From Here to There | Before and After Editing
posted in Photography by SimplyHollyJo on October 27, 2020People often don’t think about what goes on after the session has ended. The culling through images, choosing the best ones, and sometimes merging multiple images together. As with any photographer, I do my best to get it as perfect as possible in camera. That means less work on the back end, faster turn around, and less chances of losing image quality through editing. But when you’re working with little ones, or large groups, it can be difficult to get that one right shot where everyone looks great at the same time, or when nothing distracting is happening. That is when further editing comes to the rescue. So I thought I would share some Before and After images.
In a Perfect World
As I said, I do my best to get the shot in camera. Below is an example of a shot that I barely had to touch. I brought down the highlights a smidge, sharpened it slightly, added some slight color to it, and done. You hardly even notice it.
Before and After Head Swaps
In the before and after below, you’ll notice the little girl on the right had an itch. It happens to us all. So a little photoshop “magic,” and voila, finished photo. I took a good shot of her and moved her and her dad into the first image, where everyone else looked great.
Distracting Backgrounds
The below before and after is a minimal edit, but still needed in my opinion. The shot and lighting was beautiful, but I didn’t want the distracting electrical box in the background, so I removed it.
Before and After Removing Helpers
Sometimes kids have a hard time with photos. They smile for Mom and Dad, but with a stranger, or simply a camera staring at them, they only want to hide in Mommy or Daddy’s arms. That’s when a helper comes in handy. For this shot, Mom helped the little girl get seated, and then quickly ran out of shot. The little girl started crying as soon as she realized mom was gone, so the only non-crying shot was when Mom was still in frame. So, I removed her.
Catching Littles
In the image below, I got a great shot of the little guy. He was not having it for his shoot. He wanted to explore and play. I could not blame him at all. We worked around him as best we could. I knew I needed this shot of him looking at me, so I swapped in an image of his dad and sister looking at the camera, and fixed mama’s blinking eyes. I also used one of the other shots to slightly shift the image placement. And done! Everyone looking at the camera.
From Two, to One
Here is a situation of a little not wanting to do photos, but suddenly only wanting to be with big brother. I was attempting to get portraits of just him, but little sister wasn’t having it. I just went with it and then removed her afterwards. Extra work, but I avoided deflating their great moods and energy.
Minor Fixes
Sometimes the image is great, but slightly askew. That’s when minor correction can make it just right. The images below looked a bit crooked because of where I was standing. I simply adjusted the alignment.
