Adding That Magic Touch
After my shoot, the next step in the process is to get the pictures ready for the page. Overall, we took around 200 pictures, and I have just finished narrowing them down to around 20. I know, it was a process. Surprisingly, however, that was just the first step. The next step is editing the photos.
For this part of the process, I decided to use the photo editing app VSCO. This is an app I use regularly when editing my own pictures for Instagram, and so I wanted to use it because I am already familiar with the platform. The app is easy to use and can be operated on my phone. There are no fancy gadgets that I wouldn't even know how to use, and this also prevents me from editing my photos too much. Photoshop is a controversial topic in the model industry as many publications retouch photos to make unrealistic body types even more unattainable. I do not want to feed into this toxicity of furthering unrealistic body standards through photoshop so, with VSCO, I only retouched the coloring of the photos, not Joanne's actual body.
In editing my photos, I pretty much used the same process. First I picked the filter C1, which is a personal favorite of mine because it adds a chromatic look. Then I turned the filter down from level 10 to around level 5, so that it looked more natural. Then I went to the saturation and upped the saturation levels of the pictures to around level 1. This added a little more color that the chromatic filter may have stripped away and highlighted the natural light that was already in the photos. Next, I retouched the tone and the highlights of my photo to showcase more details of the picture and make hidden aspects more visible. Finally, I played with the white balance to add more blue and pink hues just because I like the way it looks. Here's a video I made of my editing process by recording my screen:
On the left is the original picture and on the right is the retouched version. I wanted to make the new changes subtle but not pointless. As you can see, I added to the color definition, especially the pink undertones.
Again, with the edits, the natural colors of the pictures are able to pop and elevate the entire look of the shots entirely. Especially in this photo, where Joanne was not in the direct sunlight, the saturation adds a layer of light that was there in the other shots.
A cool thing about editing these pictures was the ability to elevate the color green in post-production. The color was already there in Joanne's pants and the trees in the background, but by increasing the saturation and leveling out the tones, the greens were able to harmonize and bring the whole picture together.
Overall, post-production effects went very well and I am happy with how the final products turned out. Now, the next step is to get these masterpieces on a page and lay out the final workings of my vision.
For this part of the process, I decided to use the photo editing app VSCO. This is an app I use regularly when editing my own pictures for Instagram, and so I wanted to use it because I am already familiar with the platform. The app is easy to use and can be operated on my phone. There are no fancy gadgets that I wouldn't even know how to use, and this also prevents me from editing my photos too much. Photoshop is a controversial topic in the model industry as many publications retouch photos to make unrealistic body types even more unattainable. I do not want to feed into this toxicity of furthering unrealistic body standards through photoshop so, with VSCO, I only retouched the coloring of the photos, not Joanne's actual body.
In editing my photos, I pretty much used the same process. First I picked the filter C1, which is a personal favorite of mine because it adds a chromatic look. Then I turned the filter down from level 10 to around level 5, so that it looked more natural. Then I went to the saturation and upped the saturation levels of the pictures to around level 1. This added a little more color that the chromatic filter may have stripped away and highlighted the natural light that was already in the photos. Next, I retouched the tone and the highlights of my photo to showcase more details of the picture and make hidden aspects more visible. Finally, I played with the white balance to add more blue and pink hues just because I like the way it looks. Here's a video I made of my editing process by recording my screen:
This formula worked well with every picture I liked and allowed them all to have the same cohesive feel. Here are some comparisons of the before and after of the pictures:
Again, with the edits, the natural colors of the pictures are able to pop and elevate the entire look of the shots entirely. Especially in this photo, where Joanne was not in the direct sunlight, the saturation adds a layer of light that was there in the other shots.
A cool thing about editing these pictures was the ability to elevate the color green in post-production. The color was already there in Joanne's pants and the trees in the background, but by increasing the saturation and leveling out the tones, the greens were able to harmonize and bring the whole picture together.
Overall, post-production effects went very well and I am happy with how the final products turned out. Now, the next step is to get these masterpieces on a page and lay out the final workings of my vision.
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