Life has been so crazy that I have gotten bad about blogging! So, here’s the first of many posts that will be coming over the summer!
Lately, some people have contacted me about my processing and how I get my images to look so finished. Well, there really isn’t much that I do to my pictures, but there is a process that I go through to take an image from a good SOOC (straight out of camera) image to a polished professional portrait. Much like artists did back in the film days, photographers today have to develop their images; the process of doing so just looks different because we live in the digital age, but really, the purpose of developing images hasn’t changed. It is still done with the intent on making images look their best.
I always do my best to begin with setting up a strong portrait that shows strong composition, flattering use of lighting, and a carefully chosen environment. From there, I choose my settings to reflect the look that I want for my image. Then, when I bring it into my editing software, I make decisions based on the final goal for my image. Now, I am a “clean image” type girl. There are lots of things that I COULD do in Photoshop to “dress up” my picture. But, for me, I am always asking myself about the final goal. I want my clients to enjoy their photos because they are a reflection of who they are. I want them, even in 20, 40, or 60 years, to look that their pictures and love them, rather than look at their pictures and ask “what was I thinking?” For me, my work is inspired by each individual’s spirit and story, and because of that, my style is driven by my desire to use posing, client style, and environment to enhance and further illustrate that. So, to make a long story short, I do my best to get the image as close to perfect in camera as I can get it, and then use my editing software to simply polish it up.
So, for those of you who may be curious, this is an illustration of my developing process. I started by shooting in a way that fit the image I had already created in my head. So, I chose my location, equipment, and camera settings to match that vision. I thought about the tone and mood I wanted to create with the environment and lighting, I worked with my client to choose the right look to help them look their best, and I thought about how to pose her without really posing her in order to keep the connection and vibe from becoming stiff and uncomfortable. After I was finished with the session, I processed each of my images to reflect accurate skin tones, I cleaned up temporary skin “flaws” or environmental imperfections that distracted the eye, and did some simple adjustments to make the image sing. Then, I decided if that image was suitable for a black and white conversion, and since it was, I did a custom conversion to black and white. Not every picture makes a good black and white picture, so I don’t always do them, but this one did, so I went ahead and made it into black and white (and actually am not sure which one I like better now!)
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There you go. That is my process! My goal is really to create simple, organic, classic images for my clients to enjoy forever. I have found that, while editing software is very powerful, a little bit goes a long way. I want my clients to see themselves in their images and love the images for that reason, and while every photographer’s goals and style are different, this theory is one I am happy with. And, as I have always told my photojournalism students, editing software is for enhancing already good images, it wasn’t designed to fix bad ones. 😀
Have a great day!