FAQ : POST PROCESSING BEFORE + AFTER

I'm not sure how it happened that I started becoming the one people wrote to with photography questions - I am still new at this and feel like I am still learning as I go - but I am happy to help in whichever ways I can...even if I feel slightly unqualified to do so! ;)

Shortly after posting Samantha and Alex's engagement session back in June, I received the following message, Hey gurl! Great work you've been doing lately!!! Can I ask what action/preset you use? I love it!

When I started my business just a short year ago, one of the first things I did was browse the interwebs for actions and presets that would define my brand and push my business forward. For those of you that don't know, actions and presets are formulas that you install either into Photoshop or Lightroom that help to help increase workflow and offer consistancy thoughout your images. With the click of a button you can change the clarity, contrast, brightness, lens correction, sharpening, etc of your images to give them the look and feel you so desire.  So when I began my search, I knew that 1. I loved the look and feel of film and 2. I wanted to enhance my photos without greatly altering the look of them.  I want photos to have a natural, fresh feel and ensure that years down the road, they still look like photos.

After months of searching, I came across Totally Rad Actions and fell absolutely in love with their Replichrome I: Icon collection.  Honestly, this collection offers so many great presets that I could go nutso crazy with all the options and forfeit consistency, but I have found one - the FUJI 400H - and tweaked it to fit my style and brand and I stick to it.  And just an FYI, Totally Rad is having a Surprise sale this week so now would be the perfect time to invest in their presets and actions if you wanted to give them a go :)

From a few recent shoots I’ve pulled some before and after images to show you exactly what this looks like…

Here is a photo from Samantha and Alex's engagement session.  As you can see the top photo is quite flat and missing that little something extra.  Once I applied my preset and a few temperature changes, the image was brought back to life.  Just.Like.That.

Same thing with this image from Nicky and Chris's elopement at the Long Beach Lodge Resort in Tofino.  The image on the left is straight out of camera.  I brought it into lightroom (pictured below) and with my preset applied, you get the image on the right.  It also received a slight temperature boost.  All of that in a matter of seconds.  Pretty amazing, right!?

I hope that helps someone out there and if not, send me further questions by emailing, commenting below or posting on my Facebook page and I’ll try again next time!  Asking other photographers questions was a big part of my learning curve and I just so appreciate how the photography community comes together and helps one another along.  Happy Tuesday :)