Photographing someone’s Big Day is a beautiful—and stressful—job, especially if you’re not a seasoned pro. This week, PopPhoto is serving up our best advice for capturing that special kind of joy.

A typical wedding day photoshoot can result in thousands of images. After the photographer has spent hours actively capturing the event, hours of culling and editing still loom ahead of them. In an earlier Smarter Image column, I offered an overview of apps designed to sort and edit your photos faster. For this installment, I want to look at the editing side and how AI tools can shave off some of that time.

Consider this situation: You’ve done your initial sort and now you have a series of photos of the bride. They were made in the same location, but the bride strikes different poses and the framing is slightly different from shot to shot. They could all use some editing, and because they’re all similar they’d get the same edits.

This is where automation comes in. In many apps, you can apply edits to one of the images and then copy or sync those edits to the rest. However, that typically works globally, adjusting the tone and color evenly to each full image. What if the overall photo is fine but you want to increase the exposure on just the bride to make her stand out against the backdrop? Well, then you’re back to editing each image individually.

But not necessarily. The advantage of AI-assisted processing is that the software identifies objects within a scene. When the software can pick out the bride and apply edits only to her—even if she moves within the frame—it can save a lot of time and effort.

For this task I’m looking specifically at three apps: Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Lightroom Classic (the same features appear in the cloud-based Lightroom desktop app), and Skylum Luminar Neo. These apps can identify people and make selective edits on them, and batch-apply those edits to other images.

First, let’s look at the example photos I’m working with to identify what they need. Seattle-based photographer Carol Harrold of Carol Harrold Photography graciously allowed me to use a series of photos from a recent wedding shoot. These are Nikon .NEF Raw images from straight out of the camera. 

The bride is in shadow to avoid harsh highlights on a sunny day, so as a consequence I think she would benefit from additional exposure. Although she’s posing in one spot, she faces two different directions and naturally appears in slightly different positions within each shot. A single mask copied between the images wouldn’t be accurate. For the purposes of this article, I’m only focusing on the exposure on the bride, and not making other adjustments.

Adobe Photoshop

One of Photoshop’s superpowers is the Actions panel, which is where you can automate all sorts of things in the app. And for our purposes, that includes the ability to use the new Select Subject command in an automation.

In this case, I’ve opened the original Raw files, which processes them through the Adobe Camera Raw module; I kept the settings there unchanged. Knowing that I want to apply the same settings to all of the files, I’ll open the Actions panel and click the [+] button to create a new action, name it, and start recording. 

Next, I’ll choose Select > Subject, which selects the bride and adds that as a step in the action.

To adjust the exposure within the selection, I’ll create a new Curves adjustment layer. Doing so automatically makes a mask from the selection, and when I adjust the curve’s properties to lighten the bride, the effect applies only in that selection.

In the interests of keeping things simple for this example, I’ll stick to just that adjustment. In the Actions panel, I’ll click the Stop Recording button. Now I have an action that will select any subject in a photo and increase the exposure using the curve adjustment.

To apply the edits to the set of photos, I’ll choose File > Automate > Batch, and choose the recorded action to run. Since all the images are currently open in Photoshop, I’ll set the Source as Opened Files and the Destination as None, which runs the action on the files without saving them. I could just as easily point it at a folder on disk and create new edited versions.

When I click OK, the action runs and the bride is brightened in each of the images.

The results can seem pretty magical when you consider the time saved by not processing each photo individually, but as with any task involving craftsmanship, make sure to check the details. It’s great that Photoshop can detect the subject, but we’re also assuming it’s detecting subjects correctly each time. If we zoom in on one, for example, part of the bride’s shoulder was not selected, leading to a tone mismatch.

The upside is that the selection exists as a mask on the Curves layer. All I have to do is select the area using the Quick Selection tool and fill the area with white to make the adjustment appear there; I could also use the Brush tool to paint it in. So you may need to apply some touch-ups here and there. 

Lightroom Classic and Lightroom

Photographers who use Lightroom Classic and Lightroom are no doubt familiar with the ability to sync Develop settings among multiple photos—it’s a great way to apply a specific look or LUT to an entire set that could be a signature style or even just a subtle softening effect. The Lightroom apps also incorporate a Select Subject command, making it easy to mask the bride and make our adjustments.

In Lightroom Classic, with one photo edited, I can return to the Library module, select the other similar images, and click the Sync Settings button, or choose Photo > Develop Settings > Sync Settings. (To do the same in Lightroom desktop, select the edited photo in the All Photos view; choose Photo > Copy Edit Settings; select the other images you want to change; and then choose Photo > Paste Edit Settings.)

However, there’s a catch. The Select Subject needs to be reprocessed before it will be applied. In Lightroom Classic, when you click Sync Settings, the dialog that appears does not select the Masking option, and includes the message “AI-powered selections need to be recomputed on the target photo.”

That requires an additional step. After selecting the mask(s) in the dialog and clicking Synchronize, I need to open the next image in the Develop module, click the Masking button, and click the Update button in the panel. 

Doing so reapplies the mask and the settings I made in the first image. Fortunately, with the filmstrip visible at the bottom of the screen, clicking to the next image keeps the focus in the Masking panel, so I can step through each image and click Update. (The process is similar in the Edit panel in Lightroom desktop.)

As with Photoshop, you’ll need to take another look at each image to ensure the mask was applied correctly, and add or remove portions as needed.

Luminar Neo

I frequently cite Luminar’s image syncing as a great example of how machine learning can do the right thing between images. Using the Face AI and Skin AI tools, you can quickly lighten a face, enhance the eyes, remove dark circles, and apply realistic skin smoothing, and then copy those edits to other photos. From the software’s point of view, you’re not asking it to make a change to a specific area of pixels; it knows that in each photo it should first locate the face, and then apply those edits regardless of where in the frame the face appears.

I can still do that with these photos, but it doesn’t help with the exposure of the bride’s entire body. So instead, I’ll use the Relight AI tool in Luminar Neo and increase the Brightness Near value. The software identifies the bride as the foreground subject, increasing the illumination on her without affecting the background.

Returning to the Catalog view, we can see the difference in the bride’s exposure in the first photo compared to the others. 

To apply that edit to the rest, I’ll select them all, making sure the edited version is selected first (indicated by the blue selection outline), and then choose Image > Adjustments > Sync Adjustments. After a few minutes of processing, the other images are updated with the same edit. 

The results are pretty good, with some caveats. On a couple of the shots, the edges are a bit harsh, requiring a trip back to the Relight AI tool to increase the Dehalo control. I should also point out that the results you see above were from the second attempt; on the first try the app registered that it had applied the edit, but the images remained unchanged. I had to revert the photos to their original states and start over.

The latest update to Luminar Neo adds Masking AI technology, which scans the image and makes the individual areas it finds selectable as masks, such as Human, Flora, and Architecture. I thought that it would allow me to identify a more specific mask, but instead, it did the opposite when synced to the rest, applying the adjustment to what appears to be the same pixel area as the source image.

The AI Assistant

Wedding photographers often work with one or more assistants, so think of these AI-powered features as another assistant. Batch processing shots with software that can help target adjustments can help you turn around a large number of images in a short amount of time.

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AI-assisted photo technologies mostly exist to help you save time while editing, or improve image quality using small sensors or when processing images. But sometimes they can radically change your photos, as in the case with sky replacement features.

Swapping a sky in a photo was initially a head-scratcher for me. One of the appeals of landscape photography, for instance, is to get out amid nature and experience the colors and wonder of a sunrise or sunset. Doing that takes work: planning the shoot, determining the best time to arrive and set up, checking weather estimates, picking a composition, and sometimes standing around in cold weather waiting for the show to begin.

But with AI sky replacement, you could theoretically show up at any time, hang your camera out the car window, snap a shot, and then add someone else’s spectacular sky using your computer later. It feels like cheating and reinforces the feeling of many photographers that AI technologies are marginalizing craft and hard work. 

That’s an awfully traditional mindset, though, and I had to remember that photography encompasses a larger spectrum than my experience. Sky replacement is useful in real estate photography, where it’s rarely possible to wait around a house for ideal conditions, especially if you’re shooting three houses that day. Or you may need a better sky for an online advertisement.

Or you might be a landscape photographer who did put in the work, got skunked by a flat sky in a location you can’t easily return to, and want to make a creative composition anyway. We forget that most photography is art, and doesn’t need to hew to journalistic expectations of accuracy.

AI Sky Replacement

Replacing skies isn’t new. With patience, you could use software that supports layers to define a mask for the sky and put another sky image in its place. That takes time, particularly if the sky is interrupted by objects such as tree branches or a complicated skyline.

The goal of a successful sky swap is, of course, to make it appear as if the new sky was originally there all along. But that incorporates several pieces:

• The sky should have a clean edge, taking into account interruptions. This is usually the most difficult part because the software must determine which areas belong to the sky and which belong to the foreground.
• The non-sky elements of the image need to match the exposure and coloring that the new sky would cast over the scene. A sky isn’t just background—it’s the light source and filter for everything we see.
• There needs to be a way for you to fine-tune the mask and the color in areas the software didn’t catch.
• The tool should take into account reflections. Nothing ruins the illusion like a new sky with the original sky reflected in the water below.

And let’s not forget the obvious, which is the responsibility of the editor: Make sure light sources match and shadows are cast in the correct direction. After all, the goal is to present the illusion of a natural sky, and those are obvious flags that can ruin the effect.

Several photo editing apps include sky replacement features, each of them taking slightly different approaches. For this article, I’m looking at Adobe Photoshop, Skylum Luminar Neo, and ON1 Photo RAW 2022. I’m also applying sky images that are included in each app. You can add your own images to each one, too.

Below are the two test images will use.

Photoshop Sky Replacement

You could say Photoshop is the original sky replacement utility since its layers and selection tools were what you needed to use. Now, Adobe includes a specific Sky Replacement tool: Choose Edit > Sky Replacement.

In my first test image, the ruins of a hospital, the feature right away has done a good job of replacing the sky, including in the windows where the sky shows through. The edges are clean, including the tree branches that have grown up beyond the top of the wall.

It includes controls for shifting and fading the mask edge, adjusting the brightness and temperature of the sky, and moving the sky image itself, both using a Scale slider and by dragging with the Move tool.

Switching to a sunset image also shows that the foreground lighting is adapting to the new sky, with options for adjusting the blend mode and lighting intensity. The Sky Brush tool allows some manipulation of the edges.

And typical of Photoshop, the default output option is to create new layers that include all the pieces: a masked sky image, a foreground lighting layer with its own mask, and adjustment layers for the colors. It’s nicely editable.

Notably missing, though, is recognition of reflective areas. When I apply a sky to an image of Mono Lake in Photoshop, the sky is changed but the glassy lake remains the same.

Luminar Neo Sky AI

When I open the first image in Luminar Neo and choose an image from the Sky AI tool, the initial replacement is also pretty good. It has detected the top-right window, but not the openings in the center. And it’s unsure about the branches sticking up from the top of the wall, mostly catching their detail but also revealing an obvious halo and some of the original gray clouds.

To handle these discrepancies, Luminar uses a trio of Mask Refinement controls—Global, Close Gaps, and Fix Details—which to be honest are best used by sliding them and seeing what happens. In this case, increasing Global and reducing Close Gaps helps with the branches.

However, none of the controls can coax the sky into the windows at the bottom. That’s because the algorithm that detects the sky has decided they’re not part of the mask, and there’s nothing I can do to convince it otherwise. The Sky AI tool includes a manual Mask tool (as do most of Luminar’s tools), but in this case I can paint in rough areas using only a brush tool, exposing or hiding only the areas the AI has generated.

The Scene Relighting controls do a pretty good job of adapting the exposure and color and even include a “Relight Human” slider to adjust the appearance of the sky’s color when people are detected in the scene. I also appreciate the Sky Adjustments controls that help you match the sky to the rest of the image, such as defocusing it or adding atmospheric haze. However, note that the lighting isn’t really the problem here; with the sun setting behind the structure, more of the foreground would naturally be in shadow, illustrating the importance of the editor choosing appropriate imagery.

Where Sky AI excels over Photoshop is its reflection detection, which in the Mono Lake image has created a convincing sky and reflection. I have the ability to adjust the opacity of the reflected image and also apply “water blur” to it.

ON1 Photo RAW 2022

In ON1 Photo RAW 2022, the swapped sky has its pluses and minuses. It’s identified all the window openings correctly and handled the intruding branches pretty well. However, there’s obvious haloing around the top edges of the building, a telltale sign of a swapped sky.

That can be mitigated using the Fade Edge and Shift Edge controls, but not entirely. Increasing the fade can sometimes make the edit less noticeable. Also, note that the choice of sky can be more or less effective.

The foreground lighting controls let me adjust not only the amount and blend mode of the effect, but also the color itself using an eyedropper tool, which provides more control.

ON1 Photo RAW 2022 does include reflection awareness, with controls for setting the opacity of the image and the blend mode.

Skies Wide Open

As you can see, replacing a sky is a tricky feat. It can be made easier using AI technologies, but there’s still more work involved. In both Luminar Neo and ON1 Photo RAW, it’s possible you’d do part of the work there and then clean up the image in Photoshop.

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Recently, reader Rod Sawyer wrote to us for advice: He’d seen commercials and music videos in which a subject is in sharp focus and surrounded by an area of blur, and wanted to know how it could be done. He liked the effect for the way it makes the subject stand out and for the dramatic illusion of depth. It’s fairly simple to achieve this look, especially if you have Adobe Photoshop, and as long as you choose to work on the right kind of picture. In order to create the illusion of depth, you need a picture that has a clear foreground, middleground, and background. Try the effect on a flat-looking picture, and the blur will look like an odd Photoshop trick, rather than an almost-realistic one.

Even though this kind of highly selective blur isn’t one you could get with an ordinary lens, or even a special tilt-shift lens, sometimes it’s fun to use Photoshop to make a kind of picture that would be difficult to make in a camera.

Step 1

This method for making blur uses two layers: the original, sharp image on the bottom, and another layer on top that you’ll blur completely. To create the layer that you’ll add the blur to, duplicate the Background Layer. Go to Layer > Duplicate Layer and click OK, or just drag the Background Layer down to the New Layer button in your Layers panel.

Step 2

Now create the blur. With your Background Copy Layer selected, go to Filter > Blur > Lens Blur. Use the Radius slider to adjust the blur amount, and play with the other sliders until you get a look you like. The blur should be strong, but not so much that it obscures what’s going on in the blurred areas. When you like what you see, click OK.

Step 3

Now that there’s a blurry layer on top of a sharp layer, you can use a mask to reveal a portion of the sharpness. With the Background copy selected, click the Add Layer Mask button (circled). The white box that appears next to your layer’s thumbnail is your mask—when you click on it and see an extra box around it, it’s selected.

Step 4

Next get the Gradient tool from the toolbar. In the Options bar, you’ll see a set of buttons for different types of gradients. The one on the far right (circled) creates a diamond shape perfect for this effect. Click on it to select it, then draw a horizontal line outward from the center of the area of your picture you want sharp.

When you draw a diamond gradient, the line you draw represents the diamond’s radius; the other three points will be the same distance from the center as the length of your line.

Final Step

Unless you’re lucky, the first gradient you draw probably won’t be correct. But when you use the Gradient tool to create a mask, it’s easy to replace. Simply draw a new line for a new gradient. If there are still areas of sharpness or blur that you want to show or hide, select your mask, grab the brush, and paint with black to reveal sharpness or white to reveal more blur.

Elements Method

If you use Photoshop Elements, this tutorial won’t work for you. Elements lacks layer masks, so you won’t be able to make a diamond-shaped blur, plus there’s no lens Blur tool. But you can get a similar effect: Follow the first step. Then, in the second, do a gaussian blur instead. to choose what will be sharp, get the elliptical marquee tool and make it very feathered—at least 50px. Circle the area you want sharp, then hit the Delete key to put a hole in your layer and reveal the sharpness below.

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levelup

Anyone who as lost an entire evening to playing video games can tell you how addicting the format can be, and increasingly educators are harnessing that kind of undivided attention to create video games to teach part of a subject.

Which is why LevelUp, a game that teaches Photoshop, is so brilliant. You’re given missions with points and rewards to guides users through basic Photoshop CS5 and CS6 skills. It’s currently set up as a contest that opened June 15 and runs through July 15, open to those 18 and over, but it’s a format that could prove useful for teaching Photoshop skills in schools.

Users complete “missions” and receive points and badges like “Smooth Move: Craft the perfect touch-up while smoothing a face” and “No Regrets: Complete Level 2 without undoing”

Click here for more information on LevelUp and the chance to win a year subscription to the Adobe Creative Cloud.

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Contrast Falls

Jonas Fields
Menlo Park, CA

The problem: Hooboy, that midday contrast! With the sun nearly overhead in a cloudless sky, an already-contrasty scene gets very harsh. The rocks are losing detail because of all the hot highlights. And the waterfall spray gets completely blown out — which would be okay for spectral highlights, but not for the whole stream of water.

What now? We made a duplicate layer in Adobe Photoshop CS3, then used one of our favorite fix-it tools, the Multiply Blend mode, to tame the contrast and get more detail. Multiply works something like a contrast mask sandwich from back in the film days, if you remember such ephemera. The advantage of the newfangled digital version of the technique is that it can also increase density in predominating colors.

We cropped slightly from the top to get rid of the brightly lit rock above the falls, which we deemed distracting, and to concentrate the view a little more on the falls. This also gets the falls a little more off-center (Rule of Thirds and all that), and reduces the dark area on the righthand side.

Next time: As Pop Photo’s frequent Nature columnist Tim Fitzharris keeps telling us, early and late in the day are the best times for scenic shooting. This not only throws more light into the shadows, but the light, even when it’s direct, is often softer and warmer. It can add extra dimension, too. Aside from shooting at a different time of day, you can wait for different weather — midday shooting can work with overcast and mist — or wait for a cloud to move overhead. Barring that, you might also try using a polarizer. By reducing reflections, it can sometimes deepen the tone of rocks.

Tech info: Minolta Maxxum 7000 with 35-70mm f/4 Minolta AF lens, exposure unrecorded, probably 1/125 sec at f/8 on Fujifilm Fujicolor Pro 160S. Negative later scanned.

||| |—|—| | Before| After| |
Face Time

Samuel Clint Harris
Brandon, MS

The problem: Photographer Harris notes that his son Gabriel’s face “is constantly dirty.” That’s not a problem for us — in fact, it’s quite endearing. We just think this picture is too dark for a child’s portrait.

What now? The in-camera monochrome conversion Harris used was okay, but when we tried to adjust contrast/brightness, the tones would get unnatural — the lips would get too light, for example. So we went to a color version from a RAW file he had captured simultaneously, normalized its color balance with Curves in Adobe Photoshop CS3, subtracted a little red and yellow, as it was overly warm, then went back to monochrome with CS3’s B&W converter. (We sometimes insist on doing things the hard way.) We then brought up the highlights.

Next time: This comes under the heading of aesthetic decision. Both versions could be considered valid, but we think kids should have, well, a youthful glow. What do you think?

Tech info: Canon EOS 30D, 50mm f/1.8 Canon EF lens, 1/160 sec at f/3.5, -0.3 EV at ISO 800. Camera B&W mode with green filter effect.

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