At an average shoot I take anywhere from 200-600 photos. Thankfully we have SD cards and digital cameras now! So how do I choose which ones to post process(edit in photo software like Photoshop) and which ones to finally share with you? This is a question I get asked frequently. Today I will share some secrets with you so you can better understand my processes.

When I am shooting, I usually know which photos I am going to really like seeing when I shoot them. Sometimes when I load them up on the computer though at that magnification, I see flaws. This is where editing comes in. I may have shadows or highlights blown out, giving a washed out look or dark look to a part of the photo. Editing brings the image back to what I saw by balancing that light. Sometimes I may have an unwanted scene at the edges so I crop that. Other times the light may be so harsh (shooting on a bright sunny day)that it washes out colors in the image, and I will need to adjust color.  Editing cannot  always overcome the lighting conditions, and I have to hit delete and try again to shoot the image another day.

Caught in the Web

The image above was taken right after I upgraded to my Nikon D7100. My friend and fellow photographer DK Hawk were taking photos at Howard County Conservancy to try out my new equipment.  In the woods we came across lots of webs like these. The sun was near perfect on this web, and after shooting about 50 photos, I chose this one. All I had to do was sharpen the image a touch and deepen the contrast to highlight the sun. The natural setting gave me the rest!

Cooling Off

I took the above image at the Baltimore Zoo. Again I shot lots of photos of this elephant dousing himself with water. I played with many of them  to see what I could do, but only two made the final cut. Both of them got very little editing because the action was perfect. I sharpened and cropped so the focus was on the Bull and his actions.

Cooling Off t the Baltimore Zoo

This second one made Photo of the Day  at Capture Maryland.

So which elephant do you like better? Please let me know!

Hopefully I have given you a little insight into the process of creating a photo. In the old days, we got what we shot. Nowadays we get a little help after we shoot.

Recently the below photo(taken with a point and shoot) won Photo of the Day

End of Summer Bloom

Dora and Sharon were also winners this week. They each get a free photo for commenting on my site! All those who comment get automatically entered into a free drawing to win one of the featured photos.

Thanks for supporting my work and enjoy!