At Home with Tech

It’s not as complicated as it looks. Tech tips for your life.

Tag: Adobe Lightroom

September 6, 2026

Why I Like to Convert my New York City Photos to Black and White

Though I’m not a black and white photographer, sometimes I choose to pull the color out of my shots after I walk through the streets of New York. Here’s why.

I grew up in New York City. It’s my forever hometown. Though I haven’t lived there in decades, my life forever orbits around it.

I’m as close as the 7:55am Metro North train into Grand Central Terminal.

Discovering What’s Around the Corner

Many of the photos I’ve taken of the Big Apple over the years are simply the result of my commutes and what I’ve run into on the streets of Manhattan. 

And I’ve found that more than a few of my resulting shots look better as black and white versions. 

Prometheus Watches Over the Ice (2021)

Photo by Barrett Lester

Why am I drawn to the black and white look? When you think about New York City, what are a few descriptors that come to mind? For me, I would say:

  • Classic
  • Dramatic
  • Timeless
  • Gritty

And these are also some of the ways that black and white images present themselves. So, the visual and energy alignment is clear.

Better in Black and White 

That’s why I occasionally feel compelled to click on the tiny black and white button when editing my New York City photos on my Mac Studio. (My tool of choice is Adobe Lightroom. It offers a variety of B&W ‘looks.’)

As a result, my selected shots often benefit from their visual conversion into the black and white universe.

Sure, they still look nice in color. I just like them better in black and white. It generates a classic timelessness about them.

Here are more examples.

Atlas Lifts World Cup Awareness (2026)

Photo by Barrett Lester

Scabby the Rat Protests (2026)

Photo by Barrett Lester

Morning Commute at Grand Central Terminal (2025)

Photo by Barrett Lester

East 63rd Street (2022)

Photo by Barrett Lester

48th and 5th Avenue (2021)

Photo by Barrett Lester

Smith & Wollensky (2021)

Photo by Barrett Lester

Bliss (2021)

Photo by Barrett Lester

Outdoor Dining (2016)

Photo by Barrett Lester

Follow Your Flow

I usually don’t go looking for photos to snap on the streets of New York. Certainly not black and white ones. They find me. And I often don’t recognize the opportunity to convert them to black and white till much later… sometimes years later when I review them again.

I’m not sure what that says about me as a photographer, but it does reveal something about my creative process.

We all travel our own road that leads us into inspiration and towards creative execution.You just have to go with the flow and see where it takes you.

New York City Marathon (2008)

Photo by Barrett Lester
Leave a comment
August 25, 2024

Consider Adding in Blur when Editing your Photos

Where once you could only find your background blur when you snapped a photo, now you have the luxury to create and position it later when you edit the image. I did that with this photo I took in New Orleans.

Unwanted blur in my photography was always my kryptonite. Getting a clean freeze of any motion drove my creative process. Finding background blur (what the pros call ‘bokeh’) was always a ‘nice to have’ upgrade.

But when Apple added ‘portrait photo’ mode to its iPhone cameras, that commoditized bokeh to the point where anyone could easily create background blur. It’s a nifty software trick that generates a narrower focus point on just the subject in your photo’s foreground.

And this type of software muscle can help you control the focus point in your photos even further. In fact, it gives you an amazing amount of creative control after you’ve snapped your photos.

It’s also a tool for me to fix or hide a problem in plain sight within a photo. Here are a few examples.

Blur Out the Background

My family and I were taking a walk at Calf Pasture Beach in Norwalk recently, and we passed by this tandem bicycle. Something about it appealed to me. So, I pulled out my iPhone and got the shot. It wasn’t in portrait mode. So, my iPhone couldn’t quickly blur out all the people in the background. But it was easy to do that in post using Adobe Lightroom.

Blur Out the Foreground

I didn’t like the person swimming in the foreground of this shot, because I want the viewer to focus on all the people fishing on the jetty. So, I simply adjusted the focus towards the background.

Blur Out an Unwanted Element in the Middle

I snapped this shot while on vacation near Orient, NY. I found the two turkeys crossing the road right in front of a car. (Silly turkeys!) I love the moment, but I didn’t like the license plate detail being so prominent. Sure, there are ways to mask it, but the plate would never look totally natural. Here, I avoided the problem entirely by simply narrowing the photo’s focus point and blurring the entire car.

Direct your Viewer’s Attention

If you’re not just trying to fix a problem, you can be free to get creative and add in some blur to help define what’s most important in the shot.

I liked adding blur to the background of this shot to help you focus more on this tiny rowboat heading out into the enormous ocean.

How to Adjust the Focus Point in your Photos
I add in my photo blur using Adobe Lightroom’s appropriately named ‘Lens Blur’ feature. I prefer using the ‘Cat Eye’ Bokeh setting. Then, you simply use the ‘Focus Range’ slider to adjust. (Note: You don’t have to be working with a ‘portrait’ photo.)

You can also adjust the focus point of an iPhone’s portrait photo. In the Photos app, go into edit mode. Then, simply tap on the subject you want to focus on. (Note: You don’t get the same kind of control as Adobe Lightroom offers.)

Use Blur to Give your Photos more Clarity
Don’t fear the blur. Use it!

Whether you want to add more creative flair to your photography or minimize an annoying element, generating some targeted blur can be just the solution you need.

Leave a comment
July 28, 2024

Has AI Revolutionized or Shattered the Art of Photography?

I believe the answer to this question is both. And that’s not necessarily a bad thing. Here’s why.

In the not-too-distant past, being a great photographer meant you needed foundational technical skills, a great eye and a little luck. And it didn’t hurt if you had a higher-end camera with a fast lens that could properly freeze the moment and soften the background with some nice bokeh.

It was all about getting ‘the shot.’ And you knew it when you snapped it.

Today, software, AI and some nifty tech tricks have changed the entire equation. Now everyone can be a ‘great’ photographer.

The iPhone’s Powerful Camera Skills
If you’ve got a recent smartphone in your pocket, you’re off to a solid start. Today’s iPhones are amazing cameras.

  • The camera lenses on the back give you enough zoom flexibility for most framing needs.
  • The ‘live photo’ setting gives you a full 3-second moment instead of a fraction of a second. Then you can later choose the best frame from those 3 seconds.
  • The software in ‘portrait mode’ automatically blurs the background for you, and you can adjust the level of blur after the fact.

If you’re just pointing your iPhone in the right direction, you’re probably going to capture a pretty good photo. It brings a new clarity to ‘point and shoot’ photography.

Fix It in Post
Then there’s the art of editing your photos. People have been polishing and adjusting digital photos for years with tools like Adobe Photoshop. But that takes a fair amount of training and practice.

Of course, today there are a host of one-click photo-enhancement solutions and filters that you can use with your computer or smartphone.

Easy.

So, what you originally shoot is only the beginning of your photos’ journey.

AI to the Rescue
Now, AI can help us do even more by removing objects from a photo in one click.

I’ve begun to do that using Adobe Lightroom. It’s amazing with its ability to instantly backfill the environment behind a removed item.

It’s not perfect for every scenario (at least not yet), but I would have thought of it as science fiction not so long ago.

Prompt Generation
And then there’s AI’s new “text to photo” superpower. You don’t even need to pick up a camera anymore. Just type in the photo detail you want to generate.

I’ve been practicing this with Adobe Firefly, and you may have noticed that some of my recent blog headline photos are Firefly-generated (as is the photo for this blog post).

Again, it’s not a perfect technology… not yet. But you can already generate amazing imagery using a variety of software and web tools by just… typing it in.

This is indeed progress. In fact, it’s startling. It’s amazing. It’s already revolutionized the entire art of photography. I am a better photographer thanks to all this innovation.

Or am I?

New Rules
I’m certainly creating better photos (some of which never even came out of a camera).

I don’t think my on-the-ground photography skills have specifically improved (well, perhaps a little).

I’ve simply learned how to use the new tools that make my photos look better after I snap a shot. I’m building a new photography skillset that focuses more on photo enhancement and manipulation.

I’m sure a purist would call that breaking all the rules of what photography is supposed to be.

Yes, the rules are clearly being rewritten by AI. And I suppose the question is whether the dramatic disruption of this art form is such a bad thing.

It’s a Revolution
I think the answer is mostly… “No.”

Bokeh is bokeh. It doesn’t matter how you get it. If you think someone’s cheating by creating bokeh in one click instead of relying on years of practice with the right camera lenses… get over it.

Sure, maybe your skillset has just been replaced by a piece of software. That’s life. That’s evolution. You need to stay ahead of the curve. This is not a new way to live.

Fact vs. Fiction
But as we all become experts in photo manipulation, of course, we need to be careful not to cross the line of misrepresenting reality.

Maybe it’s not such a big deal whether you choose to erase someone in one of your photos. But I would say we all have a responsibility not to flagrantly warp reality. We all increasingly have access to the tools that can do exactly that.

So, I would say we should keep it real. Fact. Not fiction.

And of course, we all know that famous quote from “Spider-Man.”

“With great power comes great responsibility.”

Yes.

Leave a comment