How to Achieve Painterly & Romantic Edits
This month’s Quest preset, Quest 38 BeQuest, was developed as a romantic, Baroque-inspired preset collection, and you can create beautiful painterly edits using BeQuest and others from the Quest Archive. Follow along with these tips on achieving romantic, painterly edits for your photos!
Image by Foggy Stories
Edited with Quest 38 BeQuest, Bloom from Quest 36 Botanica, and Cinematic Haze from Quest 23 Odeon
Get the ✨ GLOW ✨
One of the major differences between photographs and paintings (besides the obviously different medium) is that no matter how realistic a painting is, there’s still a softness to it, even in the details. Photographs with modern cameras are hyper-sharp, every single eyelash and pore can be seen when you zoom in.
For extra romantic and painterly vibes, give light sources in your images an ethereal glowing haze or bloom effect.
To combat the sharpness in your photos in Lightroom, you can do things like:
Decrease the Texture and Clarity in your images
Add highlight blooms or other dreamy effects in Masks over your light sources or in a Luminance Range Mask
Use tools from Quest like Bloom, Cinematic Haze, Atmosphere, Aether, Dreamy, and Diffuse to minimize sharpness, add highlight blooms, etc.
Image by Mari Trancoso
Edited with Quest 38 BeQuest, Bloom from Quest 36 Botanica
Want glowy images even before you hit Lightroom?
To get the effect in-camera, use a CineBloom or Black Mist lens filter for highlight blooms and haze, or use cellophane or a plastic baggie over your lens to get dreamy, blurry edges in your straight-out-of-camera images!
Warm & Rosy Tones
Rosy tones, like “rose colored glasses”, give off a sense of optimism and nostalgia and a warm and cozy feeling— which is what you want from a romantic image! Paintings, especially in the Baroque era also look very golden and warm due to aged varnish and patina, so for Renaissance or Baroque inspired painterly edits, aim for the following:
Warm White Balance - Adjust your white balance to the warm side to introduce soft, golden hues, giving a cozy and intimate feeling to your photos.
Color Grading - Use soft warm colors in your editing like like those in Quest 38 BeQuest or other warm & earthy presets — muted rosy pinks, soft powder blues, and velvety whites and highlights are ideal.
Image by Sarah Barton
Edited with Quest 38 BeQuest
Image by Aleksandra Kubik
Edited with Quest 38 BeQuest
Add Dramatic Elements
Painterly effects such as chiaroscuro (the use of strong contrasts between light and dark) and sfumato (“to tone down” or “to evaporate like smoke”) were characteristic of Renaissance and Baroque art, and those effects can be imitated in painterly photo edits.
Add vignettes or gradients to make your subject stand out for a boost of mood and drama— preset tools like Drama, Abyss, Vignette, and Quintessence are quick one-click options and can be adjusted with the Preset Slider.
The Tilt Shift effects in Quest 27 Serenus and Lacuna from Quest 36 Botanica can give you added blur so the eye is drawn to your subject.
Image by Marielle Jai Media
Edited with Quest 38 BeQuest, Abyss from Quest 28 Descent, Tilt Shift Middle from Quest 27 Serenus
Add even more drama to your images with tools like Quest Tools 01 - Lens Effects, Quest Tools 04 - Prism Effects, and Quest Tools 08 - ExF Light Leaks
Image by Mariola Zoladz
Edited with Quest 38 BeQuest, Quest Tools 08 - ExF Light Leaks
What are your favorite ways to edit in a painterly and romantic way? Tell us in the comments!