Hi Lovelies,
Many of you told me that you loved how Kristie shared her editing steps. So, today I thought I’d share with you how I turned this:
Into this:
Kelly is totally, 100% scared of the camera. Since she’s a photographer herself this is not okay! If we as photographers are uncomfortable in front of the camera we will inevitably cause our subjects to feel the same way. The more we get photographed the better we will be at making others feel comfortable.
Kelly made it obvious that she was going to be a challenge for me, but I loved it. Well, minus the fact that she would not agree to go anywhere outside of the room. So, we were stuck with the balcony and as you can tell it was a less than desirable location. But, she wouldn’t budge. I had to make it work.
To start, I made sure to totally freak her out with my camera, getting close and personal (this is why I like to shoot with my 35mm). Eventually, she settled and even had fun with it. I’ll share more of those photos later. Until then, here’s how I made the photo above:
1. First, I had Kelly sit here:
2. I sat down right in front of her. So much so our knees were just about touching. She inevitably scrunched up and giggled (partially because of how close I was, partially because I’m incredibly funny) which scored me the photo above.
3. In Lightroom I edited the photo two different ways. One for her, one for the background.
In Lightroom I do all of my basic edits (subtle exposure fixes, brightness, contrast, sharpening, etc.). For the photo on the right I simply way-overexposed the photo (by bumping up the exposure slide) to totally blow out the background.
4. I then opened the two photos in Photoshop and layered the photo on the right on top of the one on the left. Using the eraser tool I erased where she was revealing the darker version below.
5. Flattened image and using the curves tool gave the entire photo a bit more boost in brightness.
6. Using the healing brush I fixed that little place in the top right where the shadow was.
7. Next – and here’s my trick – I duplicated the layer. On the top layer I went to Filter > Other > High Pass to add a bit of sharpness. Instead of selecting Overlay, I selected Multiply to give that subtle gray color to the photo. I dropped the opacity down to about 20-30%. The result was a bit of added sharpness and a dreamy look to the overall photo.
And, wahlah! My final photo:
Canon 5d Mark II // 35mm 1.4L // Shot manually // 1.4 // SS: 1/2500* // ISO: 100
*The balcony wasn’t the ideal location, but it did have one thing going for it. The lighting was nice and bright.
+++
Isn’t she gorgeous?
Was this helpful? Photoshop can be such a beast so I’m happy to help with any tips & tricks if you guys enjoy learning. Just let me know! I’d love to know any specificis you might want to know, too. Drop me a note. I always love hearing from you.
Have a wonderful weekend!
jc
p.s. Don’t forget that Monday is the 15th. All contest photos are due by midnight.
