It goes by different names:
Digital Editing
Retouching
Photoshopping (although, according to Adobe®, "Photoshop" is not a verb)
Airbrushing (I hardly ever actually use the "airbrush" tool in digital editing)
Digital Enhancements
Etc.
I thought perhaps it would informative to explain exactly what goes into our digital editing. This is an example of an image that is SOOC (straight out of camera). It has nothing done to it except to resize it for this blog.
Before:
The camera I use (Nikon®) has almost a 4x6 ratio. I shot the image leaving a lot of room to one side so I could crop it to 4x5. This is my standard crop and allows an 8x10 and most other enlargements to be made without much cropping. It's exposed correctly and is in focus. The most important part about photography is to get your image as close to perfect as possible while you are shooting. Adobe® Photoshop® or any other image editing software should not be relied on to "fix" an image. It is a great tool to enhance and perfect an otherwise decent shot. Keep in mind that DSLR cameras tend to produce slightly dull images, point and shoot cameras usually add a little saturation, warmth and contrast to the image automatically. I like to have a raw image to work with because I am a control freak and want to do it myself.
After:
Here is step-by-step what I did:
- Opened the image in Adobe Photoshop CS3 and cropped it to a 4x5 ratio.
- Duplicated the layer (so I could toggle back and forth between the edited and original versions to make sure I didn't overdo anything).
- Color corrected the image (took out a touch of red and added a touch of yellow).
- Added a little contrast to give it a boost.
- Used the cloning tool to edit out the utility things in the lawn and added a little bit more of the yellow grass to the top left of the image where there was a dark gap.
- Touched up her skin (she has phonemenal skin so I didn't do much at all!).
- Took a little redness out of her eyes. It was windy and cold.
- Flattened the image (remember I duplicated the layer in step two, this step turns it back into one layer).
- Slightly sharpened the image (this is where most photographers go overboard) and saved it
- Done!
As you can see the "after" image has a little more Pop! I didn't change how she looked or ruin the image with gimmicky editing tricks. Special effects definitely have their place and I do like to play around with filters and actions, but nothing beats a beautiful and simple photograph.
Keep in mind that all of our glamour portrait packages include digital editing just like this. We want you to see your fnished images just like they will appear when printed. The Hi-Res disks contain the edited pictures as well.
Keep in mind that all of our glamour portrait packages include digital editing just like this. We want you to see your fnished images just like they will appear when printed. The Hi-Res disks contain the edited pictures as well.
