Experimenting with Post-Processing Techniques

Lately, I’ve been spending a lot of time experimenting with and perfecting my post-processing techniques. I find that I am leaning more towards that luminous, saturated look that is achieved when you brighten and boost. (lighten + contrast) I have also been learning how to sharpen my photos more judiciously in hopes that they will look more naturally crisp without looking like I just ran an unsharp mask. I know that not everyone agrees with the philosophy of post-processing but we here at Grace Leigh Photography are incredibly huge fans of the extra artistic touch that it adds to our images. We feel that photography is an art that includes not only the light-capturing & shutter-clicking but the creative development after the fact. Here’s an example of a SOOC (straight out of camera) shot compared with it’s processed version. Is it a drastic comparison? Yes. Is it over-processed? I believe that is relative. I would say “no” since I intentionally wanted a heavily saturated, high-contrast look. You may feel differently. Check it out:

Here are a few additional images I’ve been working on that represent this luminous look I’ve been trying to achieve. I feel they have been tastefully processed and the end result is simply a clean, clear, pretty image.