My Editing Process | For Photographers

I was asked by a blog reader if I would mind posting about how I edit my pictures. I guess this post is proof that, no, I don't mind. :-) Many people are reluctant to share their "secrets," but the fact is all the information you can ever want is pretty much out there if you look for it. Nobody is completely original in their process, and if you can be a help, then why not share a little?

Learning editing was definitely a process of trial and error for me. I started out with Adobe Photoshop Elements and like most beginning photographers, got sucked into the world of ACTIONS! Ooooh, so many fun actions. :-) I did have the advantage of having been looking at good photographers' work before I really started getting into it myself, so I avoided making too many glaring mistakes that are common. I did my share of playing with vintage actions, but eventually came to the realization that while I occasionally liked them on some photos, and some photographers do it very well, that was not my style. I finally found something that I liked pretty consistently.

Then I bought Adobe Lightroom. I wasn't sure if I'd like it, because it was definitely an adjustment from Photoshop. Once I discovered the Sync function, though, I was sold. :-) I took some photos I had edited in Photoshop, and attempted to recreate the look in Lightroom to figure out what on earth all those sliders did.

That brings us to today, where I have reached a point of consistently editing with the same look across my work. I don't use presets in Lightroom because though I have the same style, conditions vary from shoot to shoot and no preset is going to fit that perfectly. Instead I edit a photo from the set and sync it with all the other photos that match. Here are some before and afters - I shoot in RAW so the SOOC images are very dull and flat and need a little boosting.

My typical basic edit involves bringing up the exposure a little if necessary (I am still working on achieving the right exposure in camera - it tends to look brighter on my camera's display than when I get it on to my computer, so I need to work on over-exposing even more than I think I need to!). Then I will boost the contrast, bring down the highlights if there are important white areas being blown out, add a little fill light, darken the blacks a tad and the shadows a tad, and sharpen.

I gravitate toward warmer images so I usually will warm up the white balance, though not always. It's all dependent on the circumstance. I will reduce noise on dark indoor shots if necessary. That really is about all I do! Bright, clean, and natural is my goal!

I hope this little peek into my editing workflow has been helpful! And I like hearing what you all want to be reading about here on the blog, so if you have a suggestion, just let me know. :-)

Posting Your Photos Online | For Clients

I'm often contacted by clients who are asking permission to post the pictures from their session or wedding on Facebook or on their blog, etc., so I thought it might be a good idea to do a blog post about it and give some tips for sharing your pictures on social media.

First off, my clients are free to share their pictures online! I actually love it when I see them change their profile or cover photo to a photo that I took. It's a little thing but it makes me excited. :-) They're investing in getting professional photos so I'm happy that they are making use of them!

I don't set any rules for sharing, but there some tips for making them look the best they can. I don't require clients to credit me for the pictures, but I always appreciate it when they do. :-)

Below are my thoughts on posting on the two most popular photo sharing sites, Facebook and Instagram.

Facebook: Facebook is pretty straightforward, and they are always changing their photo processing so you never know if it is actually going to look good. I used to give two folders of pictures, one optimized for FB and one for print, but I found that was too confusing and FB would probably change things around and the optimized files wouldn't really be any better after all. So now, I have found it just works the best to give only one set of files for print and use online and it works out great. If you feel inclined to credit the pictures, you can link to my website and/or tag my business page.

Instagram: This one has the most tips associated with it. Of course, I prefer that you don't apply filters over the pictures, because - really, you invested a lot in your photography, and I hope you hired me because you love my style. So the pictures will look their best left as is. I'm not going to send the police after you if you decide to put a filter on it, but it just isn't an accurate representation of my work after it has effects applied to it.
And then, there's the crop factor. Everyone knows Instagram displays photos in squares and that's expected and sometimes works. But there are some images that really are a lot better if you see the whole thing. And thankfully, there's a way to do that! The best apps that I know of for posting the full image to Instagram are Squaready (for iPhone) or Instagram No Crop/InstaShot (for Android).
When crediting pictures, you can tag/mention @kathryngracephotography, and you can also use the hashtag #kathryngracephotography.

I hope that gives you a start in maximizing your photos online!

Then & Now | Personal

In the Q&A, I was asked if I could post some of my early photos, contrasted with my current work and talk about how I improved. I hope you're ready for this. :-) I'm only agreeing to this because everyone has to start somewhere, and I've been encouraged by seeing some old work of my favorite photographers and realizing, "They used to take pictures like that, and look where they are now!"

You could go back in the archives of this blog and find some pretty old work of mine, but I'm going even further back with this post. There aren't too many cringe-worthy shots on the blog; though you can go back to when I didn't really have a consistent editing style and was playing around with vintage filters, etc. I also didn't do a lot of portraits back then; I was still really into nature photography. Here I'm going back to the first time I remember taking portraits and feeling happy with them. This was in 2009, doing updated portraits for my sister (to give to grandparents, etc.). Pretty much any portraits I shot back then were of my sister. She was very patient. :-)

This shot was my "money shot" from the day. I was really proud of this. I liked the setting, the pose, and oddly enough, the light. I'm not sure why, since looking at it now half of her face is underexposed and the other half is blown out. :-)

So how did I go from that... to this?

I think the biggest thing that pushed me forward and helped me to improve was immersion in good photography. I found some photographers I liked and began to follow their work. The first photographer I followed was Jessica Shae - before that, I didn't even know there were photography blogs. :-) After a while there were several blogs I read, and then I found Katelyn James, and her style really clicked with me. She was very similar to what I was going for, but just hadn't perfected yet. So, not to say that I was totally copying other people; but I was constantly exposed to examples of good photography - good composition, white balance, and exposure, consistent editing, analyzing the light. It rubs off on you.

Beyond that, one of the best things that I ever did was to take my camera off auto and put it on manual. I read some articles that helped me to understand the basics (I have linked all those articles on this pinterest board), but mostly it was trial and error, playing with the settings until I had them to my liking. After I had played with manual for a while I tried aperture priority mode, which did work pretty well, but last year I switched back to completely manual all the time and I have not gone back.

I hope you enjoyed (not sure if that's the right word... :-) this peek into my early forays into photography! I am grateful to the Lord for blessing me in developing my skills to where they are today (and hope to keep on improving!).

What I learned from shooting my first wedding

A few readers expressed interest in my personal experience shooting a wedding for the first time... so, here's the scoop on wedding photography from my very limited amateur point of view. :-) (thanks Wendy for the behind-the-scenes shots!)

1. Make a schedule and shot list! This was probably the #1 best thing I did. I sat down with Mrs. S (unfortunately Sarah wasn't able to be at the meeting due to work, so in an ideal situation, you'd be talking to the bride herself) and wrote out a timeline for the day. We worked backwards from the ceremony (much easier than starting at the beginning of the day!), and I left 15 minute buffers in between events. I then took that basic schedule home and filled it in with what shots I was planning to take. An example:

11:00 am  Kathryn meet Sarah & bridesmaids' for hair appt. at salon
1:00 pm    Hair finished and drive back to house
1:15 pm    Kathryn, Sarah & bridesmaids arrive at house
                       - Lunch
                       - Girls getting ready
                       - Kathryn shoot details:
                                Dress hanging up
                                Veil
                                Bridesmaids dresses hanging in a row
                                Bouquet(s)
                                Shoes
                                Jewelry
                                Candids

I also included notes on what I wanted my second shooter to cover, with detailed instructions on how I envisioned any specific shots if I wasn't just leaving her to her own judgement. :-) I made sure that the bride & groom, families and the wedding coordinator had copies of the schedule in its' basic form (without the shot list).

2. Don't be afraid to make suggestions, and be the boss. I'm not saying tyrannize everyone and ruin the day. But most of the time, the bride doesn't know what the best light is, etc. so just mentioning, "We could actually get a better shot if you were to stand this way," or, "Can we open the shades on this window?" can aid you in getting the shot you want. I regret that I didn't do this as much as I could have.

3. Slow down and focus (and I don't mean the camera) during portrait time. Another thing I think I can definitely improve next time. It was so easy to start feeling rushed during portraits and just zip through poses without pausing to make sure that everything looked just right before pressing the shutter. Portrait time is the fun time of the day, so relax! For instance, in the pictures with the flower girls, I realized after the fact that the one little girl's dress was slipping off her one shoulder. If I had slowed down and "studied" the shot briefly before I snapped it, I would have noticed that and been able to fix it. Also checking your shot for a moment afterward on your LCD screen would help too! (The Lord knows how to keep us humble...)

4. Remember your aperture during family portraits after the ceremony! I followed a tip from Jasmine Star where you shoot family portraits in layers - start with EVERYONE and then peel people off from there. That means the number of people in your shot is changing. I was shooting outside and it was evening and overcast - the light was fading. In my first shot there were a TON of people, so I had my aperture up around f/14, which also meant I had to have my ISO pretty high. Once I had it cut down to just the bride & groom with their parents, for instance, I could have pulled my aperture way down and lowered my ISO, resulting in a crisper, less grainy shot. Unfortunately, I totally zoned out on that point and shot everything at f/14. *blushes* Next time I think I would actually note on my shot list what aperture I would use so I'd have a visual reminder.

5. Flash has its place and it is sometimes a necessity for outdoor-receptions-at-night-with-only-cafe-lights-for-illumination. But I still don't like it, even with a big fancy 580EX II.

6. The "big name" photographers (hellooo Katelyn James - and lots of others but she's my favorite!) do NOT charge too much!!! It's a big figure, yes, but they earn it!

7. Schedule a massage for the day after. You'll need it. :-D

I'm sure I must have learned more than that, but I'm drawing a blank. If you have specific questions, leave a comment and I'll be glad to answer it, however unqualified I may be. :-)

Shooting Self-Portraits

This is a self portrait I took the other day. That's me with my baby - my beautiful harp. I actually have two babies; my harp and (you guessed it) my camera. At any rate, I was struck by the fact that self portraits are not all that easy. Especially when you are shooting with a wide aperture (which is my favorite mode for portraits!).

I was using a tripod, but it still took several tries to get the photo to come out how I wanted it. I'd say it could still be improved by sharper focus but my harp was sitting on the damp grass and I didn't want to leave it there any longer than was absolutely necessary!

Shooting self portraits with a small aperture (higher f-number - more in focus) is easier; but here are a few basic tips to follow no matter what size aperture you have:

Use a tripod. Duh. :-) Or if you are taking a spontaneous photo, find something steady on which to prop your camera.

Use a focus point. In my case, I had my harp there to give me an idea of where to focus. Wide apertures are very touchy so if you are sitting in front of your object, set it just a hair closer. You could also have someone pose for you so you can set your focus and then you take their place with the timer going. You may have to tweak it a few times like I did!