photographer = photoshopper?

Being a photographer,

I am told many many many times,

“you can just Photoshop it out.”

So from my experiences,

I have concluded that the general population believes

a photographer = photoshopper.

What they don’t know,

is that my goal as a photographer,

is to not spend my day,

or even a full hour in Photoshop!!!

I use Lightroom to cull and edit my images

and Photoshop only if some heavy editing needs to be done.

I try to get every component of the photo correct and precise

Therefore, if a groomsman is holding a beer during formal bridal party photos

and they don’t want to run and put it down on the ground,

instead they yell, “you can just Photoshop it out!”

You betcha I will take 30 seconds to run and take the beer out of their hand myself,

instead of spending 15 minutes of my time in Photoshop!!

That being said,

I also believe digital photographer’s should know the basics of Photoshop.

I am definitely not a professional photoshopper…

Anyways,

yesterday I was practicing the craft of composites in Photoshop.

(A composite is an image that is made from the combination of multiple images)

I have only done these a handful of times

simply because I haven’t had the need to do them.

(But should the need arise, I will be able to provide that for my client)

I took photos of my cousins the other day,

with seven children in the frame,

the odds of having everyone’s eyes open at the same time are slim!!

In the end, I did get a few good shots of the kids,

so I did not have the need to create a composite,

but regardless, I think my aunt will appreciate the final product,

and it was a good opportunity to practice in Photoshop.

There were pro’s and con’s to each image, neither are perfect,

so I decided to merge my favorite parts of each image into one image:

On another photography note,

for my portrait sessions,

I have been using a reflector at times.

I don’t use it often in my work,

but when I really need to,

I think the difference is pretty awesome!

Here are two images straight out of camera (SOOC) with no editing,

without a reflector and with a reflector.

This post reflect’s my personal opinions.

Other photographer’s will agree or disagree,

but that’s what is great, 

we are all different!