What am I fixing when I edit photos?

Someone asked me such a great question the other day.

They said, "I understand the photos aren't ready to give to clients straight from the camera, but what do you actually do when you edit them?"

I absolutely loved that question, and am more than happy to answer it by sharing my process! As always, I can't speak for other photographers, but this is what I do...

CROPPING + ALIGNING
I crop images for a number of reasons. Sometimes I want the subject to be more of the focus, other times I want to crop out part of the image that I don't like (maybe someone began to walk in front of me, or there's a power line I can see crossing the sky at the top of the image). There's a long list of why I might crop a photo. I also align images while I crop them. If I wasn't holding the camera perfectly even to the ground, I use cropping like a level to be sure the photo is straightened.

ADJUSTING COLOR BALANCE
Due to various lighting situations (and how frequently they can change dramatically), I edit the color balance to be sure the image looks just like my eye saw it in real life (that's my "style" of photography). Sometimes the color is too cool or too warm. (See examples below.) Like Goldilocks, I like it just right.

SHARPENING
High quality DSLR cameras do a great job creating sharpened images, especially when using auto focus. However, I use Lightroom to sharpen it even more!

BRIGHTENING
When parts of images have shadows that I want to have more light, I brighten them when I edit.

REMOVING UNWANTED FEATURES
People often think of this as blemishes or flyaways only. Nope! I often want to remove dirt on the ground, a car from the background, someone's name tag, or a fire alarm on the wall (more common than you'd think!). 

Too cool

Too warm

Just right

I hope that helped explain what I do after the shoot! :)

Happy Friday!
​Autumn


Portraits by Megan Leigh Barnard