Photo Editing Magic
“She glances at the photo, and the pilot light of memory flickers in her eyes.”
In early December, I took a visit to the Garfield Park Conservatory. I took what is currently my favorite photo I’ve taken so far. I probably have some recency bias but I think this photo shows the growth that I’ve had over the last year with my editing. In the past, I might have cropped it and done a little basic editing. I didn’t want to be one of the photographers that spent hours on just one photo so I decided to do none and to be honest, editing scared me. During the covid lockdown of 2020, I had been laid off from my job so had plenty of time on my hands. I had time to figure out how to enhance photos to bring out their beauty but also not have to spend hours on just one photo.
The photo on the left is straight out of the camera and the one on the right is the edited photo. First of all, I’m a sucker for low-angle shots which I think is playing into being a favorite of mine. The grounds leans ever so slightly so I straightened that out. I then crop the photo to focus less on the wall on the right and the door on the left. I want to use the wall and door to frame what is on the other side of it but not be too much of the focus. I then start moving around sliders like dehaze, exposure, and shadows. After I finish all of the adjustments I wanted to make to the photo I moved on to playing around with colors. When I’m editing a photo it often feels like painting, or at least what I imagine it to feel like. With this particular photo, I played around with green, yellow, red, and orange. These colors were the focus because of the brown in the bricks and the green in the plants. I think adjusting the colors brings the colors to life. What is your favorite part about the photo.
The photo out of camera.
The edited photo.
I’ll be doing more blog post like this to show you the before and after doing my editing process on it. If you would like me to show a specific photo please let me know.
