Post-Processing: FAQ
I was surprised when a few photographers left comments on my latest engagement session sneak peek, asking for my post-processing secret. My first reaction? Of course, I’d love to–I love blogging, I love sharing whatever it is that photographers need to know. God knows that I asked the same questions a year ago, and still ask my “photography elders” questions frequently. I began to formulate this post in my brain, deciding to show the different steps this photo took: from original capture to Lightroom to Photoshop… then I opened the original.
What I saw made me cringe. Seriously readers, did you need to ask me how I process this particular shot? Why not one from Amanda’s session or Manuela’s session. Why me?! However, one of the words I chose to represent my business is authentic. I crave authenticity in people; my friends, my clients, those I surround myself with. I’m soooo over not being yourself–that’s so 1999. So folks, you may want to just keep one eye open when you look at the below original image:
Hello overexposure! (This may seem like a sad little plea, but I truthfully expose 95% of my shots correctly. I promise. But this moment happened so fast and was too perfect of a shot to just throw out! You’re all thinking, “Sure, Jamie, Sureeee.”
Okay, so I have this overexposed image. It’s not too attractive right now, but it definitely has potential. Sort of what I feel like when I roll out of bed and look in the mirror–not exactly horror, because I know what that image in the mirror could look like… after a hot shower, a brush, a blow dryer and my straightening iron. The first step is opening it in Adobe Lightroom. I definitely try to keep my editing and post-processing simple pimple. (Isn’t pimple is a gross word? It’s a gross word. I mean, zit isn’t that appealing either, but sounds less… pimply than pimple.) Here’s the settings I applied. If I haven’t mentioned a certain LR slider it’s because I didn’t change anything.
Recovery: 100
Fill Light: 10
Blacks: 5
Brightness: +15
Contrast: +60
I also changed the White Balance from its “As Shot” temperature of 4800 to 5200. This is just something I’ve learned after a year or so of colour correcting. Photos on sunny days look best between 5200-5500 I find. After those changes, I exported to a full-size jpeg which now looked like this:
Better, but definitely still not that great. Due to the original overexposure and the bright sun, one of Lyndsay’s arm’s was crazy bright, while the other was correctly exposed. In Lightroom I brought the brightness way down, leaving one arm correctly exposed and the other majorly underexposed. What a dilemna!
This is where Photoshop comes in. I selected the dodge tool, at 50% exposure, with a soft brush around the same width as her arm. Then I lightly painted up and down the arm until it reached the same brightness as the other! Voila. A little sharpening and now we’re done and done. Hope that helps just one of you out there! Happy Wednesday!
Brilliant, I was sort of curious as to what other photogs base their PP around so thanks for sharing yours! Nice and simple, I like it! Certainly is a cracking image!
Curious why used dodge tool in photoshop vs local adjustment exposure brush in lightroom? Did you find maybe that it wasn’t as good or as much control?
Good golly….I love a gal who shares the goods. ;) Thanks, Jamie!
It actually makes me feel better that you overexpose once in a while. Even if it is a great while! I love your KISS approach to post-processing!
Jamie, thanks so much for being authentic, you made me laugh and then feel better all at the same time, since I know the exact same thing would have happened to me :-) A follow up question – what’s your workflow look like? How do you go from shoot, to blog, to slideshow, to online gallery as efficiently as possible? Thanks again for sharing!
Thanks for sharing Jamie, I love to see how other pp. So, do you shoot RAW…I’m kind of iffy about RAW, sometimes it just seems more noisy and not as sharp as jpegs, ever notice this?
You’re awesome! Thanks so much for sharing and inspiring! I’ve never used the 35mm, only the 28mm 1.8. is there a huge difference? I’m very new to this! Thanks again.
Thanks for sharing these! I love before & afters. Most of all, thanks for being authentic. You’re a star.
Man, I’ve gotta get photoshop figured out. :-D
Thanks for sharing! That first shot made me feel better about my sometimes over exposed ones! Ha! Thanks for the honesty!
Thanks for sharing this Jamie !!
Oh thankyou so much!
@Bernie hmm… quite honestly I’ve never used the local adjustment exposure brush! I love using the dodge and burn tools though!
@Kayleen yes I do shoot RAW and no, not at all, I’ve never really noticed a difference! @Tracy yes, there is a HUGE difference but that’s not to say that the 28mm is a bad lens–i used it for a year and loved it. :)
Thanks for sharing! I would love to have a daily “Jamie tutorial!”
ya know… you could have saved all this trouble if you didnt overexpose the shot in the first place!! heheh… all right, i am just teasing. =)
@Kayleen If you have any in camera sharpening, the jpg will preserve it while the RAW will leave it out. At least that’s what I’ve heard. :-)
@lydia; you’re right…JPEG already has some ” in-camera-adjustments” like color/sharpening etc. so with RAW you will have the full control by yourself…
Ha! I love your “rolling out of the bed” metaphor, it’s perfect! You posted this just in time as I am learning the adjustments in lightroom right now. I’m so happy I shot RAW at my last wedding. =)
Thanks for sharing!!