Photo Editing Tips and Tricks | Maris Ehlers Photography

This summer I've been able to offer a few young photographers in my area an opportunity to tag along with me on a few shoots and do some second shooting with me.  While it's fun to have them along, I also really want them to learn something that will be of help to them.  Being a completely self-taught photographer myself, it can take forever to learn things when all you have is yourself, so I'm hoping this will give them a bit of a platform to spring from!  You might be thinking, "Aw, isn't that so nice of her?"  Ha.  Well, it is I suppose, and hopefully fun for them, but I also get someone to help carry equipment, bags, etc., etc., and then I also get to share some of what I've learned which is fun for ME.

Let's meet Nina.  

Nina started following my work a few months ago and asked if she could tag along on some shoots.  Our schedules hadn't worked out until this last week when she was able to join me for the shoot I did with Kaelie Lund (Alyssa Lund, also a blooming young photographer who shoots with me on occasion, also joined us but I haven't seen her images yet).  

Nina is going to be a senior in high school, and is very focused on photography... she's even doing senior shoots for her classmates!  You can see her facebook page here.  If you stop by, please let her know I sent you.  :) 

Nina got some great shots that evening, and she sent me two of her favorite images that she captured, in both the original and her edited formats, and has given me permission to also edit them.  I've done a frame by frame comparison for one of the images below:

IT SHOULD BE NOTED THAT THE ORIGINAL FILES I HAVE ARE JPEGS, AND NOT RAW.  RAW FILES PROVIDE YOU WITH MORE DATA AND INFORMATION TO WORK WITH, WHICH MEANS YOU HAVE MORE CONTROL OVER THE EDIT AND IMAGE.

IT SHOULD ALSO BE NOTED THAT THESE IMAGES ARE NOW COMPRESSED, SO SOME OF THE EFFECTS I AM WRITING ABOUT ARE LESS PROMINENTLY VISIBLE HERE THAN THEY ARE ON THE ORIGINAL FILES AND EDITS.  

First, let's start with her original image: 

All in all, a great shot.  The composition is excellent, the angle is great, she's got nice clarity and detail on her subject's face, and she has a nice reflection of light on the subject's eyes.  While it may be hard to see here, the original exposure is a little dark and the file has a lot of pinkish tones to it.  This would suggest that the white balance wasn't quite as accurate as it could be.  Not enough photographers understand that an accurate white balance can make the difference between a really nice picture and a great one!  It's so much easier to get it right out of the camera than trying to create it in post, but that's a topic for another day.  

Now, let's take a look at Nina's edit.   Now, before you get all cranky thinking I'm being really hard on a sweet and talented high school girl, let me say that a) my critique is not meant to be negative of what she's done it's to show her some things she may not know or do, b) there's a certain amount of subjectivity that goes along with this and I have my own biases and preferences when it comes to edits, and c) she says she wants to learn and this is a way to teach her one-on-one.  So, there.  :) 

Nina's Original Image and  Her Edited Image

This edit is very dramatic, but it's a little too heavy for my tastes, based on the lighting and style.  The eyes are overly brightened (not as much as some do), but she's definitely gone overboard in whitening the eyes.  They look unnatural at this point, and out of sync saturation and tone wise with the rest of the image.  She's darkened up the file, which takes away from the wonderful evening light we were shooting in, and it creates a much heavier look around the subject's eyes (makeup), which I don't mind by itself, but with everything else it's just too much.  

My belief is that editing, like wearing makeup, is best with the "less is more" approach, and yes, sometimes it's had for me to remember, too.   Portraiture editing should look natural and clean IMHO, unless you are intentionally creating an over-the-top look for a specific purpose or style (which can be really cool!).   Let's assume that in this situation, that is not the case.  There are lots of photographers who specialize in crazy-ass editing (excuse my French), and they do it amazingly well.  Like everything else though, you really need to know how to do it well to carry it off.  

Anyway, back on topic:

The opportunity here for all photographers is to get your file in shape before you go all rockstar editor on it.  The basic editing should be done first, to correct exposure, color, tone and blemishes.  This is one way to both create stronger images from a technical standpoint (this can take very little time in Adobe Lightroom, btw), and then you can be very efficient (yes, even fast), in rolling out artistic edits to your files because the core image is in great shape.  If you add heavy editing onto an image that isn't technically correct, you don't magically end up with a better image - it's flaws are still there! 

Here was my crack at it:

1.  I corrected exposure, bringing more even light on the subject, I corrected color to remove the overly pink tones in her original file, and for this example I chose a more neutral and desaturated skin color which looks lovely in a portrait.  I also fixed some skin blemishes (but didn't remove any of those cute freckles), and simply smoothed her skin texture slightly.  

Nina's Original and  My Base Edit

Here is the comparison between our edits:

Nina's Edit vs My Base Edit

Once I had my base edit completed, I was able to create an artistic edit that is dramatic, creates more emphasis on the eyes and creates a very powerful image.

In these two sets, my edit is the same - I am just showing it compared to both the original file and Nina's edit.

Nina's Original and My Artisitc Edit (after base edit was complete)

Nina's Edit and My Artisitc Edit (after base edit was complete)

Great job, Nina!  Thanks for letting me show you a few of my tips and tricks.  The image as you shot it has some really great "bones" and I hope you like what I brought out in the image through editing.  

Stay tuned, everyone:  I hope to do this same thing with two of my other second shooters yet this summer.  Some of you may know who they are!  

Maris