Before & After

If you read my 101 in 101 yesterday, you know that I want to begin blogging a before & after every week (#24!!!). I have people constantly asking what my editing process looks like, and while I can verbally explain, it would obviously be much easier just to visually show. I’m glad it only took me 2 years to figure that out.

Let me first preface this by saying that I am not an expert Photoshop queen. In fact, I HATE Photoshop. As soon as I got into photography, I discovered Photoshop actions, and I believe these are God’s gift to photographers. Actions are basically one-click adjustments that can be applied to pictures in any sort of combination. I swear by Totally Rad!’s actions. I have TRA1 – The Original, TRA2 – The Revenge, Lightroom Presets (same thing as actions), and RadLab. RadLab is a little more than a regular action, but I’m not going to try to explain what it does… Just watch the video through the link. :) Doug Boutwell, creator of Totally Rad! & husband to the amazing Chenin Boutwell, is a flippin’ genius and has created some of the most brilliant resources for photographers that I have ever seen. His company also has some of the best customer service I’ve ever dealt with… Like, I’m talking responses within 20 minutes. Here are some before & afters achieved by working through RadLab:

A screen shot of me working in RadLab… (Also, I do not actually have 270 emails… I’m just having serious issues with Mail, and they won’t clear.)

Straight out of camera:
Taken with Canon 5D Mark II & 24-70mm 2.8L
1/320s, f/2.8, ISO 400

RadLab Adjustments:
Contrast: 15%
The 600: 35% (Defocus & Grain at 0%)
Butter Pecan: 20%
Boutwell Magic Glasses: 25%

Straight out of camera:
Taken with Canon 5D Mark II & 50mm 1.2L
1/640s, f/1.8, ISO 200

RadLab Adjustments:
Lights On: 20%
Contrast: 15%
Vanilla Kiss: 30%
Boutwell Magic Glasses: 25%

Straight out of camera:
Taken with Canon 5D Mark II & 50mm 1.2L
1/320s, f/2.2, ISO 800

Ps… How cute is that little baby bump?!?

RadLab Adjustments:
Lights On: 80%
Oh, Snap!: 20%
The 600: 50% (Defocus at 0%)
Vanilla Kiss: 30%
Boutwell Magic Glasses: 20%

If you are a photographer who doesn’t like to spend hours fiddling around in Photoshop, you need to check out Totally Rad!’s stuff. It’ll rock your world, for sure. Happy Wednesday! :)

  • December 12, 2011 - 10:27 pm

    Nathan Gilmer - These are great. I tried the RadLab trial and I really liked it but never bought the bullet and bought it (lots of alliteration). I may need to though after seeing these.ReplyCancel