Module 2 · Core Correction Workflow
Goal: build a consistent editing order for the basic panel — white balance first, then exposure, then contrast, then local tones, then clarity and presence. Know what each slider actually does before touching it.
📱 Use NotebookLM on your phone
AI summary · chat Q&A · audio podcast · personal notebook
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How to use NotebookLM here
Click "Copy YouTube links" and open NotebookLM. Add your own "before/after" editing notes as a text source to build a personal reference.
Questions to ask NotebookLM:
- "What's the difference between clarity and dehaze — when should I use each?"
- "Why does vibrance protect skin tones but saturation doesn't?"
- "What's the correct order for the basic panel adjustments and why?"
- Scan QR code with your phone camera
- Click "Copy YouTube links"
- Open NotebookLM → create notebook → add sources
- Wait ~30 sec and start asking
Recommended videos
Key concepts
- Editing order matters: WB → Exposure → Contrast → Highlights/Shadows → Whites/Blacks → Clarity/Dehaze → Vibrance/Saturation. Global corrections first, local last. Changing WB after you've set everything else shifts the whole image.
- White balance: Temperature (blue–yellow axis) and Tint (green–magenta axis). Use a neutral grey or white reference point. In Photomator: eyedropper on a known neutral. Warm WB (higher K) = golden feel. Cool WB (lower K) = clean/clinical.
- Exposure vs Brightness: Exposure moves the whole histogram left/right. Brightness clips sooner. Use Exposure for coarse adjustment, then Highlights/Shadows/Whites/Blacks for fine control.
- Highlights/Shadows: recover blown areas and lift crushed shadows independently. These are your most-used sliders — pull Highlights left and push Shadows right for a balanced tonal range.
- Clarity vs Dehaze: Clarity adds midtone contrast and texture (halos at the edge of structures). Dehaze removes atmospheric scattering — more aggressive, affects colour too. Use Clarity for portraits sparingly; Dehaze for landscapes with haze or fog.
- Vibrance vs Saturation: Saturation boosts all colours equally (including already-saturated ones — skies blow out, skin turns orange). Vibrance boosts only the least-saturated colours and protects skin tones. Default: Vibrance +20 is usually safe; extra Saturation requires care.
Self-check exercises
1. You edit a street photo from Barcelona and push Saturation to +60. Describe what happens and what you should do instead.
At +60 Saturation, all colours boost equally — the already-vivid colours (blue sky, red signs) will clip to pure colour with no gradation. Skin tones will turn orange. The image will look artificial and over-processed.
What to do instead:
What to do instead:
- Pull Saturation back to 0 or +10 maximum
- Use Vibrance +25–40 — it boosts dull colours (concrete, shadows) while leaving the already-vivid sky mostly alone
- If you specifically want to boost the sky blue, use HSL (Module 3) — target Blue channel Saturation only
2. Your photo of a shaded street looks flat but adding Clarity makes it look crunchy and unnatural. What went wrong and what's the alternative?
Clarity adds midtone contrast by creating micro-halos at edge transitions. Too much (typically over +40) makes textures look HDR and artificial — especially visible on skin, fur, foliage.
Alternatives:
Alternatives:
- Keep Clarity at +10 to +25 — enough to add punch without halos
- Use the Tone Curve instead (Module 4) — an S-curve adds contrast more naturally because it affects the whole tonal range proportionally
- For overall image punch: increase Contrast slider slightly, then use Highlights/Shadows to rebalance
- Dehaze can help if the flatness is from atmospheric scatter, but use sparingly (max +20)
3. You import a Fujifilm X-T30 III RAW shot in Classic Chrome film simulation. The edited result looks different from your other photos edited from the same day. Why?
The film simulation is baked into the camera's JPEG preview but RAW files store it only as metadata — not all editing apps honour it equally. Photomator may or may not apply the Classic Chrome look automatically.
Consistency approach:
Consistency approach:
- Check if Photomator is reading the embedded film simulation profile — if not, all RAWs start from the same flat base regardless of in-camera setting
- For consistent edits across a day, apply a starting preset (your own Classic Chrome approximation) to all photos at import
- If consistency is important: set your X-T30 III to Provia (standard) — it's the most neutral simulation, closest to a flat RAW start, and gives you a clean canvas