How Kelsey McClellan turns everyday moments into a mood.
Photographer Kelsey McClellan is known for her bold color palettes and use of shadows. Using Generative upscale with Topaz Gigapixel in Lightroom, she's able to boost clarity and improve texture for a professional finish every time.
Photographer Kelsey McClellan is known for her bold color palettes and use of shadows. Using Generative upscale with Topaz Gigapixel in Lightroom, she’s able to boost clarity and improve texture for a professional finish every time.
My name is Kelsey McClellan and I am a commercial and editorial photographer in San Francisco, California.
My personal work – it's very colorful.
Generative upscale helps me get an image to professional quality, even when I'm just kind of on-the-go.
Back when I first moved to the neighborhood, I started this project of documenting the Outer Sunset with my phone.
One of the downsides of shooting with an iPhone is the white balance.
I always start with bringing the color balance to a more accurate place, and usually a little warmer.
What it felt like when I shot it.
In Lightroom when I'm color mixing, I'll make the shadow color kind of the color of the light.
Feels like it's kind of a dark green shadow, then I'll make it more green.
Generative Upscale improved the texture of the foliage, like the flowers and the bushes.
Using AI as a tool is how it's meant to be used, because it just enhances things you would already be doing.
Photography has brought such a great sense of awareness to my life.
If I'm bored, I always just get out my camera.
"Generative upscale was exactly what I needed to get my phone images up to the same level of quality I was making with my pro equipment.”
Step 1: Get the light just right.
Kelsey captured this image on an early morning walk around her San Francisco neighborhood. She used the Light sliders to get the Highlights, Shadows, and Contrast to better reflect the moment.
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Step 2: Saturate the colors.
Kelsey often matches the tones to colors in vintage postcards she likes to collect. Here, she increased Temp and Tint in the Color panel and tweaked the hues with the Color Mixer.
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Step 3: Cool the tone.
Kelsey likes to reflect the mood with adjustments to Shadows and Highlights in Color Grading. “I want my edits to feel cohesive to my overall body of work, but also true to the time.”
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Step 4: Boost clarity.
Using Generative upscale with Topaz Gigapixel Kelsey quickly improved detail and enhanced textures, making her phone images ready for print.
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Instruction by
Kelsey McClellan
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