Thoughts on Editing

I've been working alot in Lightroom this week, trying to get more familiar with it, and developing a workflow. I have also selected a few photos and worked for a long time on them, trying to find good editing style for me.

I like photos that have bright, vibrant colors. Having a photo completely in focus is a must for me, and I really try not to crop off limbs. I want my photos to look real, not all hazy and dreamy, but also not over-edited.

I really admire photographers who do not edit. For one thing, they don't have to spend nearly as much time processing, and they also can spend more time learning how to use their camera to the best of their ability.

It is my goal to get everything right in camera....white balance, focus, cropping, and other things, like making sure there is nothing I don't want in the photo. 

Look at the photo below... 

In the before version, you can see the tip of a red scooter handle right next to his head. I really didn't notice that when I was shooting the photo, but when I went in to edit, it bothered me. I tried to edit it out, but it kind of failed (as you can see :P). I want to notice those kinds of things, and fix them before I take the photo.

Anyway, that was a little bit rambling and I don't know if you got anything out of it. 

Oh well. Enjoy the photos!

HDR Effect?

Do you remember my post about HDR?

Well, since then, I've doing more researching and reading about HDR.

And I've found out how to simulate the HDR look in Lightroom.

I took some photos of beautiful sunsets while on a trip last week,

and I decided to try something.

 You see this photo? The sky is a lovely color. but the waves are so dark...what if I lightened the photo so that the waves are exposed properly...?

Ta da! But look at the poor sky. Washed out. :( So much for that.

But then I remembered something. Lightroom has this awesome tool called "adjustment brush".

You can set exposure, clarity, sharpness, saturation, etc, and then "paint" it on the photo wherever you want it. 

So:

I took the adjustment brush and lowered the exposure just a tad. 

Then I painted over the top quarter of the photo, where the sky is. 

See? It is darker. The photo is way more balanced, and it has an HDRish look to it!

Isn't that awesome!?

Naturally, I went crazy with it, and had a ball editing these next photos. :D

Those stars made my day :)

Okay, now you go try! It isn't hard. If you don't have Lightroom, don't despair. Look around a bit, and you might find other options. I've heard good things about GIMP, a free photo editing program. 

I'd love to see your edits! 

(Feel free to leave a comment with a link. :))

Service Trip!

Swinging with friends on the rope course

Last week I went on a kind of mission trip with a group of around 60 high school students.

Here are a few photos from our adventure!

This is where we worked for a few days....helping back fill houses with dirt for local flood victims.

I worked at this church one day, chipping away at the concrete walls.

Hey, are you impressed?! I actually got in some of these photos ;D Thanks to friends who took photos of me!

The beach at the camp we stayed at.

There were some lovely sunsets...I'll be posting more photos of them later ;)

Braiding hair....

A glimpse of the camp we stayed at...

Water balloon wars! :D

Dinner

We pulled some great pranks...like stringing the openings of the bunkbeds. ;D

This cat was at one of the churches we worked at. I had never seen a cat with two different colored eyes, and this one was stunning!

Loading up the baggage for the ride home...

Love this photo!

We worked a ton, learned a lot, built some great relationships, and grew in Christ. It was a wonderful trip! :)

Home Sweet Home

 

I have been gone for a week on a service week/mission trip, and I'm working on getting photos imported and edited to share with you. :)

It was a wonderful time of sweating, serving, and growing in Christ with an amazing group of high school students. 

 

(But it's great to be home again!)