Photography is more than just pressing a button. It’s about capturing a moment, a feeling, a story. But the journey from the raw images to the final art involves another crucial step: editing. It’s the process of refining, enhancing, and ultimately, bringing your vision to life. So, what exactly goes into my editing workflow? Let’s take a peek behind the scenes.
Step 1: Culling and Organization
The first step, and often the most time-consuming, is culling. Imagine sorting through hundreds, sometimes thousands, of images. I’m looking for the best of the best: the sharpest focus, the most genuine expressions, the moments that truly resonate. This is where I eliminate duplicates, blurry shots, and images that simply don’t make the cut. Once I’ve selected the keepers, I organize them into rating groups, making the editing process much smoother.
Step 2: Initial Adjustments – The Foundation
Now, the real editing begins. I start with global adjustments, which affect the entire image. This includes things like:
Exposure: Balancing the brightness and darkness of the image.
Contrast: Adjusting the difference between the light and dark areas.
White Balance: Correcting any color casts to ensure natural skin tones and accurate colors.
Highlights and Shadows: Recovering details in the brightest and darkest parts of the image.
These initial adjustments are like laying the foundation for a building. They set the overall tone and ensure a solid base for further refinements.
Step 3: Targeted Edits – The Details
Once the foundation is set, I move on to more targeted edits. This is where I focus on specific areas of the image. This might involve:
Cropping: Reframing the image to improve composition and remove distracting elements. Sometimes, a simple crop can dramatically enhance a photo.
Color Correction: Fine-tuning individual colors to achieve the desired look and feel. This is especially important for skin tones in portraits.
Retouching: Subtly enhancing features, removing blemishes, or smoothing skin. The key here is to enhance, not to alter reality. My goal is always to preserve the natural beauty of the subject.
Step 4: Distraction Removal – The Magic Touch
This is often the most impactful part of the editing process. Think about a beautiful engagement, wedding, or family photo taken downtown. Everything looks great, but in the background, there’s a power line, a discarded plastic bottle, or a random person walking by. These distractions can pull the viewer’s eye away from the main subject. Using tools like the clone stamp, healing brush, or content-aware fill, I carefully remove these distractions, allowing the focus to remain on the subjects and the moment captured. This process requires patience and a keen eye for detail, but the results are always worth it. It’s like cleaning a canvas before you start painting – it allows the true subject to shine.
Step 5: Stylization and Final Touches – The Finishing Flourish
Finally, I add the finishing touches. This might involve applying a specific preset or developing a unique style for the image. I might adjust the clarity, vibrance, or sharpness to enhance the mood and create a cohesive look across the entire gallery. This is where I put my personal stamp on the images, adding that extra layer of artistry.
Step 6: Exporting and Delivery
The last step is exporting the images in the appropriate format and resolution for the client. Whether it’s for online sharing or professional prints, I ensure the images are optimized for their intended use.
Let’s Put Our Editing Eye to the Test…
Emily and Max are a wonderful couple who I got to photograph for their engagement session this winter. Because of the weather, we opted to find a beautiful indoor setting to take their photos, which ended up being the Omaha Mariott Downtown at the Capital District. I have photographed in this beautiful hotel multiple times and was excited to also get to use their jazz club, The Jewel, as part of Emily and Max’s session.
Hotels are a great example of what goes into indoor photo editing. Much like many reception venues, hotels are beautiful spaces where you can capture great images all around the property. However, that doesn’t mean that editing photos from a hotel is easy…
What if the space you are in has distracting elements like trash cans, fire extinguishers, wall outlets, cords, etc.? My friends and family often hear me joke that I hate anything related to fire safety (lol). Why? It’s not because I don’t think those things are important, but because I have learned that even small distractions like those can make a big impact on an image.
Below, I have an example of an image from Emily and Max’s engagement, where you can see four steps of editing:
1. The original (RAW format) image before any editing
2. The image with global edits applied to bring the image about 80% of the way to the final product with elements like exposure, contrast, white balance, etc.
3. A screen capture of the image hilighting all of the spots where distractions were edited out
4. The final image
What did you notice in the second step that you thought needed to be removed? Were you surprised by anything?
To me, editing is the secret to making magic. If I have done it right, I made it look easy and my clients never knew what all needed to be removed, or adjusted. They will look at their images and simply remember making memories together that they will love for a lifetime.
Want to See More of Emily & Max’s final photos?
Take a look at some more images from the final gallery for Emily & Max’s engagement session and remember all of the editing steps mentioned. This process is so important to the final quality of your art that you recieve and the quality of service that I always strive to deliver to my clients.
