I'm a sucker for presets.

I'm a sucker for Lightroom/Photoshop presets. Period. I'm just too lazy. One-click-boom. Thats why i love VSCO presets. They are so worth it. Recreate film looks, polaroid looks.... ya know, those vintage looks. But at the moment, i'm done with film looks, i got a bit tired of it. But thats today, maybe tomorrow i'm back into it. Right now, i'm into those contrasty but desaturated colors. I was actually looking for a tutorial on recreating that look when i stumbled upon free presets for Lightroom. See, i'm not that lazy, i want to learn on how to recreate those looks but instead i found presets thus diverted me from learning to just using the presets. Lazy over learning. Nice.

While browsing the internet, i found presets and tutorials but mostly free preset on creating gritty, grungy look, which is the look im into right now, some are really nice which made me search for more free presets all over the net. Who doesnt like free stuffs right?

While on the topic of grunge look, I also stumbled across a bloke named Dave Hill. Though his pictures are nice but not really my type, i mean i really like it but i'm not gonna use it all the time. and then there's the DRAGAN effect too. Based on my findings these free presets that tried to recreate the grunge, dave hill and dragan effect look are mostly pushing the sliders in lightroom to the max!

Highlights pushed to 100
Shadows pushed to 100
Blacks bring down to balance the look
Clarity pushed to, yes you guess it right, to 100. I love pushed clarity. Gave that painted look
Vibrance pushed to 100
Saturation pull to taste, -50, depends on how unsaturated look you're looking for.
Exposure to taste.

Some presets pushed the sharpness too hard, like 80, but for my taste i pulled a bit and just play around with it.

Let's use a sample image i've downloaded from Robin Wong EM10. I hope he don't mind. This are not my photo. It's Robin's.

Original File 

This is my Bleach Bypass look, i've edited from Lightroom's own bleach bypass preset 

 Not too forget, the "300" look, i found this lightroom preset on google

I called this my Wannabe Dave Hill look although i adjusted to my liking. I dont remember which preset i based this on. but i adjusted it to make it less painted effect.

*I based this on the Grunge preset i found on google*

Some may dig the look, some may not. Its for fun, sometimes i just want to push the files to never before land lols.

Multiple Exposure Mode on X100S

Just realised that this camera has a multiple exposure mode. Not that i fond of but i see some spectacular images done with this kind of technique.

Just some lazy test shot

If you just realised it too have fun experimenting multi exposure mode!

Thanks to Fujifilm X Magazine for the tips!

Fuji X100S with Yongnuo YN560III + RF603CII

Fun.
Flash were never been affordable back in the days.
A Canon speedlites can cost you for about USD$500. Two flash and prepare a whopping 1G, one grand.
Poor wallet!
But now with cheap flash on the rise from the east, playing with flashes can now become affordable.
Strobing aka Strobist they say.
Yes these flashes are made in China, but these flashes are powerful.
I'm talking about Yongnuo's flashes.
Mine i just got my Yongnuo YN560III. This flash has built in wireless trigger which will work amazingly with their own trigger Yongnuo RF603CII.
I dont need to attach a trigger on the flash shoe. thats the cool feature. It wont add height to your flash.
They are so cheap you can get 3 Yongnuos for 1 Canon EX speedlite. i may be exaggerating but it is that cheap.
Cheap doesnt mean it sucks. Maybe for purist but for me, it works wonderfully.
It did give me a scare when i thought my flashes were DOA(dead on arrival) but you actually have to press the power button for about 3 seconds to switch it on. sheesh...
I also bought their own wireless trigger, as mentioned RF603CII, if you wondering, this trigger works with my Fuji X100S and Olympus OMD EM10.
On ebay, it still is confusing when they say Canon version, Nikon version but i bought the RF603Cii, supposedly for Canon but it works on Fuji and Olympus. I think Yongnuo updated this for the mirrorless cameras but i still dont get it when they sell it for Canon and Nikon version but whatever.. just get the RF603CII and it should work. You know how this chineses Ebay sellers copy and pasted each others ad... its so funny.

2 Yongnuo YN560III, Camera left and right (with umbrella)
Black cloth.
Ikea laundry basket, Fyllen.
Fuji X100S set to external flash mode ON. (Its not in the menu, its at the flash settings button)
Triggered by Yongnuo RF603CII.

Note: I'm not paid by Yongnuo but their stuffs are awesome!

How to get that VSCO washed out faded creamy look in lightroom

Today im gonna share you on how to get a VSCO washed out faded creamy look in lightroom. At the moment i'm using 100% of my photo editing workflow with Lightroom. Back in the day i used to edit my photos with Photoshop. Curves, Image levels, Brightness/Contrast bla bla bla.... i even used a free downloadable photoshop actions to edit my photos. its not wrong or bad but i just like to keep it simple with only one program, and that program is lightroom. i dont like to jump around between softwares/programs.

Anyway, there are a few VSCO photoshop actions on the net to get that washed out look, just google it, if you're lazy like me and are using photoshop.
Some of the techniques i used to do:-
1) 10% grey inclusion to get that washed out look,
2) fill in solid color and choose gray is also one of the techniques, or
3) use exposure settings and adjust gamma.

But now i know how to do it in lightroom and its simple too! Lets cut the bullshit and just show you already!

The TONE CURVE YAWW!

Go to DEVELOP, TONE CURVE and just follow that curve shape above and then if you want, just play around with that "bottom left corner point in the box", the more high you make the more dramatic effect you'll get. That is just about it.

Notes:
Lets go back from the start,

1) if your tone curve shows the "Region" settings like the figure below, you have to click on the small box on the bottom right corner.....

2) To make it into this. (figure below)
    Most of the time your tone curve will look like this, just a straight diagonal line from bottom left to         upper right in the box.

3) Usually i'll make a few points on the straight line but it actually is up to you, just play around with it.

4) And take the bottom left point and raise it up, and depends how dramatic you want the effect to be, just play around with it. A curve (its not even a curve) shape like below will yield a really washed out VSCO moody style.

Thanks for stopping by.