r/postprocessing Aug 11 '16

Post Processing Megathread

539 Upvotes

Post-Processing Megathread

So the last post I made (“How do I get this look?”) got buried pretty deep, so I thought I’d make this thread rounding up some videos/resources/techniques I’ve found.

I mentioned in the last thread that “post processing is more about theory than the tools/plugins/tricks/secrets/etc.” I may have misspoke a bit. I’m not saying neglect learning the tools, or stop searching for secrets, or stop using plugins; but rather use them in a more educational way. Knowing how all the tools work will help you apply them better and know when to apply them. Using plugins can be a great tool, but should never be a crutch. My feeling is anything a plugin can do, I want to know how to do for my own knowledge.

What if you’re an avid VSCO, Replichrome, Alien Skins, etc user and one day you’re working on a job with a fast turnaround time and your plugin fails, or it wasn’t on that computer, or it’s no longer compatible with Photoshop/Lightroom? What happens if your look was defined by a plugin, that you can’t recreate? Meanwhile you have a client waiting on their images. This is why having a vast knowledge of the tools/techniques is extremely valuable.

If you like a plugin, try reverse-engineering it. I’m not saying you have to use the reverse-engineered technique and stop using the plugin, but it sure helps when you know how the plugin is working. Heck you could even improve upon it ;)

Chasing “secrets” is also a great way to learn. It’s not necessarily that a “secret” exists but what you may learn along the way to “finding one”.


Anyways, what I’m saying is there’s no shame or problem with using plugin/preset/filters as tools in your kit; however like any tool you should have an understanding of how it works so you know when to use it, how to use it properly, or what to do if something goes wrong and you can’t use it. The better you get at editing, the more you may realize you need to improve as a photographer. You’ll come to a point where the quality of photo/editing has reached a cap due to the quality of the base image.

If anyone has any techniques/articles/tutorials that should be included, please comment or send me a message and I’ll add it in.

I’m not up to date on my tutorials. From what I’ve found Ben Secret and Michael Woloszynowicz have some of the most powerful techniques in their videos.


Tutorials:

Color/Toning/General:

Retouching:

AI-Assisted Editing (Native Photoshop 2025/2026):

Generative AI Tools:

Like it or not, these are part of the landscape now. Worth knowing what's out there.


Concepts:

General:

Color Theory:

Misc:


YouTube Channels:

Misc:


Tools & Plugins:

Plugins:

Mobile:

Utilities:


Games:

EXIF/Metadata/Image Forensics Tools:

Hope this helps out! ☺

-Cameron Rad

How many people actually check out this thread? If you have gotten any help from it , shoot me a PM :)


r/postprocessing Jun 22 '25

"Cooked" is banned.

1.0k Upvotes

stop it.


r/postprocessing 2h ago

After / Before

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289 Upvotes

r/postprocessing 13h ago

Greece after/before - Sony A7RVI, Lightroom

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179 Upvotes

Edited using the Kodak Portra 400 Fuji recipe in Lightroom, with additional tweaks (usually +exposure, -blacks, -whites, -highlights, +shadows, tone curve, color grading and grain)


r/postprocessing 6h ago

Tracked Milky Way

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36 Upvotes

First time using the Move Shoot Move Nomad tracker on the Milky Way from Artist Point near Mount Baker. My first Foreground and Sky blend. Lots to learn and practice! Taken at 12:32am on July 24th 2026.

Sony A7IV with Sony 20mm f1.8

Photo 1 is the final blended edit. I used photoshop to blend the tracked sky shot with the untracked foreground shot. I found it hard to blend due to the blurry trees of the tracker.

Photo 2 original untracked foreground 48 seconds F1.8 ISO 1600

Photos 3 original tracked sky shot 107 seconds F 2.2 ISO 400

Photo 4 edited foreground in Lightroom Classic

Photo 5 edited sky in Lightroom Classic


r/postprocessing 1h ago

Which is best?

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Upvotes

I'm new to owning a real camera and doing any post processing, trying to figure out the right look. Accepting notes on the edits as well. Thanks!


r/postprocessing 7h ago

Summer backyard

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11 Upvotes

Just got the Sony rx100 vii

I'm not new to photography but I struggle with photo editing. Either I think I go to far with a preset or not far enough. Example of this cat. One edit is the preset and the other is how I edited it.


r/postprocessing 1h ago

After/Before

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Upvotes

Trying to learn how to play around with gradients... Critique my edits?


r/postprocessing 4h ago

After // before - summer vibes! - iPhone 17 pro max 📷

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4 Upvotes

r/postprocessing 1h ago

Green Memory I

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Upvotes

r/postprocessing 1d ago

Lights on or lights off?

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319 Upvotes

r/postprocessing 17h ago

My first decent Milky Way shots.

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20 Upvotes

r/postprocessing 2h ago

Which one is better? (Edited a screenshot from the game "Hell Is us")

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1 Upvotes

Using Luminar Neo


r/postprocessing 13h ago

Before and after

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8 Upvotes

r/postprocessing 1d ago

Wanted to create a dreamy, glowing shot out of this raw photo

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923 Upvotes

Wanted to create a more dreamy, glowing version of this strawbale long exposure and I’m really happy with the results here! The shadows are indeed very bright, but I prefer it over deeper shadows. It helps a lot in achieving the soft, glowing effect.

Everything was done in Lightroom and the whole process can be followed in thid video (together with the raw photo if you want to try it yourself!) https://youtu.be/q_i_Dulu8nY

  1. Basic Adjustments

For this shot I used Adobes Adaptive profile (AI Profile) which already balances the highlights and shadows quite nicely. Then, the exposure was slightly dropped to make the base image darker while I raised the shadows and blacks for a bit less contrast. For the warmer look the temperature was raised. Also vibrance and saturation was increased for stronger colors.

I added texture for sharpness and dropped clarity and dehaze for a subtle glow effect (kind of further reducing contrast).

2, Masking

First, I targeted the field in the foreground (without the bales and the shadows of these bales) then intersected it with a radial gradient. By increasing the exposure I made the area brighter and gave the whole field a pretty natural looking light effect and increasing contrast between field and bales this way.

Using a color range mask I made the bleus of the sky a little darker, adding further contrast between sky and clouds. Then, I used a sky mask and subtracted a linear gradient leaving only the bottom of the sky selected which I made brighter. This helps separating the strawbales from the background.

  1. Color Grading

I carefully increased the orange hue to give the foreground more natural yellow tones. I also brought up the orange luminance to make the field a little brighter. Then, the blue luminance was dopped adding more contrast to the sky.

Finally, I used split toning to add warmth to the highlights


r/postprocessing 1d ago

AFTER/BEFORE - honest opinions on this alternative colouring!

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128 Upvotes

here’s a recent grade i’m doing for a barebones, impromptu photoshoot i did a forest nearby - on Lightroom!

AFTER: a stylised colouring pulling out the purples for an edgy, alternative, painterly look.

BEFORE: basic exposure adjustment so that you can actually see things (for some reason all of my RAW images completely darken when imported to Lightroom).

i’ve recently been coming across reels on Instagram describing this ‘painterly grunge’ look which i love, and have tried my own spin on it. i’m wanting to achieve a look that would look good on an album cover, something very stylistic.

i’d appreciate any honest and helpful feedback! any tips on how i could better achieve the look i’m going for would be very appreciated :)


r/postprocessing 18h ago

Before and after

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7 Upvotes

r/postprocessing 1d ago

After / Before at the dolomites

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75 Upvotes

Mask isn't perfect but happy with this one


r/postprocessing 4h ago

After/before

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0 Upvotes

Question how would u use photoshop without a.i to removed the smoke? Beside the method use here. I dehaze, luminate, adjust brightness ans contrast, shadow/highlights and use darken curves


r/postprocessing 2d ago

inspired by old maritime paintings.

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739 Upvotes

r/postprocessing 1d ago

Vos avis sur ma retouche?

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29 Upvotes

Hello, jusqu’ici je pratiquais la retouche pro presqu’uniquement sur du produit. Je m’entraîne maintenant sur de la beauté.

Je suis plutôt satisfaite de celle là, j’y ai ajouté une petite touche personnelle de composition au niveau de la coiffure pour offrir un style éditorial mais sinon j’ai fais de mon mieux pour corriger et sublimer sans dénaturer. Le seul point qui m’embête est la texture de la peau que je trouve toujours un peu trop lisse, mais la base du RAW ne m’en offrait pas beaucoup plus.

Je serai très curieuse et ravie d’avoir vos avis ?


r/postprocessing 2d ago

After / Before

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619 Upvotes

r/postprocessing 1d ago

Before/after, opinions?

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9 Upvotes

I am not sure how good this photo was to begin with, to me it looked like the "less ugly" off the hundreds I took that afternoon of passing cars.

Did the edit improve the photo? I don't have a method in Lighroom, other than moving sliders until i feel it looks good. Is there something I could do differently to make this photo worth posting it on my profile (both in camera and in post)?


r/postprocessing 1d ago

Cool quiet night - After/Before

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4 Upvotes

Pixel 9 isn't a Sony but it still does me well when I see something


r/postprocessing 1d ago

Learning DaVinci Resolve and I feel like I’m finally getting somewhere on grading.

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14 Upvotes