As promised this is my second instalment from the fabulous Laura Jenkinson from Ticking Stripe Photography. You can see her previous post here on how to capture perfect pictures of your children. Laura’s photos are just divine, they are so whimsical and magical with the most beautiful colours, if you don’t believe me just take a look at her Instagram account. Next up is her knowledge on how to edit the shots once we have them. I discard so many photos due to being too bright/too dark and just not being happy with them. Here Laura shares her tricks of the trade.
Your images have quite a timeless feel to them. Can you explain how you achieve that look?
I think that timeless element is something that has gradually emerged in my photography style and has connected me to some of the brands I now work with. I would say that in most of my images, there is an element of styling that goes on, whether that’s through the clothing choices or the backgrounds that I’m using. I think a lot about colour, light and tones these days and am constantly on the look out for new locations. For example, we’ve recently moved to a new city and one of the first places I noticed, was a run down launderette. The muted colours of the industrial size washing machines really appealed to me. As soon as I stepped inside, I knew I wanted to do a shoot there! Once I’ve been inspired by a place, that’s when I start to think about the styling. For this shoot, we picked out the clothes together but also needed a prop (that wasn’t a basket of washing) … and my daughter suggested using this old 1980’s Beano, which gave her something to read and looked great.
Before Editing
After Editing
Inside the launderette the lighting was very harsh, there were strip lights above us and a stark winter light through the shop front, so I knew that this would be something that I’d have to address in post production. One of the first changes I made was to crop the image, so that less of the grey part of the machine was visible, and the green colour framed the photograph instead. Although this side view of the machines was great, there were a number of brightly coloured signs on the wall and a label on the machine that I removed in Photoshop, as they distracted focus. I then adjusted the overall brightness, boosted the highlights and sharpened some of the details to give Kitty’s face a bit more luminosity. Another technique which I think can really help draw you in to an image and give it that slightly vintage touch, is to vignette the edges. I used the burn tool in Photoshop to do this, but Instagram and Snapseed have their own presets to create a similar effect. Finally I bleached out the image and slightly changed the contrast to make it more muted … (but you could also use the ‘fade’ tool on Instagram to get a similar look).
Is the process different when you are working with a brand?
I’ve been very fortunate in that many of the brands I’ve worked with, have been drawn to a similar aesthetic – they all have elements of whimsical, vintage and classic. Although the brand may choose the location and models, there is usually a great deal of collaboration about the style and look of the images or the story they want to tell.
Perhaps one of the main differences with regards to the editing process would be that, if you are shooting a look book for example, you would be more aware of continuity of light and style which perhaps with a personal project wouldn’t be the case. For example with this image, captured last summer for Elfie London’s SS18 collection, in the pool house. The shoot was really relaxed and informal, the models were dressed and then free to wander round and explore in the beautiful gardens. This little girl entered the pool house and was watching the other children, as they clambered up to take a look at the pool. It was a totally candid image (shot whilst walking backwards down a step!) There was no time to alter the exposure or deal with the glare from the window. I’m still glad that I took it and was later able to tweak it. The first step of the editing process was to use the sliders to change the exposure and lighten the whole image. Immediately this made the clothes look clearer and sharper. I chose to crop out the window (as the light was too glaring) and remove some of the cracked paint on the left hand wall. I sharpened the model’s eyes and slightly faded the coral tones of the wall to compliment the colour of her hair. I then lifted the colour of the mosaic so that it blended into the background wall a bit more. None of these things are drastic changes but when combined, they can really help to achieve a different look or help your images to stand out.
Before editing
After editing
Any more tips you can share about editing in general?
Don’t disregard an image if it doesn’t immediately jump out at you. Sometimes its tempting to dismiss a shot and then after cropping it right down dramatically, the details are honed in on, it is transformed. For example, this photo of Bea, was a test shot, but once it was cropped, I really liked it.
Before editing
After editing
Something that I’ve started to do recently with personal projects, is to do a first edit and then leave them for a quite a few weeks. Re-visiting a set of images can give you such a fresh take on them and ones that you might have overlooked initially, can become favourites. Lastly, I would say, don’t be afraid to play around with your editing style and technique. The whole Instagram culture has led to a bit of a pre occupation about achieving a very ‘uniform’ look to your feed, which can really inhibit your creativity. There are loads of online videos and tutorials which can take you step by step through each process and allow you to try out different looks. Personally, I am far more inspired by photographers who have a sense of their own style but are prepared to shake things up a bit and let each image speak for itself.
I will definitely be taking on these ideas and having a mess about with my photos. Do any of you have fabulous tips for making your photos pop? I’d love to hear them. Also is there anything else you would like guidance with. I’d love to have some ideas of blog posts you would love to see on here.
Shelley x
