Editing Fireworks in Lightroom 5

Import and open you images. You will be using your first edit to copy and paste as a template for the rest of your images. You may need to adjust your edits according to your exposure, especially if you changed during the shoot. Copy and paste from there!

Do your standard edits in “Basic”

• Exposure and white balance, most of which will be very yellow or orange so adjust to your liking.  Darken your highlights but not so much that they turn gray or muted.
• Adjust shadows to either bring out foreground or make it more silhouetted
• Leave whites till later and adjust black a bit darker, this helps with some detail
• Increase clarity, you may want to adjust more later
• Bring vibrancy up a bit too.

“HSL/Color/B&W” I use the” Color” panel because all slides are in one place and it is easier to adjust. I would make a standard adjust for each color to start. Remember, you will be using your first edit to copy and paste as a template for the rest of your images.

• In each color keep your “Hue” the same….later you can play with this if you would like to change the dynamic of the image.
• Increase the “Saturation” by 20-30%
• Decrease the “Luminance” by 20-30%
• These will vary with each image but it is a good starting point

“Detail”

• “Sharpen” by 20-30%
• “Noise Reduction” increase by 35-50%, this will soften the image so pay close attention
• IF you have an over exposed or foggy image use the other sliders below but come back to these settings later.
• Detail & Contrast
• Color, Detail & Softness, each of “Lens Correction”
• Enable Profile Correction
• Remove Chromatic Aberration

Constrain Crop…just because you can In “Camera Calibration” you can change the whole dynamic of the image as well. I would not suggest it but it’s a good way to play around.

I am sure you understand why you do” Basic” edits and “Lens Profile” but the instructions in the “HSL/Color/ B&W panel are different. You want to increase the color because it gets washed out during exposure especially during long exposures. By decreasing the Luminance it helps to fill in those lighter/blown out areas with color, it may not be perfect but from a first look it really helps. You may not like to vibrant colors that can come out of this enhancement and that’s okay…adjust to your preference.