Elevating Images with Photoshop

It’s time to get honest.  I’ve had several people say to me at one point or another… I wish I had a camera like yours.  But I’m here to tell you… it’s not just the camera.  A good SLR camera HELPS (don’t get me wrong… so do great lenses), but it’s just one of the tools used to make great photos.  In all honesty, the combination of digital cameras and natural light often leaves images lacking depth.  But with Photoshop… the opportunity to take your photos to the “next level” is endless.  I’ve always leaned towards simple, clean image processing.  This is a good thing!  It’s important to learn how to get good skin tones, not blow out your whites, or make the color too nuclear.  But I felt it was time to take my images up a notch.  Luckily for me, I won a spot to Jackie Jean Photography’s CREATE Post Processing Workshop (you can see the blog post and my winning image HERE).  I’m only one week into the program, but I’m SO HAPPY with the new tools I’ve picked up from Jackie.  So I thought I’d share a little “before and after” with you.

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The image on the left is straight out of camera (SOOC).  I literally just pulled the RAW file into Lightroom, converted it to a JPG, and that’s what you see.  Although I love the connection between these two awesome people… the photo lacks ‘umph’.  So I brought the image into Photoshop and I changed the composition a bit by moving Mom over in the frame because she’s standing and I felt it made more sense.  And then I added some color, contrast and dropped in a new sky!  I think it makes a big difference… don’t you?

So why share this? …Because I think it’s important for new photographers to understand that all photographers, at every stage in their journey, are constantly learning.  I have a list of things I want to learn.  And every once in a while, when I have time, I try to cross things off my list.  Learning how to drop in new skies was on my list.  Now I can cross it off.  The best part is that there are SO many free resources to learn from.  So my question to you is… what do you want to learn?

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Images from Amy

Phone: 916.616.5420 Email: imagesfromamy@gmail.com

Studio Address: 17000 SW Whitley Way #100, Beaverton, OR 97006