A Look Into my Editing Process: What Happens Behind the Scenes after your Session
Have you ever wondered what happens behind the scenes after your photoshoot? Many people think photographers simply click and button, slap a filter on the images, and call it a day — but there’s actually so much more that goes into editing your gallery! Some of my clients wonder what goes on between the time we leave their session to when their gallery is delivered; that’s why I’ve outlined my step-by-step process for editing. If you’re curious too, this one’s for you!
1 — YOUR SESSION
We need some photos to edit, don’t we?
2 — BACKING UP YOUR IMAGES
After I leave our session, I immediately go home and back up your images in at least 2 places. I keep images on 2 separate hard drives, and I keep both the SD cards until your gallery is delivered. I never ever want to risk losing your photos — they’re safe in my hands!
3 — CULLING ROUND 1
“Culling” is the process of sorting through the images and picking the best ones. I am a major over-shooter, meaning I take wayyyyy too many photos! But it’s a huge part of my process and it allows me to get the results that I do. Only about 10-20% of the images I take end up in your final gallery, and the first round of culling takes the longest due to having to sort through so many images. During this step, I don’t spend much time looking too deeply at the photos. It’s a quick yes or no on each image to decide if it makes it through the first round.
4 — CHOOSING AND EDITING YOUR SNEAK PEEKS
The first round of culling narrows down your gallery enough for me to choose a few sneak peeks to begin editing in Adobe Lightroom. I usually choose 5-10 images to start with, and then narrow that down to my 2-3 absolute favourites to send to you. This process will help me later on, because now there is 5-10 images in the gallery that have gone through the initial editing process. This means I am able to recreate (basically copy and paste) that edit onto other, similar images in the gallery!
5 — SNEAK PEEK DELIVERY
24-48 hours after your session, you get your sneak peeks! I deliver 2-3 sneak peeks while you wait for your full gallery.
6 — CULLING ROUND 2-3
Next, I cull through the full gallery 1-2 more times to narrow it down even further. I only want to deliver the BEST possible images to you. Part of my business’ core values is INTENTION; trust in my process and know that you are only receiving the absolute best of the best!
7 — FIRST ROUND OF EDITS
Now is the time for me to actually edit the photos I’ve chosen. I begin with a preset and adjust from there, making sure my edits are consistent throughout the gallery.
8 — SECOND ROUND OF EDITS AND FINAL CULL
Once I’ve done the first round of edits, I step away for at least a day or two so I can come back with fresh eyes. During this time, I notice small things I may have missed and make more adjustments to make sure the edits are exactly how I want them.
9 — FINAL PASS THROUGH
After I’ve done 2-3 rounds of edits, I take one final look through the gallery. At this point, I am just as excited as you are to send out your gallery!
10 — EXPORTING AND BACKING UP
Once I am pleased with the final gallery, it’s time to get it delivered to you! But before that, I need to make sure your edited photos are as safe as they can be. I export your images and back them up to an external hard drive as well as the cloud.
11 — DELIVERY DAY
Once the images are exported, I’m ready to send some happy news your way — your gallery is ready!!! I use my CRM system (Sprout Studio) to create an aesthetically pleasing, watermarked gallery for you to view. From there, you get to choose your favourites and download them to your computer/phone. Make sure you’re also keeping those photos safe! I recommend saving them to 2 places such as an external hard drive (or USB) and the cloud. I only keep your gallery up for 60 days, so you’ll want to make sure you have your images saved.
