What does “edited” mean?

Hello my wonderful blog readers!

Today brings you my very first installment of a before&after post!

All of my photography packages - whether for a wedding, engagement shoot, senior pictures, or event - include editing of the pictures. So what exactly do I mean when I say “editing”? Well, first I choose the best pictures. I tend to overshoot, which means that sometimes there will be 10 pictures that look exactly the same. Or I might have tried different angles and camera settings, so I pick the ones that work the best, that are in focus, and that don’t have anyone blinking or sneezing or making any kind of unintentionally weird facial expressions. :o)

That’s still a LOT of pictures to go through, so I check and color-correct each one (which means I try to keep the colors as true-to-life as possible). I shoot in RAW setting with my camera, which means that the file sizes are very large and easy to work with, but it also means that the pictures start out completely neutral. So I add a little bit of color, exposure, and contrast where I feel that a picture needs it.

After that, I convert the pictures into smaller and more managable .jpeg files and do all the “fun” editing in Photoshop. This can include converting a picture into B&W, adding some color casts, fixing blemishes, getting rid of distracting elements, and sharpening focus.  I use a mixture of my own settings and the always-wonderful Totally Rad actions.

It can be a somewhat lengthy process, but totally worth it!

Here are a few examples of before and after editing:

On my recent photo shoot with the band members of Green Means Go, I shot into the sun a lot. Which offers some great lighting effects, but really washes out the pictures. In this picture, Aaron seems to get lost in the sunshine’s haze.

After some editing in Lightroom and Photoshop, I was able to create the look I originally had in mind when I took the picture. Aaron now stands out from the background, and the colors pop out more. Mission: Accomplished!

With this picture of Camron, also of Green Means Go, I like the composition and the background, but I wanted to emphasize the great texture of the wall behind him.

By tweaking the colors and using my own recipe of Totally Rad presets in Photoshop, I was able to get the below image. Now the texture of the wall is really emphasized, and Camron’s face is more focused and sharp.

In this image, you’ll notice that my Shootsac and camera equipment are in the left side of the picture by Aaron’s feet. Shootsacs are amazing, but probably not something that the band wants on their CD!

Like magic, the shootsac is gone! I also warmed up the colors and punched up the contrast so that the guys really stood out. The natural backlighting helped with that, too.

Just so you know I didn’t just do that on this shoot, here’s an example from a wedding this past year:

Now, in my opinion, this is a pretty good picture. They probably would have been happy with it just “as is”, but I tend to strive for perfection, so… :o)

By tweaking the colors a bit and sharpening some parts of the image, it became just a little bit more interesting and creative! (Don’t let the old logo confuse you). :o)

As I said, many of the Photoshop actions I use are from Totally Rad. Tomorrow, they’re releasing their Lightroom presets! To celebrate, they asked photographers to send in some RAW files of some photographs to use on the site for people to see real-time how the new presets work.  And, I’m happy to announce, they chose one of my pictures from last year’s photo shoot with Joshua! Here’s the picture they chose:

Now, here’s how *I* ended up editing it: (again, ignore the old logo)

But that’s just my style and preference. If you want to try out some of their new Lightroom Presets and see how they can make a difference to an image, check out http://www.gettotallyrad.com/#lr-samples-7a23a. You can play with the picture that I submitted, above, along with a lot of other really great pictures submitted by other photographers!

Have fun!

And I hope this post helped explain what all goes into “editing”. :o)

~Sarah :o)