"How much do you ACTUALLY edit?"

Recently, I was asked this. My eyes might have gotten a little big. I think a lot of people assume photos just turn out pretty on their own and all the work is done in camera. (I WISH!)

The fact is that I maybe spend 10% of my time behind my camera, 75% spent editing and 15% on pre-production (styling, location scouting etc). Every shoot is different. Sometimes I would guesstimate only 5% shooting and 20% pre-production. Either way, the majority of the time is spent editing. Which is not very fun, at least not for me.

I will say, that the 'average' photographer would probably be happy with a big percentage of my images straight out of camera. I'm not your average photographer. I'm an anal,  perfectionist with a camera. (hee hee- I can admit it!) I know that a lot of my clients pay good money to sit in front of me. I know too that quite often, when they get their pictures taken by me, its the only photos that they will have taken of themselves for the next 6 months to a year, sometimes 5 years. So why not put all of MY energy into making them the very best. That is my mentality; I think about my clients best interest, I don't worry about my time, only having the best final product for the client.

That being said, let me show you some examples of my work:

Below is a prime example of taking an image that could be "perfect" SOOC (straight out of camera). But I knew it needed some buffing. Every layer is something else that I have hand edited on this image. From making sure that the skin looks the right color/ accurate, to having the perfect amount of cool and warm tones to make it feel "homey". The Mom and I love it. And I know that she is ecstatic for the extra care that I take with their photos.

 This image was not as good SOOC. It was daylight lit, but the sunlight was coming through a shade, causing more of a blue/ possibly even green tone on the overall image. I have trained myself (Thank you Gramma, the portrait painter) to have a very sharp eye when it comes to identifying colors, especially correcting color balance.  That was step 1. Step 2 was getting the actual image to the place that I wanted. Smoothing skin, making eyes pop, etc etc. I LOVE the way it turned out. And again, the clients loved it when they saw the original, I can only imagine how surprised and happy they were to see the final after I took my time editing it by hand.

Lastly, is a head shot. I did very little, by comparison,  but it made a world of difference. Warming up the skin tones, cleaning up facial hair and skin and making his eyes pop.

Going the extra mile will always make your clients love your work just that much more. And hopefully create lifelong clients, that trust you to capture all of their memories.

Scarlett J

UPDATE! I should add that on average each image takes between 30 minutes to a hour to edit depending on the intricacy.   If you'd like more information, please contact me!

All images are sole owner of Scarlett Jewel photography.