I have a confession: I’m not a post processor. I guess coming from a B&W film/wet printing background, to me the concept of “post process” means: “adjust exposure/contrast and dodge&burn”.
and it’s funny that even now when I shoot 99% digital, in my head post processing still means “adjust exposure/contrast and dodge&burn” 
Oh, I do the plenty of b/w conversions, and skin touchups/etc… when shooting a model, but I really havent explored too far into the territory of *creative* post processing – using photoshop and lightroom to actually alter the picture to realize a specific creative vision. Even my “sunshine in the rain” series (which generally evokes the reaction “wow was that photoshopped?”) was done 99% in camera. The only adjustments were, you guessed it: exposure/contrast adjustment and some selective dodging and burning!
However, I’m going to change this. Frankly I’m not one of those grumbly “it’s only real photography if it’s 100% in camera” purists. In my book, any tool that helps you realize a creative/artistic vision is fine by me. so to that end, I’ve resolved to work on my “creative post processing skills”. I’ve started building a texture library, and plan on playing with incorporating textures into some of my work. I’m also experimenting with cross-process and split tone effects in lightroom, as I have always loved that aesthetic. (for some really cool cross process work, check Brian Auer’s blog, particularly this: 10 reasons to love cross-process film) Here’s a new split tone preset I have been playing with in lightroom. I like it’s aesthetic, particularly in this shot:
2 Comments
Any updates on this? I’d love to hear more about how you are using textures and split toning.
Nicholas-
I did it in lightroom, it’s really easy to do split-tone/cross process effects in lightroom – in fact it’s got dedicated little sliders to control tint/saturation of highlights independently! This shot was actually a preset I downloaded and then tweaked a bit myself.