It’s not often I focus on post-processing but today’s the day! I’ve posted this already on my social media feed already so if you follow me, you won’t be too surprised.
I’ve been itching for the right opportunity, after the couple of fashion shoots I had a few months back, to get more acquainted with beauty retouching skills using LR and had my first proper go at it recently.
I was messing around with my Fuji x100s and decided to use one of the shots with myself as my very own model.
Here’s the original shot:
This was taken in natural light in my bathroom (because that’s where the best lighting is at).
I wasn’t wearing make up (except some worn off eyebrow pencil lol) and wanted to keep the natural look but bring out spark from the image.
I fiddled around with my existing presets and quickly realised they weren’t doing any justice so I pretty much started afresh.
I made the usual basic changes – adjusting exposure, shadows and clarity. Then I proceeded with the spot healing tool to clear the tired eyes, adjustment brush to smoothen the skin and graduated filter to even out the light falling on the left side of my face from the window.
Here are the results:
I learned a lot to say the least which even included using dodge to emphasise catch light in the eyes.
Although it’s not perfect, I’m quite pleased with the results especially because I feel the picture still has a natural look to it. Every photographer differs in their approach to Post Processing. For me, whilst it’s a vital part of the process, I place more emphasis on capturing the right image. Post Processing, for me, is for bringing out the spark that I see not transforming an image to a different end product. Besides this I can’t stand the idea of intricate Post Processing because I like to keep things very simple for myself.
I love that Photography continues to challenge me. I firmly believe that if you’re passionate about something you’ll learn more about it and grow in the process ☺️
Hope you enjoyed the post. Feel free to leave a comment below – don’t be a stranger!