five ways to actually enjoy editing
I feel like with editing, photographers either absolutely LOVE it, or despise the heck out of it. I used to be in the hating-editing group. I loved doing photoshoots, but the most dreaded part of the whole thing was culling for hours. I would inevitably get a massive headache from staring at one image for far too long trying to tweak things my clients would never have even noticed in the first place. But I realized that editing was pretty much taking up the majority of my business, so I had to find a way to actually start enjoying the process.
Now if you were to ask me, I’d have to say that editing is my absolute favorite part. It’s the time where I truly feel the most creative and inspired and you, too can get there. It has changed so much for me, and I want to share a few tips that might help you enjoy the process a bit more. :)
SET THE SCENE
For me, editing is my me-time. It’s almost like self care in a way! I make it an experience. I start with making an iced coffee, cleaning my desk so I have a clear mind to focus, lighting a cozy candle, and playing an artsy-folk playlist that makes me feel all creative! In busy season when I’m editing way too late in the night, I like to play a mindless show on my phone to keep me entertained. I even used to have a rule where I only watched that one show while editing, so if I wanted to watch the next episode I had to be editing while doing it. It kind of tricked my brain into being excited to edit! (Obviously, boundaries are important and so is sleep. So if you find yourself consistently editing til 1 am on the couch and you hate it, maybe it’s time to rethink your business and implement business hours. I have so much to say about boundaries as a business owner so maybe I’ll just do another blog post about that!) But for those few times when you have to finish up a gallery, make it cozy and fun and make it not feel like work!
YOU CAN’T FIX A BAD PHOTO
Well, you can try.. but you’re probably not going to like doing it. This sounds harsh.. and I don’t want to hurt any feelings or anything. But think of editing as makeup– makeup is made to enhance people’s natural beauty, not completely change, fix or take away from it. It’s the same way with a photo. If your settings are completely wrong while taking a photo, good luck editing it and liking it. You can definitely do things to help the mistakes you’ve made (my go-to with accidental blurry photos is black and white. It makes a mistake look intentional!). But say your RAW image is shot way way too cool on Kelvin.. well, even if you bring the warmth back in in Lightroom, you still have lost all the natural skin tones, leaving your image flat and bland. So a huge tip here is: learn your camera settings. Be consistent in taking images with correct white balance, exposure, shutter speed etc. And you will find editing to be a million times easier and dare I say enjoyable. Presets look best on properly exposed photos with the correct white balance. The more consistent your RAW images look with eachother, the more consistent your edits will become. And the easier and more enjoyable editing will be in result!
LESS IS MORE
Continuing right along with the makeup analogy, just because you have it in your makeup bag, definitely does not mean you should use it! And it’s the same way with your edits.
If you find yourself tweaking every single option offered to you in Lightroom and staring at the same photo for more than 5 minutes, my advice is: take a break. Go on a walk, get natural light in your eyes and do a little refresh. Then go back to the photo. If it looks wonky and the colors are all over the place and there’s just a strange look to the photo- I think you’ve done too much. Your goal should be keeping your photo as true to life as possible, still with adding your own spin to it. So reset the image, adjust just the shadows, highlights, and white balance. If there’s one color that is an eyesore, reduce it’s saturation. If the skin tones look off, change the hue of the orange. Just do small adjustments and I’m sure you will like the image a whole lot more than the editing cocktail you made prior. You want your images to be timeless. You want your clients to be able to frame these photos on their wall and still think they are beautiful in 15 years. And the best way to ensure that is to keep it as true to life as possible!
REFERENCE A PAST PHOTO YOU LOVE
Lightroom has such a cool feature where you can choose a photo to put beside the photo you are currently editing. I love doing this when I really want my photos to have a cohesive look to them (this also ends up giving your brand a very consistent look- meaning happier clients, because they’re getting exactly what they paid for). To do this, when you’re editing in Lightroom Classic on Desktop in the develop module, right click the edited image you want to set as the reference photo down in the film strip below. Then choose “set as reference photo” and as you edit, you can have the example photo on your screen to compare. This will help you stay on track and get the hang of your overall editing style.
IT’S OKAY TO GET HELP
When I’m in the thick of busy season and I have a session every day during the fall, I barely have time to edit sneak peeks, let alone an entire album! So I outsource my editing when I need the extra help. For me, it helps because I still do all the culling, and I edit my clients sneak peeks (so, my favorite photos from the gallery) then I send that gallery with my edits as a reference for someone to edit for me. When they send the gallery back, I go through it and fine tune/tweak minor details then send off the gallery. For me, it’s worth it because it saves me on time. Now this is not a replacement for someone to do just because they hate editing. This is a tool to help you get through busy season and book more sessions.
So if editing just isn’t your thing, try implementing these tips! And if you still struggle, you can book an editing mentorship with me here. I will edit alongside you, show you what I do to speed up my workflow and what to look for while editing to get the results you want. My goal is for you to enjoy every aspect of photography, and that’s why I do what I do!