I've been looking for something to breathe a little life into my photo editing. We've all been there: editing photos becomes a little tired, or maybe your photos just aren't turning out exactly how you'd like them to. Lately I was afraid I'd hit a creative rut with no way out.
Enter Sleeklens and their "Strike a Pose" Lightroom workflow. The "Strike a Pose" presets, brushes, and tutorials were exactly what I needed to jump-start my editing and get me excited to edit again.
While presets are sometimes touted as a one-click fix for your photo editing needs, Sleeklens offers a much better approach. Yes, their presets and brushes can fix photo problems, but the workflow and tutorials are seen as a base with which to tweak and polish your photos. Sleeklens and the "Strike a Pose" workflow give you the tools and approach to pay close attention to your photos, treating each as a creative endeavor rather than just another photo to export.
The best part of the workflow is the series of videos that explain how to use the presets and brushes. With just over an hour of tutorials, each one focuses on an element of a portrait (eyes, hair, skin, etc.). The voiceover guide in the videos spends time modifying and adjusting the presets and brushes, experimenting and polishing gradually.
Again, the workflow isn't advertised as a one-stop fix-all but rather a detailed process that is specific to each photo. As you progress through each 15-minute-or-so video, you see a talented photo editor paint and adjust a photo with nuance and intention. The videos alone are worth the price of the workflow.
Even an experienced Lightroom user can learn something from watching someone else edit a photo. I consider myself fairly adept at Lightroom, and I learned something that's probably so obvious: you can add color to an adjustment brush! That means you can apply local color adjustments to skin or backgrounds or whatever. Who knew? Plenty of people, I'm sure, but just watching someone else edit photos gave me a brand new tool to explore.
What's great, too, is that the video tutorials aren't just for the presets and brushes. The editor jumps around from tool to tool, using the Tone Curve and Color panels to adjust the image on top of the already applied presets or adjustment brushes. The tutorials give an overall view of how to edit in Lightroom, which is quite the added bonus.
There's one more great bonus in the Sleeklens "Strike a Pose" workflow: a PDF with example before-and-after photos and the exact editing recipe used to polish the photo. You can follow along, step-by-step, using the presets, brushes, and other Lightroom panels.
I've often been left wanting when I've purchased preset and brush packages. Sure, I've gotten someone's potential workflow, but that's it. With the Sleeklens "Strike a Pose" workflow, you get the presets and brushes, but you also get the guidance and expertise of an experienced photo editor and a great PDF resource to reference.
Spending money on education is always the best way to make incremental improvements in your photography. If your editing has gone stale or you want to learn more about editing in Lightroom, check out the Sleeklens "Strike a Pose" workflow. You won't be disappointed.
For more information about Sleeklens and to purchase the workflow, visit the following links:
https://sleeklens.com/product/strike-a-pose-portrait-workflow/
https://sleeklens.com/product/professional-photo-editing-service/
https://sleeklens.com/product-category/lightroom-presets/
https://www.pinterest.com/sleeklens/lightroom-presets/
Thank you to Sleeklens for sponsoring this post!