The editing process from a family photographer in Winchester

One thing that can be unclear when booking a family photographer is what is meant when we talk about editing the photos from your session. So I thought I would take you through a recent photo I took in Winchester of my daughter Isla and talk you through the editing process and how I try and give the photo more impact. I use Photoshop for all my photo editing.

I took this photo around 2pm on a sunny day during our daily lockdown walk round Winchester. This isn’t an ideal time of day as the sun was high in the sky, which is not the most flattering light, but it’s something that I am used to dealing with. Because it was so bright I wanted to find a shady spot so that I could get a nice even light on Isla’s face, so we went in among the trees. The main problem with that is that you can see that there was a really strong green colour cast from the bright light shining through the trees. So the first thing I did was to change the colour balance to take the skin tone to get rid of the green colour cast.

I then want Isla to stand out most in the picture and to do that I make her the brightest part of the image to draw your eye to her. So I use the tools in Photoshop to make the background darker (and I also chose to take a little of the yellow out of the greens in the background – purely a personal choice), and then use the same tools to make Isla a little brighter.

Then looking into the finer details of the photo there are a couple of other areas I wanted to change the brightness. Because of the bright sun being so high in the sky it has meant that Isla’s eye sockets are a little in darkness, so I added some extra light to replace where the shadows fall there. Her shoulder being closest to the camera has meant that is the brightest part of her which I don’t want, so I have darkened round that shoulder and the brightest parts of her top.

The finishing touches are to add a bit of contrast and sharpening over the image and then a slight crop, and it’s ready to go.

If you would like to discuss family photography either in Winchester or anywhere in Hampshire then just drop me an email at fiona@naturenurturephotography.com