How I edit your newborn photos
Ever wondered how I get from this to this?
In this post I will explain how I edit your photos from your newborn photography session. If you’ve seen a bit of my work, you’ll know my style is natural, clean and timeless. I like to edit this way because it won’t go out of fashion and it keeps the colours relatively true to life.
Step 1 - Backup your photos
The very first thing I do after your photoshoot is backup your photos. I have three backup copies saved within hours of your photoshoot ending. I also have invested in a top of the line camera that actually has two card slots for extra protection against corruption!
Side story on why I do this: When I was first starting out I had a maternity shoot and long story short my card somehow corrupt after the session. It was some kind of freak accident and I had to reshoot the whole session. I could vomit just thinking about how stressed I was and how bad I felt. But these things happen and now I make sure I do everything in my power to avoid these situations. Shout out to Mandy who kept coming back and is still a loyal client to this very day. You are the real MVP.
Step 2 - Cull your images (otherwise known as ‘pick the best ones’)
This is one of the most important steps. I go through every photo that I took from your session and flag the best ones as favourites. I eliminate duplicates or extremely similar photos and choose the best photos. If I really can’t decide between two similar photos I will keep them both in your gallery. Who knows which one you would prefer and I would rather you choose, it’s your baby! Usually my newborn galleries have anywhere from 60-80 final images.
Step 3 - Import to Lightroom and apply my favourite preset
I then import all of the best images into Lightroom, which is a professional editing software I use. I make adjustments to exposure and then apply my favourite preset which I have tweaked over the years to my own personal style.
I then make more adjustments to colour and cropping before bringing all your photos into Photoshop where I do my final edit.
Steps 4 - Edit images in photoshop
Each photo is then individually edited in photoshop. I like to keep my photos relatively natural so I don’t go overboard with heavily smoothing skin or manipulating the photo too much. In my opinion it’s beautiful to see your newborn’s flakey skin, it’s a reminder of how fresh and new they really are to the world. I do however remove temporary blemishes/bruises/scratches. I also edit the blanket and smooth out wrinkles in it if need be to make sure the focus is on your baby. I make sure the colours are correct and the photo is print ready. I also choose some photos to do a black and white edit on (not every photo suits black and white). Your edited photos are then backed up again.
Step 5 - Upload to your gallery.
After editing your photos I like to come back to them on another day with a fresh set of eyes to check over them and make sure everything looks good. When you’ve been glued to a screen all day editing, it’s nice to come back and double check everything is perfect with a fresh outlook.
You’re photos are then uploaded to your own personal online gallery that is password protected ready for your family to view and choose a collection.
Here is a snippet from a full gallery:
I hope this gave you a bit of insight of what happens behind the scenes and how much time and effort goes into your final images. Editing is not a click of a button but a skill that has been mastered over years of experience, learning and perfecting.
Are you expecting soon? Enquire today about my newborn sessions.
