From That To This – Josh Brookes

Introduction

Josh Brookes, having moved from Tyco Suzuki to Milwaukee Yamaha, is one of the main contenders for 2014 British Superbikes championship.

The photograph was taken at Brands Hatch during free practice 2, the day before the first race of the season.  As we can see it is rather over exposed with a far bit of clipping.

1/320th; f/8; ISO 400

Lightroom

1. Although there is plenty of motion, it can be emphasised even more with a bit of cropping and angle adjustment:
   
   
2. With the Basic panel adjust the exposure and colour.
   
   First set the white balance.  Using the White Balance Selector click on a grey part of the track.
   
   Next drop the Exposure to –0.70 to reduce the clipping yet not make the photo to dark.  Increase the Contrast to +10.
   
   Decrease the Higlights to –100 and increase the Shadows to +100.  This helps reduce the clipping even further but bring out detail from the shadow areas.
   
   WARNING!  Opening the Shadows right up can make whites look false, so you might need to drop them back down a bit (i.e. +75).
   
   Adjust the Clarity (+41), Vibrance (+21) and Saturation (+5) to taste.
   
   Now adjust the Whites (+14) and Blacks (-12) to values just as clipping starts.  The best way to do this is to press the Alt key whilst adjusting the slider.  The photo will masked as a solid colour (i.e. black whilst adjusting the Whites) and clippings will appear as the opposite colour (i.e. white).
   
   
3. At the bottom left-hand corner of the photo is some white.  This can be removed using the Spot Removal tool.
4. With the Detail panel adjust the Sharpening and Noise Reduction:
   
   

   Sharpening	Noise Reduction
   Amount: 70	Luminance: 30
   Masking: 60	Contrast: 5

   
   
5. Finally, using the Effects panel add a Post-Crop Vignette:
   
   

   Amount: -14

   Midpoint: 45

Final Image