You don’t always have to have edits that look realistic.  Under the right circumstances, having creative and surreal are just as valid, and there are times that you may just want to have fun with your photography.  There is absolutely nothing wrong with that.  With today’s technology, there are so many things you can do.  Here is just one simple creative editing trick to add to your arsenal of knowledge.

The jeep you see above has gone through a simple rendering process in Adobe RAW.  That process was then repeated twice in order to create this effect.

The process:

There are five sliders that were used here; four of which are slid all the way to the right as far as they will go.  They are: fill light, recovery, contrast, and clarity.  The fifth control is exposure, which should be drug to the left as a counter-measure against having fill light turned up so high.  There are some who would desaturate the image as a final step.  In some instances, you may want to do that.  It basically depends on whether you want the color to be so heavy, and if it works for the particular subject.

Some things to keep in mind…

This technique won’t work with every subject.  For example, you probably wouldn’t like the result if you tried it on a person.  Another caution is that you’ll need to watch the skyline.  A problem you’ll come across is that you’ll find white lines appearing in a blue sky.  So if you can avoid a blue sky, that might be helpful.  Other than that, just have fun.

Something else to keep in mind is that not every photo can stand up to the editing process.  If the image has high noise, or has undergone some degradation, it might not make it.  Something that I’ve said a million times but bears repeating; you’ll find RAW format images will work the best.

Well, that’s just one creative edit option out of countless, but hopefully it’s something you can use to boost your artistry.

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