With this tool, it's too easy to imitate your favorite photo style

With this tool, it's too easy to imitate your favorite photo style

In the later stage of learning, we usually face such an embarrassing situation: we have all the adjustment tools, but we don’t know how to start, so that we can get the effect we want. We know that imitating the style of a good photographer's work is a great way to learn. But many students will encounter new difficulties, that is, when they see a photo they like, they can only tell the feeling it brings, but cannot analyze its characteristics, let alone how to bring out the same feeling. In fact, in post-processing, there is a tool that we are familiar with and unfamiliar with. It is not directly used for retouching, but it can identify the tone and tone characteristics of a photo, thus assisting us to accurately imitate the style of the photo. It's a "histogram"! It looks complicated, but as long as you master its principles, it is very handy to use. Today, let's take a look at how "Histogram" is used! ONE.ˉHow to understand the histogram First, we need to know "how to view the histogram". Taking the mobile version of Lightroom as an example, first import the image, click the three dots in the upper right corner of the editing page, select "View Options", and then click "Show Histogram". In the histogram, we can see the gray wave and the color wave, which represent the "tone" and "tone" of the photo respectively. The kernel of the photo is composed of these two parts. So when we analyze a photo, we can disassemble it into a black and white photo and a color photo. photo by Warren The former reflects the relationship between black, white and gray, and also reflects the level of light and shade, which is the basis for creating a photo style; the latter reflects the color and overall tone of different elements in the picture, which can enhance the atmosphere and play a richer style. . Due to the diversity of colors themselves, the factors that affect the "tone" of a photo are also more complex. So in this issue, let's start with a simple "tone" and learn "how to quickly understand the histogram". Imitation to tone, the photographer's style also won half! In a black and white photo, we can see that some parts are whiter and others are darker. So between the darkest pure black and the brightest pure white, people also divide the "gray areas" of shadows, midtones and highlights. Among them, the pure black and pure white parts can hardly see the details. Shadows are dark and dark, and highlights are white and bright, and they retain some of the detail in the picture. The brightness of the midtones is moderate, and the details in this part are the most delicate and rich. In the histogram, these areas are only arranged from dark to bright, and which area has a higher gray wave value, it means that this tone occupies a large proportion in the picture. Below, there are peaks in the black areas, indicating that there are mostly dark areas in the photo. Seeing this, you should feel a little familiar. Don't these areas just correspond to the "brightness" adjustment tool in the later stage? "Exposure" is to adjust the mid-tone, because the mid-tone area stores a lot of details of the entire photo, so when we adjust the exposure, it will change the overall light and shade of the picture. The last 4 items only affect the light and shade of their respective areas. As for "contrast", it is the degree of contrast between the bright and dark parts of the picture. The brighter the brighter and the darker the dark, the greater the contrast. Reflected in the histogram, there are small wave peaks in the white and black areas. To sum up, the gray histogram is a reflection of the tone, and by adjusting the "brightness" tool, we can get as close as possible to the histogram style of a photo. In this way, you can reproduce its tone style. TWO.ˉUsing the histogram to imitate the style of the photo Next, let's take the following photo as an example to imitate the dark style of an ins photography god "rkrkrk". First, let's clarify the idea: 1. Look at the histogram of the photo you want to imitate. 2. Identify the distribution characteristics of the gray wave in each area and the overall trend in the histogram. 3. Analyze the histogram of your own photos and adjust the Brightness tool to mimic this trend. Then you can proceed in this way. When adjusting, it is recommended that you look at the color photos before you can adjust according to the actual tone of the photos, rather than just paying attention to the parameters. The above are several works of rk. It can be seen that the overall picture is dark and there is a contrast between light and dark. What does their histogram look like? Amazing resemblance! By analyzing the histogram, their characteristics can be clarified: the darker "shadow" accounts for the largest proportion of the picture, and the "white" is almost absent; the overall trend is decreasing from left to right. Let's look at the histogram of the case photo: the brighter "midtones" account for the largest proportion of the picture, there is almost no "white", and the other tones are evenly distributed and are relatively few. It can also be seen from the picture that this photo is bright, and the contrast between light and dark is not strong. So our first step is to reduce the exposure, and at the same time, we need to reduce the highlights and white levels, so that the peaks are shifted to the left. The second step is to lower the shadows and black levels so that the left side forms a crest. Note here that the dark black tone does not make the "black" lose details and become dead black, so the black level here cannot be too low. The third step is to increase the contrast, so that the relationship between light and dark is more obvious. The tone parameters have been adjusted. Although the histogram at this time is generally in the trend of "left high and right low", the wavelength becomes very short and the picture is too dark. This is because when the brightness is lowered, the bright areas in the picture are reduced or even disappeared. In order to ensure the overall dark tone and the level of light and dark, we also need to use the "local tool" to assist in the adjustment. The operation method is: choose to add "radial gradient", pull out a long ellipse in the center of the picture, and increase the exposure and contrast appropriately. In this way, the bright areas are revealed from the dark tones, the wavelength of the histogram is restored, and the two main subjects of the picture, such as people and tall buildings, are more prominent. The final effect is as follows: During the adjustment process, we will find that although the tone tool can adjust the overall light and shade, to finely imitate the style of the photo, we need to understand the tone and histogram more thoroughly, which is inseparable from the Special tools, such as local adjustments, etc. Because of the space, I can't give you a detailed explanation of these today. The main purpose is to help everyone learn this idea, that is, when you see your favorite photo style, you can use the histogram to analyze and imitate it. This is very helpful for your post-editing and even pre-shooting. In fact, as long as you master the ideas, parameters and tools are not difficult to learn. There is a section dedicated to explaining the principle and application of the histogram in the "Full Department Course" launched by Play Photography Academy. In addition to the dry goods in this article, Mr. Warren also summarized 10 tonal styles of the histogram, as well as 4 typical styles. 's retouching tutorial to help us analyze and imitate photos faster and more accurately! In addition to "post-grading", this course also includes "mobile phone shooting", "short video shooting" and "editing" sections, which not only have easy-to-understand theories, but also many practical cases, which we have carefully built this year. the most comprehensive course. Swipe up and down to view the full course syllabus If you want to learn mobile photography quickly, systematically and in-depth, long press the QR code below to identify the full set of tutorials, it will not let you down! Remember to like, comment, and watch the article with one click and three links, and share the article with the friends around you~Follow-star on the public account of "Fun Mobile Photography", see you at 7:30 every morning!

(Responsible editor：photography skills)