Editing

HOW I EDIT

My aim is to celebrate and highlight the beauty of the real world with my photographs, rather than to create an alternate reality and so I like to keep my post-processing simple, natural and minimal.

WHEN I EDIT

Sometimes cameras fail to capture and communicate the beauty of what you see, and when you look at an image later, something is missing or wrong.  Colours can be off or subdued, detail can be gone (for example from brightly lit areas and shady spots on a bright sunny day).  Cameras don’t deal with light as well as human eyes do, and so I often colour-correct or reintroduce detail to images in post-processing which our eyes would naturally have seen at the moment I took my shot.

Here are some examples.  The images on the left are the originals, straight off my camera; the ones on the right are the edits:

 Oxford photographer_edit1Oxford photographer_edit2Oxford photographer_edit3

In these images, I have corrected colours, brought up the brightness and exposure and added some punch; in the last image, I have also removed a reflective glare from the glasses.

Of course, if I manage to include something in an image which detracts from the finished image, like a previously-unnoticed sign or a bin, I may clone it out – but generally I try to get as much right as possible in the initial image when I am taking it.

PORTRAITS & AIRBRUSHING

Mainstream media is full of airbrushed and highly-manipulated images, especially of women, and I tend to think that surrounding outselves with unrealistic ideals of how we ‘should’ look is unhelpful.

I want to promote positive body image and self-confidence through my work.  I find the best way to do that is to work with people to create images of them that they love, which show them how they really look, not some computer version of what they could look like if they lost some weight, didn’t have freckles, had bigger lips…

Of course, if someone wants me to move some stray hairs, or hide a temporary blemish then I am happy to do that at their request, but on the whole I find post-processing is not substitute for a relaxed and happy subject.

A BEAUTIFUL BODY PROJECT

I am a regional photographer for Jade Beall’s Beautiful Body Project.  For beautiful photography from all over the world of real people with real bodies and real histories, check out the blog.

The project will be featuring some of my work on the website in the near future.  In the meantime, if you would like a chance to tell the story of your own body journey on the ABBP blog through my photography, get in touch.

EDITING SOFTWARE

Lightroom is my digital darkroom of choice, and I occasionally dip into Photoshop or Gimp to play with artistic effects.

 

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