I love to edit pictures

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I believe that the editing is half of what makes a good picture. Granted, the picture has to be decent before it becomes something wonderful, but at the same time, processing often gives a picture much more of a “feel” than the SOOC. Take, for example, this picture that I took of Will this morning.

I liked his expression, and the lighting outside was good. (The rains have cleaned the air and the sunshine is beautiful, though still freezing.) And anybody who knows my brother will also realize that this is a candid shot, because there is no way that he would look this dramatic on purpose. He just doesn’t do that. I also like his striped shirt in contrast to the green hills. So I took this one straight to Photoshop. The first thing I did was to sharpen the whole thing – the focus was not quite on his face. I then ran “Fresh and Colorful” from P-Dub’s first action set. This action increases the contrast and brightness of the whole photo, and I like to use it for portraits. So I’ve got this picture, all nice and contrasty, and it looks like this:

Nice, yes? But I think that something else could be done. His expression is too full of, you know, 13-year-old emotion for these saturated colors. What do I do? I run another one of Ree’s actions, “PW’s Black and White.” I love, love this action. It’s a high contrast black and white, and a vignette, though this can be removed easily if you think it’s just too cheesy. I use it for many things, not just people. For these purposes, I just left it in because- surprise! I’m not done. I think there could be a lot more impact if the photo was composed slightly differently. I whip out the handy-dandy cropping tool, set to 4 in. by 6 in., and crop away. What I come out with is this:

Much more impact. And I’ve got rid of that annoying arm there – that was bothering me. The black and white action has also reduced the distractions in the background by eliminating the color variety.  (You may recognize our saplings-on-a-hillside from the portrait I entered in the photography contest.)  (On second thought, you may not.)
And here I am with the finished product! I haven’t done anything tricky – I’ve pressed “play” buttons – and the effect is very dramatic. Don’t be scared of Photoshop – I learned basically all of what I know simply by playing around with it. Consider this picture, also from this morning, and its edited counterpart:

While the difference is not as dramatic as Will’s, it is striking, especially in its amount of contrast across the entire photo, and has made it a very much better photo for it. So go get yourself a copy of Photoshop and download some actions – there are a few good free ones, including PW’s and this guy named mulletgod whose actions are a little grittier, but in some instances much funner, than others. The set includes three different “vintage” actions – how bad can it be?

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