Editing: Before & After | Stacey Marble Photography

Editing: Before & After

Shooting in Raw is super important and extremely beneficial, and I'll discuss that in more detail on another day, but in short, it gives you more information to work with while editing. Ideally you take control of as much as you can while shooting, or in camera. But there are some lighting situations that make editing more necessary than others. I've included a few examples of some raw files next to my final edit. 

I remember in college thinking there was one right way to edit a photograph, and when I found out someone was doing something differently than me I would have a slight panic attack thinking I was doing it wrong. Turns out, we were getting the same result, or at least the result we wanted. I've learned that editing is part of the photographer's style and allows them to add more of their flair to the photographs.

Below are a couple of examples of shots that needed very little editing. I almost always add a little bit of contrast and warm the photo up if needed. I tend to expose closer to the "proper" exposure, sometimes a stop above or below depending on the light conditions and the subject. For wedding dresses, I generally underexpose just slightly so that I don't lose any detail in the white gown.

This family session was a little late in the day, later than I normally do sessions, so it was getting quite dark. I upped my ISO a bit, but didn't want extremely grainy photos. It's amazing what you can do with a raw file.

I actually love editing photos for the most part. It's like adding the final details on a piece of artwork that shows my style just a little more.