I’ve always found that editing is so personal and unique to each individual creative, myself included! It’s amazing the difference post production can make to our imagery and it never ceases to amaze me how it opens up an opportunity to express and tap into more of our creativity.

Most times you can identify a photographer by their editing style because most of the time, everyone has their own formulas and flare that can be seen from a mile away. It is its own skill, that overtime becomes a bit easier and a bit quicker. It’s funny I have so many people tell me that they can always pick my photos that are floating around, exactly by this!

I remember the overwhelm when I very first opened my first lightroom or photoshop app and had no idea as to where to begin… I’m still learning along the way but here we are and I’m a little less overwhelmed these days!

I thought I’d share some tools and tips that I’ve incorporated into my bag of tricks over the last couple of years and hopefully they help you too!

Obviously work flow differs from person to person and I’m a big believer in having a process that you can fine tune that works for you! Below I’ve shared a list of the processing applications I use, in addition to how, when and why I use them!

LIGHTROOM

I tend to edit in lightroom for a lot of my Subscription and Hospitality shoots because these always require a quicker turnaround time for clients. I find it quicker to work through a larger quantity of images that still require colour grading and light touch ups here and there but don’t need the whole retouching shebang! 

BRIDGE

When I’m shooting beauty, campaign and fashion imagery I tend to import all my files to handle into bridge and do all my culling and organising here and tag my selects. I opt for this as it’s then easy to open my images in Photoshop to start the retouching and grading process. 

PHOTOSHOP

I remember when I first started using photoshop I felt like I was walking through a maze blind, it sure is one confusing application to get your head around. But it’s also super amazing when you do! I use photoshop for a lot of my beauty and fashion imagery that involves all the tedious skin retouching. I also colour grade here too. There’s some amazing and affordable tutorials online that are great for working through all the tools you can utilise in PS. We can always learn something or improve, I’m currently working through a retouching series from Portrait Masters in my down time or when I feel like having a play with creative test shoots that I work on in my spare time!

EXPOSURE

I came across this plug in when I attended a Bonnie Hansen Workshop in Sydney a couple of years ago and haven’t looked back! You can use the software on it’s own or use it in conjunction with both lightroom or photoshop as a plug in! It has a range of colour grades and effects that you can formulate into your own recipes. If you haven’t come across it, take advantage of their 30 day trial and give it a whirl!

VSCO

This little beauty I use on my phone for editing when I’m on the road or want to edit something super quick to throw on socials. I tend to use A6, L11, HB2, KP4, they definitely tend to be a few of my favourites!

COLOUR GRADING

I always love my photos to have a light, creamy airy feel and I definitely feel like this is my go to when I edit, I also tend to throw a bit of extra warmth in my images when it comes to white balance/temperature. I usually drop the saturation a little and on the odd occasion might throw some grain on top too! I’ve popped a Raw file Vs a finalised image below for you that I’ve colour graded and retouched so you can see the difference!

WORKSHOPS

I’ve attended 3 workshops in Sydney over the last couple of years and can definitely share that they were an investment that has returned tenfold. It’s so refreshing to learn from like minded people in the industry that are killing it in their creative work.

Toby Burrows, Marta Bevacqua and Bonnie Hansen have been the three I’ve attended and I’ve picked up so many editing tips and tricks from attending these alone. Invest in your own creative education and fuel your own fire!

A few people have wanted to know what my main set up is for shoots too! I shoot on a Canon 5D Mark IV and love it! My go to lens is my 24-70mm and it’s basically super glued to my camera except for the odd exception when I use a 70-200mm.

There are no rights or wrongs when it comes to editing, have a play, get creative and chop and change things, that’s half the fun! Educate yourself and spend time learning, be inspired by other people and allow yourself to be guided by them too. 

Have fun playing peeps!

G x