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Curation: Computer to Phone & UNUM

Lesson 25 from: The Photographic Style & Aesthetic Workshop

Benjamin Hardman

Curation: Computer to Phone & UNUM

Lesson 25 from: The Photographic Style & Aesthetic Workshop

Benjamin Hardman

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Lesson Info

25. Curation: Computer to Phone & UNUM

This episode shares Benjamin’s emphasis on creating a cohesion across his images, and how this works to his advantage. His main platform is Instagram - so this relates to that.

Lesson Info

Curation: Computer to Phone & UNUM

(wind howling) So I thought it'd be cool if we looked at the images that we've actually shot on this workshop and we're going to now look at them as a whole in Lightroom, compare the colors a little bit, balance them out, bring them over to my phone and then look at how we could make a grid out of them for Instagram. So laptop. Now going to open Lightroom. We have the five images that we covered in the editing plus one additional frame of a reindeer that we looked at shortly in that module. And so I'm just going to scroll through them and have a look at what we've got. A lot of similar colors here and that is simply just because it is winter. And we had similar conditions almost every day but by choosing some that have, you know, variance in brightness, some that are darker, some that are lighter, some that are more focused on specific colors, we can really create a nice set with this collection. So, off the bat, there's two that are in landscape orientation that I know, for certain,...

that they're gonna work if I spin them to the vertical format. So I'm just going to give that a try. Rotate. Now I'm gonna look at it again and it's evident now that there's a couple of tweaks that need to be made and it's super easy. I'm just going to darken one side now and now we have it. We could, of course, go further into it but I'm pretty happy with how this looks and it's going to be a nice one for the Instagram feed, I think. So I'm just putting it in 8x10, moving over to the next one. Just the drone shot. Rotating that. I think it needs to be, actually, the other way. Yeah. Happy with this. Putting it into the 8x and, you know, because we already have, essentially, curated the images to get to this point, really, now it's just about refining their unified appearance. How they look together and looking at the whites. So if we bring up two of these images together and we compare them, we can get a visual sense of, you know, other white's completely different because that's something that I'm really passionate about, getting my whites in my photos to be quite similar. And it's, of course, contributes to that style aspect. So if I am looking at the whites in terms of the values, we have, you know, 96% on the blue, which is again, the one I'm looking at out of all the RGBs and we have 94. So this image could be a little brighter. So I'm just going to nudge it a little bit up and just see how it affects it. I do work, usually, around that kind of 96% there. So yeah. Perfect. Maybe add just a little contrast and that is good to go. I'm pretty happy with these and I think it's time to move them over to my phone and show you a cool program that I use. So I'm just going to now select them all and export them. So as these are exporting, I just wanted to touch on the concept of exporting for a minute. And it's really simple for me. I tend to export in full size, purely just so that, in the future, if I ever had to go and find that photo again, I at least have the full res version and I don't have to go and dig it up in Lightroom again and it can get a little messy doing it that way. So provided you have enough space on your phone. Of course, if you don't, then it's also really cool to just create a down scaled version for use on web and mobile phones. Of course, for websites, you may have to consult the internet on the specific resolution for the given platform that you're using. But in this case, we have a 300 megapixel photo of Siggy standing on the rock. So I have to set a limit. Otherwise, I'm just going to end up with something that's gonna slow everything down when I bring it over to my phone. So I've used 5,000 pixels as my maximum width or height for these images. And we're just gonna finish up with this export and move over to the phone. So just doing a simple AirDrop to get the files across. I'm sure there's a similar method for Android phones. I'm now going to actually import these into Lightroom Mobile, if I bring up that. I already made a little folder for the photos so I'm going to create an album. Iceland. Okay. And import photos. So now they'll just bring them into Lightroom Mobile and you can see here on my phone that we have all six images in the app and ready for any types of tweaking that we might need. So, basically, when I bring my images over to the phone screen, there can be some subtle differences and changes in colors that I might pick up. So just having the flexibility to go in. We won't go too deep into Lightroom Mobile but, basically, it can do most things that the computer can do. Even selective brushes and radial filters. It's quite amazing really. So I can see here on one of them that I actually just want the sky a little darker and that is the reindeers. So I'm just going to make a graduated filter over the sky and bring it a little darker. Just like that. And then we're going to open them in a new app I love. It's called UNUM. U-N-U-M. And it's a way that I can plan ahead in my grid format for Instagram. Why would we do that? And it's basically, for me, you know, Instagram is obviously a substantial platform that I use to share my work and I basically just want it to have a nice look as a whole. So I'm using, you know, this method of curation and balancing color to also create something that can give immediate impact. If, you know, a company stumbles upon my work, you know, I wanna get their attention. So by making it nice and thinking about how the images flow together, we can create something that, again, has this unified style. So if we just go over to the phone, we can see that I've brought all the images into the app called UNUM and we'll begin to reorder them until we have a consistent flow of color and exposure to which we're happy with. So obviously, I have the two white images, the one of the seal, which of course is a landscape frame. So we're going to most likely post that as a square. And we have the dark blue image, which works super well contrasted against the river. So maybe I would do them across from each other in a row of three and maybe bring something that is a little bit of an in-between in the middle. So maybe the reindeer, for example. The lines of the river and the macroimage are so harsh that I might wanna separate them a little further. I'm not sure yet. That would require a little bit of extra thought, but overall, I think the images work quite nicely as a group. It really comes down to how your previous images that you've posted, of course, look next to these ones. And I can see that, recently, I've posted a couple of animal portraits, as well as some kind of curvy looking ice images and a crater. So I'm also thinking back on how those will blend with what I'm about to post and just working on getting this kind of flow of color without, kind of, two of the similar ones, like two white images next to each other. I'd rather space them out. I'm quite happy with Siggy going next and the rock. And then I do like having the dark macro because it balances with one of the shots I've posted previously. And then I like the reindeer. I think that works well. And actually, it's kind of cool having the two, kind of, top down, if you would call it, swirly compositions with the river and the macro above and below each other. I think that's probably, now that I look at it, the best way to balance those two in the grid unless I had, of course, more images and I could spread them even further. So with that said, that pretty much covers how I would bring the images to my phone. And then, of course, we're touching them up a little bit in the Lightroom mobile app, just to, you know, make any small adjustments to color or exposure or adding, maybe blending a little bit of the light. And then, of course, bringing them into this planning app. And I don't actually post from this. I just use it as a reference. And then I'll actually post from Instagram itself. That is basically my workflow. So we can, of course, do this in many different ways but this is just one that I've found works for me. And it's really helped me to just plan ahead and kind of just know what's coming. Takes a little bit of the stress away.

Class Materials

Bonus Materials with Purchase

Workshop
Iceland Road Guide

Ratings and Reviews

Matt Grandbois
 

Very Informative & Awe Inspiring Both Benjamin and Alex have played huge roles in my photographic style development over the years and it is great to hear first hand exactly what inspires and drives Ben to keep pushing his creative boundaries. Personally, I love his minimalist approach and it was super insightful to watch him explain how he developed that style and how he actively produces photographs in a cohesive manner. 10/10 recommend this workshop to anyone looking for a very unique and profound perspective with the intent of expanding your creative horizons.

Janelle Dransfield
 

Moving to Iceland now...? Loved this workshop! I really liked the way the modules are split up, and the way you watch Benjamin go out on location for a shot, then immediately sit down and watch his editing process for that specific shot. So much editing to learn too, since he doesn't use presets! The workbook is also super thorough, so printing it out allowed me to pay close attention and just add little notes here and there. The Iceland road guide is also SO helpful and in depth. Can't wait to use it. Also loved that Ben talked about printing your own work. Would be cool to maybe see something from Wildist in the future that goes even more into depth on that (calibrating your own printer, working with a print shop, dropship sites, etc.) Awesome course. Thanks, Hardman.

Alec Brown
 

First Workshop The first workshop I have ever purchased. I've always been hesitant to invest in a workshop, however this went above and beyond my expectations. Fluid in progression, great insight and a super relaxed learning curve full of information. I feel this has prepared me to take my own personal photographic journey to the next level. Executed to perfection. Nice work guys! 10/10 recommended.

Student Work

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