Editing, editing, editing, what are we doing and why is it
important to the photography client? We
all talk about it all the time. We have
coffee cups or T-shirts that say “editing day, do not disturb”, we post about
editing on social media constantly! Why? Because we all sound so cool and
sophisticated talking about how busy we are editing? Well, yes, we do! (Just
kidding!) Editing is important to
photographers primarily because it is the place where we get to make art out of
our photos and because it identifies our “brand” or our photography style. Asking to see a photographers “RAW” files is
liking asking a lady to show her face without makeup. To me, it may be worse!
But why is it important to our clients? Well, one reason is because most of us shoot
in what is called, RAW files. RAW files
are large files with a lot of information which makes them easy to adjust in
lightroom or photoshop. However, they
are not very attractive to look at. They
are flat with no contrast or color adjustments.
We add all the necessary adjustments in lightroom or photoshop. Many non photographers think of editing as
adding special filters that put really
strange looks to photos much like instagram filters or making everything black
and white except for one thing. (Which has been out of style since 1995 so
don’t ask us to do it because a little bit of us dies everytime you do!) Most of the editing we do is exposure or color
correction or removing distractions from the background. Some things are just beyond our control when
we are shooting and have to be corrected later. Another important thing we do is add that little special touch that lets clients know its our photo and why, sometimes without knowing it, clients are attracted to a particular photographer.
I am about to do something that is really scary to me to
help consumers to see why what we do is important and why you should hire a
photographer with knowledge of lightroom or photoshop to ensure that the photos
you are paying for look the absolute best that they can. I am going to show you
my photos before and after editing!(Scary music should be playing here!)
