Boardwalk

When I start creating, and my mind takes over and it always becomes something totally different than what I started with. I think part of this has to do with the fact that I wish I could paint. I don’t mean paint like my 3 and 7 year old sons, but paint what I see in my minds eye. I have yet to try to paint. I don’t know why I haven’t tried yet. I use a photograph. I take a picture and that is my canvas. that is where I start. What comes out when I am through with it (I never really feel “finished” with any piece) is worlds apart from the original.

After my last post, I went straight to work. I pulled out a picture I took of a boardwalk on a cloudy day and went through all the steps to create an HDR; however, as usual, it turned into something else. It is very rich in color – almost to the point of looking like an illustration. The photograph (my canvas) became an un-repeatable one of a kind piece of art.

So as I have been looking it over now for a while, I noticed something. I noticed something that no one may ever notice, but bugs the heck out of me. I went down the software street I had walked that night looking for the answer. I searched and searched and my conclusion was refreshing and horrible all at the same time. The photograph I started with was the wrong one. That is right folks… The wrong one. Great. I feel like some one should put a metal bucket on my head and beat it with a drumbstick.

So, I just started working in Adobe Lightroom. I am glad I have it. Why? Lightroom is nondestructive. Everything you do during developing the image is a change that is done in the metadata, not the original. There really is no better tool for photographers. Photoshop has a history of everything you do, but it is wiped clean once you close the image. If you blew it there is no stepping back.

Luckily for me, I did everything creative in Lightroom. I like its layout better for these tools. So, I found out I can undo everything I did up to the point of import. I found out that the imported photo had a glitch that I didn’t notice and now have to remedy it. I have the image I want to replace it with. One thing I don’t know how to do in Lightroom or know if it can be done and that is actions. If, I created all this in Photoshop and recorded it as an action, I could have reproduced every step to any photo. I would have had to actually created a new action and recorded every step, but it is possible and simple.

In Lightroom, can I replace the original photograph and apply my WHOLE history to the current image, to the replacement? I hope so. What do I do? Any suggestions?