Out Of Camera & After Editing

My children are probably my favorite subjects to photograph outside of our flurry of pets around our home. But my daughter is probably my most photographed participant. She helped me prepare some images for my photography class I held last weekend. She patiently let me take numerous images of her, finding the best lighting and those catchlights, or reflections in her eyes. Which I love!

The image above is how it looked right out of my camera and on to my computer's monitor. Exposed nicely. Sharp. How I like it. I shoot in RAW format which basically means this image was completely untouched by the camera. When shooting in JPEG format, the camera will sharpen, add contrast, saturation, etc to an image which is perfect for everyday shooters who may or may not use any type of editing software post taking pictures.

But I do use an editing software. Hey, sometimes that is what I love most about taking pictures. Enhancing them to something even more!



I use an editing software called Lightroom which I have adjusted to and now love using. It has caused my editing workflow to speed up and cause my turn around time for editing sessions for clients so much faster. Which leaves me more time to take pictures of my kids!

In the picture above, I ran a preset which in seconds added saturation and vibrance with contrast and some added warmth. I sharpened the image and then I am done.

With this black and white version, I ran another preset to give this contrasty, warmer look. I truly love pictures in black and white. Maybe it is my love of Ansel Adams photographic style. Or how black and white adds a sort of a dramatic, emotional feel to an image. Either way, currently I am being drawn to editing more of my pictures to black and white.