Now that they have had the pleasure and excitement of getting to see all their images and make their selections, I can share a little more with the public!
I decided it was time to share with everyone how I process and work with the imgaes after the portrait sessions.
First comes a cull - removing images that have obvious things wrong like a lot of folks blinking, any gear malfunctions (not a lot of those) and anything else that isn't immediately appealing. The second part of culling (after removal) is the saving of the very best. I may have 5 images of one child in one pose and just ONE face is perfect! My clients don't need to see all of them, even if the other faces are workable.
After I have narrowed it down to about 40 (and sometimes I start with 400!) I can move on to step two.
Second step is enhancing - doing a light through the whole group of pictures. Sometimes I adjust the white balance, other times it's straightening the images. Here is where Lightroom Presets are used. I've made two of my own presets to make this part easier. One is called Shade for the time I did 3 family sessions in the same location and in the same shade. ALL of those sessions needed a little bump of this and that. To avoid doing it manually every time, I found the "recipe" that worked and created a preset. Now anytime I shoot in the shade, this preset is ready to go.
The third part of my workflow is in details. Here is where I whiten teeth, remove acne and occasionally remove grass or trees that are distracting. Many images don't need this step at all.
Now I'm ready for the fun part - preparing the client's blog post and video! I may have about 40 images to work with, but now to choose only 20 for the video and only 5-10 for the blog. How in the world does this happen? Especially for someone who can be indecisive in other areas of life?? (that's me, in case you didn't know) It helps when I take a little of MY emotions out of the story. I get so wrapped up in the little snippet of my clients' lives I got to be a part of, that sometimes I need a day or two to unwrap so I can be objective again. Whew - brushing hair off forehead - now I'm ready. The truth is that I pick only the images that fit the overall mood and theme of the session. Then I have a time limit because of the music I chose. I sometimes to have remove a few to fit the time, but I make sure it doesn't change the overall feel of the video.
For the blog post it is the same process but I have to get the numbers even fewer. There are very few exceptions to my personal 5-10 image rule and one of them is a wedding! So if the image makes it to the blog, then it is one that I KNOW my client will enjoy and want to see and that I will want to see again and again!
So now that you've heard about what happens behind the scenes, please enjoy The C Family again, this time in their own video! Please feel free to leave comments or questions!
Thanks and have a great day!
Creighton HD
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