a higher quality deliverable for my client. If you need a quicker approach try the preset I showed in the most recent upload: th-cam.com/video/l6_NqXTsjD0/w-d-xo.html
Nice work, it looks a little Flat but it works as the base of edition. One doubt I have is How do you get rid of the bloom or "fog" when using long exposure? I'm tired of that, because that haze doesn't let me use it as I need it. I had to buy an external light but that doesn't optimize my workflow.
Good point. I love the double mask approach, but in this one I just wanted to keep it more simple so I could really focus on the basics of the actual blend.
Thanks for this. Purchased Lumenzia through your link! Been using PS for years and have never seen the menu bar highlights like you have - how do you set that up?
This is sheer brilliance. I found something with a similar message, and it was beyond words. "The Art of Meaningful Relationships in the 21st Century" by Leo Flint
Hi Michael. I've now done an architectural editing tutorial start to finish in the latest video which includes my finishing steps for a piece. It's Lightroom to Photoshop with ColorEfex. But much of what I did could equally be achieved with Luminar. But I'll see if I can do a video with that approach too but for now there's this one: th-cam.com/video/_BrFUT9t7oA/w-d-xo.html
Hi. The idea behind flambient it is to kill colour casts and better control the colour accuracy in the scene while maintaining the true luminence characteristics of the environment. Trouble is often it's processed poorly and still ends up looking "flashy". This is my preferred method but I do still use elements of the flambient technique at times.
A similar technique is well known even from pre-digital era, called DRI. Saves time on location but not necessarily in post ;-) The annoying thing is the blue glare on the window reflections... looks a bit "cheap" :/ How to avoid it?
A simple floor recolouring would do the trick if the cast was problematic. I'm curious about the DRI you mentioned? The only info I can find is about thermal imaging. Do you have more on that or a link you can share? I'd like to read up on it. Cheers.
hey, this may be a weird question, but I really like the T-Shirt you're wearing in this video. Since you look like tall person, I'd like to know which one exactly you're wearing here (maybe you can send me a link?) I am 1,98m tall and very slim (91kg) and I didn't find a good shirt yet that's long enough, slim fit and not too wide at the upper arms. Thank you very much in advance. And also awesome video, thank you!
Hey mate. Yep, you definitely win most bizarre question. Congrats! Seriously though I'm not as tall as it may seem on the video - I'm bang in the middle of the bell curve at 179cm. Really weird but people often think I'm taller than I am. I have no idea why though! The T-shirt was bought from a local store in New Zealand but I don't recall the one. I did see some extra long style Tees in K-Mart yesterday though!
If I could ask a very basic and potentially silly question. How do you get Lightroom to show the blacks in that blue color after a certain point? Very new to all of this and appreciate the learning opportunity you’re providing. 3:20
Hey mate. 2 ays. Click the little triangles top left (blacks) top right (whites) above the histogram. Or much easier, press J to toggle the clipping warnings on or off.
thanks a lot for this video. Is it necessary to adjust the exposure of every raw before merging them ? All the data is supposed to be store in the DNG at the end, so why exposing them correctly before merging ?
Hi Paul. You can do all the adjustments after merging rather than on the front end, because those adjustments wont stick to the merged file. However, in this example I only chose to merge to HDR after I'd already made those corrections, so I just re-applied those settings after the hdr merge.
I like how people show you what to do and go about the process and don't explain the version of Lightroom they are using. My Lightroom 6 does not have Adobe Color.
Sorry mate. I haven't used LR6 for a long time. I just use whatever the latest version is at time of recording. As I recall though the color profiles have been accessible in Lightroom since long before v6. Besides you don't really want to be using the generic Adobe profile. A camera matching profile is a much better option. If you install Adobe ACR (free form adobe) it is likely it'll sort out any missing profiles in Lightroom. Hope that helps.
Does this work that much better than the built-in Lr or Ps auto HDR merger? Or is it similar results, but you get the extra control over the masks with Lumenzia?
Thanks Anthony! When trying this technique with Lumenzia, I have to use the feather feature to get anything like a proper blend between exposures. Somewhere around 300 pixels. I notice that you never need to do this. Curious as to what I am doing wrong. Also, I have never seen you blend more than 3 exposures. Do you sometimes need more in a very high-contrast shot? A complete workflow would be great when you have the time. Thanks again!
Hi Curt. I'm really not sure why you'd need to feather anything. The benefit of Lumenzia is that the masks are pixel perfect right off the bat. I'm going to guess that it's the processing of the files/layers themselves that's not allowing for a decent blend. When you do the blend without the feather does it look rather flat? If so then that's likely to be the issue.
Thanks for the response Anthony! The issue, as you discuss in this video, is I am not starting with images that are well-matched for the blend. The problem I run into is that when I try to raise the shadows and blacks in my highlights image or lower the highlights and whites in my shadows image so that they are more similar to the base image they start to fall apart. Maybe I don't have the dynamic range that is necessary? I'm shooting on a Z5 24MP camera. I know you are shooting on a D850 48MP. Is this part of the problem?
You keep knocking it out of the park mate! On my jobs now I'll shoot with my lights, but will always capture brackets so I can practice this method and compare the two. I'm not confident enough yet with blending to leave the lights at home. Cheers!
Sounds like a perfect plan 👌 You're following my golden rule for paid gigs. C.Y.A. Make sure you get what you need to keep your client happy. If that's shooting brackets and lit shots for now then so be it. I was being a little facetious saying "forget flambient" because for sure it has it's place for visual problem solving 😀
Thank you for sharing your knowledge and experience. I'd like to ask you how you deal with mixed light sources when it comes to white balance? Because there is a main reason I'm using a "flambient" technique in order to "clean" the light. But I have to admit that setting the strobes and lightstands (sometimes) is time consuming, so I looking toward using some sort of HDR or exposure blending in the future.
Hi Pawel. In those instances of extreme mixed lighting situations I may do some strobe files for the "clean light". Other times I'll play with internal lighting and capture frames with the different lights on and then use those files in luminosity mode over my preferred colour frames. It's actually quite a deep topic with the solution depending on the situation. Perhaps a video for the future... 😀
Hi. Very interesting technique and very well explained. Everything makes sense and the look is absolutely natural. I only wonder on how you deal with color, as ambient lighting brings in a ton of mismatches and, besides using color effects pro, what you think about the contrast/detail loss that comes with ambient bracketed lighting? The use of filters always scares me a bit and using color effects pro might make detail fake?!? maybe? Thank you for sharing your precious experience.
Hi Dave. I'll use a variety of techniques for exposure blending, window pulls, flambient, hdr, hdr hybrid etc. I've tried to cover them on this channel and will do more videos in the future. 🙂
so for each file that you use are they those photos separately taken with different exposure settings using camera or those files are created from the single photo but with a multi-exposure High Dynamic Range setting in the camera?
Different exposures that are then brought together. That's what will give you the tre dynamic range and ability to bring back detail in the highlights and nice clean shadows.
Hi. Aurora was discontinued by Skylum and they moved the Quantum Engine technology that it ran on into the new HDR Merge tool for Luminar Neo. I use that too. However, this panel is what you need IF you're workflow goes through the Lightroom + Photoshop pipeline. Which is better depends on your criteria, speed, quality, level of control etc.
The hardest part with following along to these videos is the houses are always beautiful! Show me the 1,000-1,500 Sq/Ft house with yellow lights throughout and not neutral walls.
Hi mate. Feel free to send me some example files through to anthonyeditsyourphotos@gmail.com and I can take a look at creating a video on tackling problematic spaces. I don't have a library of these images as frustratingly I tend to get hired for the bigger homes - which weirdly all seem to come with white walls!
The purpose of flambient technique is to eliminate the color casts often associated with houses that are predominantly light by the yellow lights. It is not to match the interior exposure with the exterior. The flash with an WB of about 5500k renders a neutral interior.
@@archiphotoI too would love to see a video with houses we would more typically see with lovely colour casts and dark interiors.
Love your work and your videos.
Lol facts! Literally every video I’ve seen is a cherry picked house avoiding yellow and blue on purpose
Thanks for this! I'm downloading the plugin now and will watch your video again and get mastery over it! I hope!! I use a Nikon Z6ii for photography and it's amazing how much light range it captures so there is probably no real need for so many bracketing shots. Thank again!
Hi. Nice one. The Lumenzia panel ( bit.ly/3dpGeub ) is really great for this kind of work (and landscapes too). I shoot with a Nikon D850 which has a lovely 14.8ev dynamic range which is a smidge more than the z6ii (0.4 stops according to DxO) and I still make sure I bracket for these high contrast scenes. It just gives you more colour-rich highlights and less noisy shadows for those files that end up being printed larger in magazines or even billboards.
Key point on flash vs ambient is that in Architectural modern designs light is part of the design so you always got a nice spread of ambient and fixtures in most rooms to work naturally. In real estate, plenty of properties with dark rooms and small windows, low ceiling etc, bad layouts etc - no chance making them look good without flash.
I appreciate what you're saying. Do you have any small room examples that you have a bracketed set for? If you can send them as raws to anthonyeditsyourphotos@gmail.com I can take a look because I'm not convinced that flash is necessarily the "correct" solution. But without seeing an example it's hard to be definitive in saying that.
Agree 100%. This might be a nice HDR blend but can anyone tell me what is the colour of the floor tiles? I see blue, purple, yellow, greyish... same thing with the colour of the table. I guess it's black but you can't tell by looking at this image. The wall behind the table... white or yellow? Wherever I look all the colours are off. Look at the window frames, are they black, brownish or what? Interior designers will spend hours choosing different shades of colours trying to make perfect blend / match and then you send them this? Not sure if they would be happy.
Honestly I could use this method but I would have to spent bit more time trying to fix the colours.
I would say the technique you are choose is an abstract thing. One my prepare flash, another might prepare exposure blending. For me exposure blending looks more realistic if it is done corectly. Flambient looks to fake sometimes IMHO.
Probably one of your best videos. Loving that Lumenzia.
Terrific video! Thanks for sharing.
Thanks, I'm glad you found it useful!
Hi Nick hope your well mate, I really appreciate this video I'm a portrait photographer new to architectural photography thanks again for sharing. Do host workshops in London?
Thanks and no worries. No London based workshops I'm afraid. I live in New Zealand although I still haven't lost my English accent! All the best for your venture into architectural photography! 😀
Anthony, Yes please do a tutorial on the complete workflow for blending exposures for Architectural Photography and Real Estate. Thank You for all your hard work, Conrad
Thanks for all your work on this video. Seems like a lot of work and a lot of time editing.
You're absolutely right! There's a lot more work goes into each video than most people realise. Thanks for the acknowledgement! 🙂
Awesome video. The midtowns are the locking key! Great tutorial. Thanks!
Yes. Let's see a Complete Workflow!
Hi Jackie, thanks for the vote on a full workflow video, here it is: th-cam.com/video/_BrFUT9t7oA/w-d-xo.html
Any one of those three looked good to me. Really great video, mate, thanks for doing it.
best channel ever about archi photo editing
Thanks, so good. Where we can get this panel??
hey! this was most helpful however i got stuck when you began using Lumenzia. My photoshop doesnt seem to have that option. Either that or I cant find it, any help?
beautiful image, definitely looking for an open flat like that, top floor.
Yeah, it's nice eh.
Complete Workflow as well please and thank you!
You got it! th-cam.com/video/_BrFUT9t7oA/w-d-xo.html
Great video. I would like to see a complete edit. Maybe some behind the scenes of the shoot itself. Thanks.
Complete workflow, great stuff
Noted. Thanks Michael.
Hi Michel, thanks for the vote on a full workflow video, here it is: th-cam.com/video/_BrFUT9t7oA/w-d-xo.html A start to finish walkthrough on an architectural edit.
Really good, well constructed tutorial. Thank you!
Mmm yes I agree that this method is better suited for architectural photography and when the light condition is good, commercial photography too (hotels, restaurants); I still think however; that it's good to have flambient in your tool kit as sometimes you have no choice but to shoot on an overcast day, especially when the client or yourself can't reschedule. As of today, what technique between luminosity exposure blending and flambient is more in demand (for architectural and commercial photography)?
For sure. The more techniques we have available to us allows us more scope to solve any lighting situation we're in. Flambient is definitely worth having in your toolbox of tricks. I shoot about 95% with this technique and only a few situations with flambient. My clients don't specify which to use as they just trust me to get the results they're after and tbh they don't know the names of the techniques or how I post produce anything. I think flambient is used much more heavily in real estate shooting and (in my opinion) often done badly and ends up in a pretty fake result - but done well it can look really nice, it's just I don't see it done well that often. I had an architect contact me to do a full reshoot on a project where they went cheap and got a real estate photographer in, who shot their high-end project flambient style, and the images all looked flat and lifeless. Sure the colours were "accurate" but it still looked fake, hence the need for a reshoot.
@@archiphoto thanks for your detailed insights, and agree, if flambient is not done well it looks pretty fake and real estate-like.
THANKS for this video! Very well done as always.
However, in making small adjustments to the verticals using auto synch, the adjust DO apply to each image BUT are NOT carried over to to the merged HDR. Tried multiple times, but the HDR does not see what I did to the verticals. Also, the merged image doesn't look that different in the windows (still blown out). What did I miss? One of your videos did cover how the image may look the same, but I cannot find it (you have a LOT of videos! And that's a GOOD THING!)
Double masking 15:50
Complete workflow please! Great tutorial, thanks!
Hi mate. I've now done an architectural editing tutorial start to finish. You can check it out here: th-cam.com/video/_BrFUT9t7oA/w-d-xo.html
Let me know what else you'd like to learn! 😀
@@archiphoto you are the man!! Thanks so much! I'll check it out.
That was super helpful but Im struggling to get a final image that doesn't look washed out. I can't seem to fine-tune the transparency of the highlights and shadows. any advice to really take advantage. seems like Im missing something in Lumenzia. huge thanks
I've got a few other videos where I've tackled this problem for others that said they were struggling with the contrast but t.b.h. the most in-depth info has been put together by the guy who created Lumenzia. He's got an exposure blending master course available here: bit.ly/3dpGeub
Try the Fuji GFX! The latitude with exposure and shadow detail from the GFX cameras is unreal!
Yeah I hear it's great.
Outstanding video, mate! To the point with lots of valuable information. I’ve been in the business for 20 years but there’s always something new and interesting to learn. Keep up your great work!
Complete workflow..great !!!
Thanks for the vote, I've recently put up a complete edit, start to finish tutorial: th-cam.com/video/_BrFUT9t7oA/w-d-xo.html
Apply image+Levels on mask?
Yes, for sure. I was using that approach for a long time before I came across Lumenzia. Tbh the panel is quicker and is better for isolating tones, particularly mid tones. Also now colour selection is there and it's better than PS's native toolset.
@@AnthonyTurnham Thanks for Your answer! :)
Thanks Anthony! I was using TK panel but Lumenzia looks super intuitive
It really is! Thanks for the comment Mark!
You rock my brother, great job as always. One Love!
Thanks Man! 😀
Great tutorial! Complete Workflow would be great!
Thanks Georg
Here ya go Georg: th-cam.com/video/_BrFUT9t7oA/w-d-xo.html
All beautiful and greatso where do we find lumenzia ??
Good reasoning for all the effort, with a goal, a final visual expectations
Excellent! Would love to see you’re complete workflow.
Thanks Jeff. As if by magic.... th-cam.com/video/_BrFUT9t7oA/w-d-xo.html
When we their open as smart object but how we can their auto-align in photoshop?
Very informative and to the point. Good video !
Thanks, I'm just a novice but your second person today that has recommended the blend approach over flash for interiors.
Hi Anthony, how do you deliver your proofs to clients - platform, format, etc. Do you create contact sheets? thanks
Complete workflow please!!
Thanks for the very informative video. Anyway, is it possible to finish the photo after merging in Lightroom instead of using color efex?
Hi, for the type of finishing I'm referring to Lightroom isn't really an option. It's so good at those initial steps of prepping the file but the finishing really needs to be done in more specialised programs such as ColorEfex Pro.
Thank you very much. I've learned a lot from you😀
Great to hear 👍 Glad this has been helpful 😀
Complete workflow, thank you
Hi Denise, thanks for the vote on a full workflow video, here it is: th-cam.com/video/_BrFUT9t7oA/w-d-xo.html
Excellent information Anthony. How many stops of dynamic range do you think a hybrid mirrorless camera should have to be suitable for real estate photography & video, & would you say it's the same or more for architectural work? Is this a real concern or not?
I'm going to have to watch this again:)
Since you're shooting with natural day light, why not set the white balance for day light? Then there's no adjusting needed and all frames in the stack have the same WB.
Also, have you found any cameras with HDR shooting modes that produce good results you can use out of camera?
Great tutorial, always informative
Thanks!
Very informative. Thank you, walkin' into the next shoot more confident for sure.
Very well presented and absolutely helpful video. Thank you for sharing your knowledge. Actually I was looking for a video for "high end" architectural photography, that looks very natural. I would appreciate a more complex example, with a more contrasty interior (here the light floods in from almost all directions) and the use of strobe which, I think, is the only way to eliminate large reflections especially on the floor. Or not?
Hi mate. Cheers for the feedback. I'm sure I can put another more in-depth example together if I get enough requests (takes a while to do the vids so I put it out there for "comment vote" as to what content I create). Yes minimizing reflections / overpowering them is a good use for a flash.
@@archiphoto I'd like to see your approch in those difficult situation
I addjust geometry after merge images. But rest is the same - very similar workflow.
Nice one.
Crazy good content man, precise and very usefull !!
Thanks 😀
Thanks a lot Anthony. I truly enjoy your videos.
Wanted to ask about bracketing - why do you use 1 stop jump and not 2 stops jump in the settings ? I saw in many of your tutorials that eventually you combine photos with 2 stops difference.
Sometimes +1 or -1 is a better base to start with than 0ev. I always like to cover my bases and have the best data available for my edit. So a 0 -2 +2 set may not be the best option. I'd sooner have access to a set based on 1 stop increments even if I don't end up using all of them. Hope that makes sense.
Thanks.
And if I may, a followup on this - for how long do you keep your raw files ? When do you delete them to clear space ?
I keep them all as a safety net. Completely overkill tbh though.
Great, but also quite time consuming. Would be nice to compare the result with the Photomerge > HDR, which is usually good enough for me for the most cases
I yave just compared. See no difference at all. In highlights Merge to hdr does it better than this method
@ maybe it leaves some room for customisation if needed on edge cases
Complete workflow please!
I've been doing HDR photo shoots for real estate, but didn't understand evrything going on behind the scenes in lightroom. The way you broke this down using the controls was amazing. Thank you...
I hope you didn't fall for this fluff. It's all for selling beginner's unnecessary software tools that will actually handicap their skill level and slow down their output in the long run while integration fades or suddenly becomes incompatible, leaving the self-editing photographer stranded. Send your files off for editing and focus on shooting. Time is more valuable in real estate photography.
Why not import 16bit tiffs, do the shadow/highlight as a live filter, and then blend using blending options instead of mask? Similar results and live preview.
Awesome video!
Love it ❤. Thanks for tthis video
Great videos with tons of knowledge., Thanks., I was wondering what your thoughts were when blending 3 images with Layer Blend Modes., Darken for the highlights and Lighten for the Shadows. Then the "Blend If" sliders to clean up the midtones? Also maybe a "Apply Image" luminosity Mask that I made into actions? Is there something fundamentally flawed with this kind of work flow?., Thanks
Hi Michael, Good questions! I've played around with those approaches mentioned in the past and while there's nothing "wrong" with them I do prefer the ease and precision afforded by Lumenzia. I prefer to be able to visualise the precise mask rather than relying on the unseen maths that drives lighten/darken and blend if. Just personal preference. Also Apply Image, which I've done tutorials on before is a good option but a little more time consuming to get the mask dialled in. Because I do this as a business and time is money I prefer the quicker approach. Even through there's not much in it, the small differences magnify over multiple shoots and multiple images.
Thanks for your thoughtful reply. I have seen your videos with lumenzia and will eventually try that. For now I am trying to learn all the different ways to always have options and simply learn photoshop. Keep up the great work. It is much appreciated.
Thanks mate 😀
Hey this is so good, it finally work. haha. did not matched the midtones in the beginning - and now it looks great with lumenzia. Thanks for your work and sharing your knowlege!
Informative as ever. Complete workflow would be appreciated.
Thanks Lee. I'll see what I can do 😀
Lee, what steps do you think he left out ?
please share an option to edit only using photoshop
Why do you tilt down the camera for the shot? thanks a lot
Less ceiling and not cut off the bottom of the table. A mid height shot with back of camera parallel didn't give the composition I was after.
amazing video, thank you Anthony...I'm something doing real estate photography (not high-end architectural) using my Olympus omd-em1 mark III and 7-14mm f2.8 PRO lens which is a cropped sensor by 2. Im considering doing more design and architectural photography and I'm not sure if I can achive the same/similar professional results with this kind of sensor and dynamic range compared to Nikon 45mpx camera. I would love to see a video where you will borrow and use this Olympus setup and do the same picture and brackets using Olympus and nikon and do your workflow if the results will be similar or harder to achieve with a smaller sensor. Thank you, love watching your content.
Thanks Hana. Tbh a bigger sensor will always be preferble. I'd love to be shooting medium format for example. However, this technique is designed to still work even when cameras don't have a great dynamic range. I used to use it even when shooting on my very old 12mp Nikon D200 - and still got excellent results!
I love Lumenzia but I never use it to blend windows
Yeah, it's a great tool. What do you use it for? Obviously it's very useful in a landscape workflow too with brighter skies/darker land etc. But do you have other uses in terms of architectural photography editing?
@@theturnhams3905 I mainly use it for contrast when building the grade and also for creating masks. If I have to blend windows i use the pen tool, it takes longer but you have full control.
The pen tool is good for nice clean cuts for sure, but you miss out on those highlight transitions like the reflections on the floor in this example.
@@archiphoto That's easy to fix but I guess everyone has a different way to do things. Another thing you have to keep in mind with luminosity masks is that if for any reason you have to go back and clone something out you have to update the luminosity masks otherwise you would be able to see what was there before if that's makes sense. All the best
This is great! I won't even tell you what I was doing in LR before this : ) Although, my images didn't line up. Do I need to use the guided transformation in LR on all three images simultaneously? Thanks!
I find you can get a better result by first converting to linear light. This avoids tonal errors when merging. you can make your own luma mattes as well and save as a script.
I'll look more into linear as an option. Thanks.
Hi! What do you mean "linear light"? When and what for ? Can you tell about it a little more ?
Very nice. But here is a question? Why not just dump it into HDR function in PS or one of the alternate filters? I get you don’t want the “HDR look, “ but this is HDR! Most of the apps I see and own have the ability of quieting the dramatic aspects.
Hi Stephen. PS and LR's merge to HDR only create the 32bit file that contains all the data. You still need to bring back the shadow and highlight detail, whether that be with sliders or other techniques. The slider recovery is acceptable but more crude. This approach gives more control for a higher level finish. Yes there are good HDR merge software and tools out there and I've used most of them. I've done a few vids on using them too. This is still my preferred method but so many ways to achieve results it's just about finding what works for you.
Anthony... Wondering about Color fx pro 5. I see you use it to finalize images and I am wondering if you could include a tutorial about that program. Also, I see you have created numerous "presets" that you have created. I would be interested in knowing about your settings there as well. Thank you in advance, I appreciate what you do.
Thanks for the comment. Yes, I really love colorefex pro for the image finishing side of things. My presets are just subtle variations but tend to focus around 4 or 5 tools that work great for architecture once the initial heavy lifting of image correction is done. I'll try and cover it in an upcoming vid. Great suggestion!
@@AnthonyTurnham Thanks Anthony, that would be great. I have the collection as well as Greg's plugin as mentioned and both Luminar 4 and Neo. Just trying to navigate the best settings for everything to assist in editing.
@@bajonesinsf Yeah, while I love ColorEfex for finishing as part of my photoshop workflow, NEO has the edge of being able to batch process that finishing look whereas without running an action in Photoshop, colorefex is applied on each individual edit.
Anthony hello!i bought the sigma 20mm art...i disappointed... which lenses you suggest for nikon fx.. keep up
That all well and good but how much time are you spending on each image and how much do you get paid per licensed image?
Hi Justin, I've covered exact amounts in other vids so won't go over it again, but enough to justify spending a little longer on a higher quality deliverable for my client.
If you need a quicker approach try the preset I showed in the most recent upload: th-cam.com/video/l6_NqXTsjD0/w-d-xo.html
Hi Anthony, is the histogram on that base eposure you use usually slightly shifted to the right?
Great video, thank you. Very professional and very well told.
Nice work, it looks a little Flat but it works as the base of edition. One doubt I have is How do you get rid of the bloom or "fog" when using long exposure? I'm tired of that, because that haze doesn't let me use it as I need it. I had to buy an external light but that doesn't optimize my workflow.
I like your editing workflow. In this case you didn't use the "double masking" tecnique, is there any reason why?
Good point. I love the double mask approach, but in this one I just wanted to keep it more simple so I could really focus on the basics of the actual blend.
Best channel for all this.. appreciate you!
Thanks for this. Purchased Lumenzia through your link! Been using PS for years and have never seen the menu bar highlights like you have - how do you set that up?
It's actually an option that you can select when you install the Lumenzia panel. Cheers for using my link. 👍
This is sheer brilliance. I found something with a similar message, and it was beyond words. "The Art of Meaningful Relationships in the 21st Century" by Leo Flint
loved it. thanks for the info
You're welcome 😊
Awesome video. I just bought Lumenzia a few days ago, haven't played with it yet. How would you finish the photo in Luminar Neo?
Hi Michael. I've now done an architectural editing tutorial start to finish in the latest video which includes my finishing steps for a piece. It's Lightroom to Photoshop with ColorEfex. But much of what I did could equally be achieved with Luminar. But I'll see if I can do a video with that approach too but for now there's this one: th-cam.com/video/_BrFUT9t7oA/w-d-xo.html
Is this flambing technique a leftover from the early 2000s when there wasn't any powerful software for HDR and the cameras had bad dynamic range?
Hi. The idea behind flambient it is to kill colour casts and better control the colour accuracy in the scene while maintaining the true luminence characteristics of the environment. Trouble is often it's processed poorly and still ends up looking "flashy". This is my preferred method but I do still use elements of the flambient technique at times.
A similar technique is well known even from pre-digital era, called DRI. Saves time on location but not necessarily in post ;-) The annoying thing is the blue glare on the window reflections... looks a bit "cheap" :/ How to avoid it?
A simple floor recolouring would do the trick if the cast was problematic. I'm curious about the DRI you mentioned? The only info I can find is about thermal imaging. Do you have more on that or a link you can share? I'd like to read up on it. Cheers.
hey, this may be a weird question, but I really like the T-Shirt you're wearing in this video. Since you look like tall person, I'd like to know which one exactly you're wearing here (maybe you can send me a link?) I am 1,98m tall and very slim (91kg) and I didn't find a good shirt yet that's long enough, slim fit and not too wide at the upper arms. Thank you very much in advance. And also awesome video, thank you!
Hey mate. Yep, you definitely win most bizarre question. Congrats! Seriously though I'm not as tall as it may seem on the video - I'm bang in the middle of the bell curve at 179cm. Really weird but people often think I'm taller than I am. I have no idea why though! The T-shirt was bought from a local store in New Zealand but I don't recall the one.
I did see some extra long style Tees in K-Mart yesterday though!
@@archiphoto thanks a lot for answering this! :) Greetings from germany!
@Tobias S. no worries my friend! Greetings from NZ 😀
If I could ask a very basic and potentially silly question. How do you get Lightroom to show the blacks in that blue color after a certain point? Very new to all of this and appreciate the learning opportunity you’re providing. 3:20
Hey mate. 2 ays. Click the little triangles top left (blacks) top right (whites) above the histogram. Or much easier, press J to toggle the clipping warnings on or off.
Thank you so much! It was so helpful!
You're welcome!
thanks a lot for this video. Is it necessary to adjust the exposure of every raw before merging them ? All the data is supposed to be store in the DNG at the end, so why exposing them correctly before merging ?
Hi Paul. You can do all the adjustments after merging rather than on the front end, because those adjustments wont stick to the merged file. However, in this example I only chose to merge to HDR after I'd already made those corrections, so I just re-applied those settings after the hdr merge.
I like how people show you what to do and go about the process and don't explain the version of Lightroom they are using. My Lightroom 6 does not have Adobe Color.
Sorry mate. I haven't used LR6 for a long time. I just use whatever the latest version is at time of recording.
As I recall though the color profiles have been accessible in Lightroom since long before v6. Besides you don't really want to be using the generic Adobe profile. A camera matching profile is a much better option. If you install Adobe ACR (free form adobe) it is likely it'll sort out any missing profiles in Lightroom. Hope that helps.
What about without Lumenzia?
Does this work that much better than the built-in Lr or Ps auto HDR merger? Or is it similar results, but you get the extra control over the masks with Lumenzia?
love your tutorials. COMPLETE WORKFLOW please!
Thanks Anthony! When trying this technique with Lumenzia, I have to use the feather feature to get anything like a proper blend between exposures. Somewhere around 300 pixels. I notice that you never need to do this. Curious as to what I am doing wrong. Also, I have never seen you blend more than 3 exposures. Do you sometimes need more in a very high-contrast shot? A complete workflow would be great when you have the time. Thanks again!
Hi Curt. I'm really not sure why you'd need to feather anything. The benefit of Lumenzia is that the masks are pixel perfect right off the bat. I'm going to guess that it's the processing of the files/layers themselves that's not allowing for a decent blend. When you do the blend without the feather does it look rather flat? If so then that's likely to be the issue.
BTW Curt, I've done a full walkthrough edit you might find helpful here: th-cam.com/video/_BrFUT9t7oA/w-d-xo.html
Thanks for the response Anthony! The issue, as you discuss in this video, is I am not starting with images that are well-matched for the blend. The problem I run into is that when I try to raise the shadows and blacks in my highlights image or lower the highlights and whites in my shadows image so that they are more similar to the base image they start to fall apart. Maybe I don't have the dynamic range that is necessary? I'm shooting on a Z5 24MP camera. I know you are shooting on a D850 48MP. Is this part of the problem?
@@curtstevens6178 Curt you might try renting the D850 for one shoot and do a comparison between cameras to see if there is much difference.
You keep knocking it out of the park mate! On my jobs now I'll shoot with my lights, but will always capture brackets so I can practice this method and compare the two. I'm not confident enough yet with blending to leave the lights at home. Cheers!
Sounds like a perfect plan 👌 You're following my golden rule for paid gigs. C.Y.A. Make sure you get what you need to keep your client happy. If that's shooting brackets and lit shots for now then so be it. I was being a little facetious saying "forget flambient" because for sure it has it's place for visual problem solving 😀
Remarkable- thx
Very welcome :)
Thank you for sharing your knowledge and experience. I'd like to ask you how you deal with mixed light sources when it comes to white balance? Because there is a main reason I'm using a "flambient" technique in order to "clean" the light. But I have to admit that setting the strobes and lightstands (sometimes) is time consuming, so I looking toward using some sort of HDR or exposure blending in the future.
Hi Pawel. In those instances of extreme mixed lighting situations I may do some strobe files for the "clean light". Other times I'll play with internal lighting and capture frames with the different lights on and then use those files in luminosity mode over my preferred colour frames. It's actually quite a deep topic with the solution depending on the situation. Perhaps a video for the future... 😀
@@archiphoto Yes please! Would love to see a tut on dealing with different color light sources. Thanks! Great stuff!!
Thank you, Roose Bolton.
Power tastes best when sweetened by courtesy. The North will know of your appreciation.
Hi. Very interesting technique and very well explained. Everything makes sense and the look is absolutely natural. I only wonder on how you deal with color, as ambient lighting brings in a ton of mismatches and, besides using color effects pro, what you think about the contrast/detail loss that comes with ambient bracketed lighting? The use of filters always scares me a bit and using color effects pro might make detail fake?!? maybe? Thank you for sharing your precious experience.
You can also merge to 32bit and do all this dynamically within photoshop.
Great piece, very helpful. Do you always use exposure blending or are there certain situations where you prefer HDR merging in Lightroom? Thx.
Hi Dave. I'll use a variety of techniques for exposure blending, window pulls, flambient, hdr, hdr hybrid etc. I've tried to cover them on this channel and will do more videos in the future. 🙂
double masking, please!
complete workflow.
so for each file that you use are they those photos separately taken with different exposure settings using camera or those files are created from the single photo but with a multi-exposure High Dynamic Range setting in the camera?
Different exposures that are then brought together. That's what will give you the tre dynamic range and ability to bring back detail in the highlights and nice clean shadows.
so what happened to aurora software? is this luminosity panel better?
Hi. Aurora was discontinued by Skylum and they moved the Quantum Engine technology that it ran on into the new HDR Merge tool for Luminar Neo. I use that too. However, this panel is what you need IF you're workflow goes through the Lightroom + Photoshop pipeline. Which is better depends on your criteria, speed, quality, level of control etc.
@@archiphoto Thanks Anthony for taking the time to write back champ. Cheers
@@sunrisesunset8843 no trouble 😀