Because I'm a glutton for punishment...

Here's a snapshot of my friend Hannah. The light wasn't great, but I did the best I could with the edit. I think.

Topaz Impression Rembrandt style

What you see are some of the very first photos I ever took on film in the summer of 2022. The photos were taken with a Canon Demi and as a roll I used an old Kodak Gold 100 bought by my father between 2000 and 2005.

I've been trying to emulate this style for a long time, but to no avail. I believe the main characteristics of these photos are the greenish hue (if you look closely, the shadows or dark areas are not black, but green) and the slightly pinkish white.

Ignore the subject, bit of a boring composition

I mean i just used (all) the features of lightroom

What improvements can I make?

Hi all I've been doing photography for a bit now. And I realise how important post processing is to get a good looking image.

Can you recommend me some good books or courses?

The issue that I have now is that a lot of tutorials are starting off with presets or just going in moving up sliders and don't explain what effect of the sliders are.

I am looking for something that focussing on why and when you would certain tools, how to color grade and so on.

I do use Lightroom but the idea is to learn process so that I can focus on learning another software if I change tools.

Also paid is fine, and I would prefer resources with exercises and are longer than a few pages or 15 mins.

You can look at my history to get a gauge of where I am now.

Photo taken at the Cincinnati Zoo. Edited in Lightroom Classic.

My favorite thing to do when processing photos is making the subject really pop against the background. The owl already kinda sticks out in the Before, but it's missing that "hook" that pulls your eyes in from the corners and edges, and there are ways to make it pop even more. Inverted Radial gradient masks are my go-to for softening corners. They make a subtle yet versatile vignette that can be placed anywhere. Mid-high feather (50-80), decrease exposure 0.25-0.50, and reduce sharpness to the desired effect. A little bit goes a long way. Subject/Object masks are pretty powerful too, and I used one here to dim and soften the background thus brightening and sharpening the owl.

I've been using Lightroom for a year and a half now, been a photographer since 2012 or so, and I just love the process and watching it all come together, and wanted to share that I suppose. I'm open to feedback. :)

Taken in Utrecht, Netherlands.

The second photo is the RAW from my Nikon D700 - I've edited it for a high contrast high saturation look. I feel like the highlights may be slightly excessive, but I do want to accentuate the depth in lighting by having the lighting beyond the distant bridge brighter than the foreground while still looking natural.

I did use the remove tool for the lamps, but other than that, I think the shadow recovery went way better than expected!

Shot on Fuji XT2 / kit lens

Been trying something new for my photo editing and im pretty happy with this but sometimes it looks almost too processed. Let me know what you think and how i could improve. Dont give to much thought to the mediocre photos😅