I absolutely LOVE editing.
It’s my second favorite part of the whole process, right behind the creative planning of a shoot. (Ironically the actual photoshoot is third, probably because of a little ole thing called anxiety.)
It’s not lost on me that most photographers either loathe editing or are at the very least indifferent, seeing it as just a hurdle to getting that pot of money at the end of the photo shooting rainbow.
I personally treat every image as its own individual piece of art, and because of that I cannotwillnotabsolutelyrefuseto just slap the same preset on all my images and call it a day. Each one is different and unique, and I edit them that way. It takes forever, but to me it’s worth it. I have to be proud of each image that goes out into the universe or I wouldn’t even bother picking up a camera in the first place.
For almost every photographer, having cohesive editing is a way to mark their style, the idea being that when someone sees their work it will be recognizable as theirs, their brand. Another positive of editing cohesively is that clients know exactly what to expect when receiving their final images. It’s also a hell of a lot faster and easier. These are all great things! These are things that I should probably be concerned about!
But that’s not me.
And it’s one of the many differences between other photographers and myself that I used to berate myself nonstop about as an artist (comparison is the thief of joy, truly).
But not anymore.
I came to realize (in time. So, so much time.) the things that make me different just happen to be the very things people love about me and my work as an artist. Clients come to me because of my quirks, not despite them.
For example-
*My photography style bops all over the damn place. I can photograph you looking like a princess in the woods, or in full glam boudoir, in a classic Vogue portrait style, or a simple t-shirt and jeans (even on the same person on the same day).
*I can style you however your soul wants to be seen and am a veritable wizard with all things wardrobe, ask literally each and every one of the individuals I’ve photographed. It’s my superpower and I should probably have just become a stylist but I don’t like sharing credit all that much.
*I hold space for people to explore and express whatever emotion they want to capture. In other words I don’t only shoot happy stuff or moody stuff. I work with all the emotions. (My favorite is grief though. I LIVE for being present for and capturing the raw power in those rooms. It is a deep honor, and I am forever tethered to the individuals that allow me into that liminal space with them.)
*Even the poses I choose are tailored to each photo shoot and individual. I view it as another piece of the puzzle that helps tell the story you want to tell through imagery. You won’t be doing the same thing as the last client unless you specifically ask for it.
So it makes sense that my editing of your images is different and unique as well. It wouldn’t really be my work if it wasn’t.
The way I edit is this (not including the part where I edit stray hairs in eyeballs and pimples or scratches or make sure that each pleat in a dress is properly showcased while also keeping just enough untouched to remain true to real life. That’s a whole other thing.):
I open up each image and look at the emotion, the light, the expression, the location, and honesttogoddess I just ask it what it wants to become. Then I simply edit to pump up those qualities. If I have a laughing image before me I’m not going to edit it super dark and moody, and if you’re crying in the image I would be doing it and you a disservice if I made it light and airy. I play to the strengths.
I also like to fiddle with color and I feel like over the last few years of editing every single image separately I’ve gotten pretty damn good at color theory. This really does take years of practice, and I’m still learning and growing. It takes looking at my work, past and present, and judging it. It takes looking at other photographers’ work and mentally noting things like, ‘ooo she didn’t pay attention to how red the skin is when using that neon lighting trend’ (something I see allllll the time) or ‘man that skin is so smoothed out the person looks plastic’ (another thing I see all the time but this is more my personal preference of having skin look like…skin) or ‘that black and white is so lovely but they really should have brightened everything up a tad because the face isn’t popping.’
I zoom in and I zoom out constantly. I ask myself, “what do I want the viewer’s eye to be drawn to here?” and then get rid of unnecessary distractions.
Here’s an example of my process-
First I cropped. I wanted to keep the focus on Megan but not get rid of so much that I lost the scene and the story.
Then I played with color. For this image in particular I was feeling like I wanted it to be rich and cool in tone so I did a bunch of things to achieve that. But then I added a hint of warmth because it was looking too blue and ‘sad’ and her expression was one of slight joy.
After that I did ‘cleaning’. Got rid of scratches and some minor stray hairs and stains on the carpet that I found distracting while keeping others for authenticity. I do not alter bodies or anything else that is permanent such as scars.
Lastly, I put a small highlight on things like lips and jewelry and the lingerie as well as the curve of the table, the white part of the books and parts of the couch. I also brightened the whole face a touch and darkened that highlight on her leg.
So yeah, I love editing. And if you’ve read this far along maybe now you can understand why.
Onto my photoshoot with Megan!
Megan, Megan, Megan. I know her from wayyyyyy back when I was still only photographing weird (awesome), styled shoots on woodpiles and putting horns on people and throwing them in bushes. (If you look through my portfolio you might see a glimpse or two of her doing just that.)
But now she’s older and lives in Denver and I happened to be in Denver and it was time for some boudoir. So that’s what we did. The vibe was lifestyle boudoir, just a girl in her apartment (Airbnb), laughing and chilling and just being cute/gorgeous/full of life, full of glorious hair. Megan, I would love you if you were bald. Your soul is what makes you beautiful, not your hair. We made some magic.
This is part one, stay tuned for part two soon!
