These days when I meet with clients I am often asked about what I do to my images after I bring them home. What 'photoshopping' do I do? Hopefully it's not the kind of thing that is obvious in my images, so I thought I'd blog about my post-processing, and my philosophy behind it.
When I transitioned from film to digital a few years ago, I did so with a little reluctance. I loved the depth and rawness that film offers, the skin tones of Fuji Velvia and the grit of a 1600 black and white. Being a wedding and portrait photographer, I want to show people in their best light, I want people to feel beautiful, but I also want to show the real them.
So my current processing techniques stem from that basis - I want my images to be film-like, to have a cinematic quality rather than a 'snapshot' quality, and also to look real.
Every image I keep gets edited for exposure, colour, contrast, and tone. Some images require a bit more work to turn them into the vision I had when I pressed the shutter. That might mean lightening someone's face a little so that they stand out against the background a bit more, making some red shoes a little redder, or adjusting the temperature of an image so that it is warm and cosy looking. I'll also do some blemish control, and make sure skin looks good, but I would never change how somebody looks.
Here are a few examples of recent images I've processed in the digital darkroom....
Love this image from Chris and Natalie's wedding, but it needed some colour work, a little dodging and burning (lightening some areas, darkening others), contrast, and a warm, vintagey glow....
BEFORE:
AFTER:
The moment before Sacha walked down the aisle to marry Sean. This image needed a little cropping, some dodging/burning and absolutely had to be black and white.
BEFORE:
AFTER:
Another black and white conversion from Shireen and Andy's first dance. I wanted to focus on Shireen's face a little more so I isolated her from the background a tad. I think black and white can really add depth to moments like this.
BEFORE:
AFTER:
And finally, another image from Sean and Sacha's wedding, including something I try to avoid... see if you can spot what it is!
BEFORE:
AFTER:
And do you know why I had to do that? Because in every other image of this same grouping, one person was blinking!
I don't do any fancy trickery in photoshop, and I don't believe that just because it can be done, it should. Why? Because you want to look through your wedding album in 50 years time and still be in love with those images.
When I transitioned from film to digital a few years ago, I did so with a little reluctance. I loved the depth and rawness that film offers, the skin tones of Fuji Velvia and the grit of a 1600 black and white. Being a wedding and portrait photographer, I want to show people in their best light, I want people to feel beautiful, but I also want to show the real them.
So my current processing techniques stem from that basis - I want my images to be film-like, to have a cinematic quality rather than a 'snapshot' quality, and also to look real.
Every image I keep gets edited for exposure, colour, contrast, and tone. Some images require a bit more work to turn them into the vision I had when I pressed the shutter. That might mean lightening someone's face a little so that they stand out against the background a bit more, making some red shoes a little redder, or adjusting the temperature of an image so that it is warm and cosy looking. I'll also do some blemish control, and make sure skin looks good, but I would never change how somebody looks.
Here are a few examples of recent images I've processed in the digital darkroom....
Love this image from Chris and Natalie's wedding, but it needed some colour work, a little dodging and burning (lightening some areas, darkening others), contrast, and a warm, vintagey glow....
BEFORE:
AFTER:
The moment before Sacha walked down the aisle to marry Sean. This image needed a little cropping, some dodging/burning and absolutely had to be black and white.
BEFORE:
AFTER:
Another black and white conversion from Shireen and Andy's first dance. I wanted to focus on Shireen's face a little more so I isolated her from the background a tad. I think black and white can really add depth to moments like this.
BEFORE:
AFTER:
And finally, another image from Sean and Sacha's wedding, including something I try to avoid... see if you can spot what it is!
BEFORE:
AFTER:
And do you know why I had to do that? Because in every other image of this same grouping, one person was blinking!
I don't do any fancy trickery in photoshop, and I don't believe that just because it can be done, it should. Why? Because you want to look through your wedding album in 50 years time and still be in love with those images.
Trackbacks
Listed below are links to blogs that reference this entry:
Photoshopping
. TrackBack URL for this entry:
http://www.sineadjenkins.com/darkroom/mt/mt-tb.cgi/69
Comments
eyes closed!!! phew not a bra strap because then I would be in trouble!!
(04.26.10 @ 01:55 PM)Very interesting!
(04.28.10 @ 05:36 AM)Yes Liana, keep those eyes peeled or you'll get the sack.
(04.28.10 @ 08:50 PM)