Tips and Tricks

Shoot Better

The less editing a photograph needs, the less time it will take to edit it. Makes sense, yes? If you are spending unnecessary time in post-production on things that you could have corrected in-camera, it’s time to learn to use that camera better. Learn about over- and under-exposure and how to correct for them. Watch out for the background of your frame, and anything on your model that may need removing in post, such as a loose label or a mark on their clothing.

Make sure you have your settings right so that each image will be sharply in focus, and try to frame each shot so that you don’t need to crop it later. Setting up your white balance correctly for the lighting situation will also help a lot.

Do not Edit all

If you are editing all of the photos you take in one shoot, stop. If you are editing even half of them, stop. You should only be editing your very best photographs, and only the ones you intend to use should be given the full treatment.

If you have agreed with your client to deliver them 25 images, you shouldn’t be editing even as much as 50. Selecting images is a really hard thing to do, but make a couple of sweeps through instead of just editing them all.

1.     First take out anything that doesn’t look right at a glance.

2.     Then go through with a zoomed-in look and take out anything that doesn’t have great focus.

3.     Now go through again and take out any shots that are too similar, saving only the best one from the set.

That should narrow your selection down hugely, helping you to save time in Photoshop. Make sure that you’re also thinking about how much work goes into each one: when deciding between two headshots, eliminate the one where a stray hair landed on the forehead so you don’t have to waste time editing that hair out.