I have had many compliments on my editing. Any and all advice I give is two rules- no “over-editing”, and consistency. Editing is important, and can be hard to master. I wanted to show a simple example of how editing can turn what some photographers might consider a nightmare of shooting conditions, into a beautiful image.
For Katelin and John’s engagement shoot, we spent the ENTIRE day shooting. We had amazing luck all day with weather, traffic, and timing. Our last spot of the day was El Matador Beach in Malibu for sunset. Right when we get to the parking lot….rain clouds started rolling in. Katelin and I did most of the planning for their engagement shoot, choosing other locations such as the Huntley Hotel and the Griffith Observatory. Poor John followed along with the plans with only ONE request- to get a photograph with his surfboard at the beach, AND IT WAS ABOUT TO RAIN!! We literally RAN down to the beach in a hurry before the rain showed it’s full self (it was already sprinkling, and freezing!!).
Obviously there was no sun. Katelin only brought shorts to be photographed in during the freezing cold. We had to make due. I kept telling them that I could edit it to look warm. And I did! Below is the Straight Out Of Camera (SOOC) image on left, with my edited version on the right. See how the SOOC image is hazy, cold and blue? Without over-editing the image, I simply bumped up the temperature, saturated certain colors, and boosted some contrast. You would never know they had goosebumps all evening, would you!?!? Sometimes as a photographer you just have to make the best of what you can!
Click here to see more of this engagement session!
