Photography is so much more than just taking pictures with a camera. There’s a whole other step in the process that results in a completed image, and sometimes this step can be overlooked. Editing plays such a huge role in not only how your images look, but how your clients look, too! It’s important to master the art of editing, just as much as mastering the art of posing and shooting. On this episode, my photographer friend and master editor, Mylyn Wood joins me to share her top editing tips of the trade that can help you achieve more consistent and professional images. These strategies could ultimately give you that luxury look you’ve been trying to achieve, but maybe you didn’t know how… until now. Hit play.

About Mylyn Wood:

Mylyn is a talented photographer and expert image editor based in Albany, Oregon. Her photography work has been featured in several wedding publications such as: Oregon Bride Magazine, Bajan Wed, ruffled, Oh Lovely Day and many others. She is not only known for her recognizable photography style, but her expert photo editing education and services for photographers all over the world.

Developing Your Distinct Style:

One of the highest honors as an artist is having your own distinct style that people can recognize without your name right next to it. When developing this style, you not only have to determine what aspects of shooting creates that look, but what aspects of editing do too. You can’t just choose a photo you love and say “I want my work to look like this photo.” It’s important to dive into why you love that photo? What aspects are you drawn to? Is it the warm or cool tones? The contrast? Lighting? Is it the composition or the wardrobe? Make a list of these things and refer back to it often so you can make sure you’re creating a cohesive and consistent look from image to image and client to client.

Next, lighting and metering is SO important! If your foundation for editing isn’t rock solid, then you’re not going to achieve the look you want. Take the time to master the art of shooting, and editing becomes a whole lot easier and more enjoyable. (Shameless plug for my photography course, The Profitable Portfolio, where you can learn how to photograph, pose and more to achieve the look you AND your clients desire.)

Editing for Skintones:

One of the biggest struggles with beginner photographers is editing and achieving the perfect skin tones. It’s important not to make your clients look green, grey, orange, or any other crazy color of the rainbow. Whether it’s caused by a color-cast or bad editing, matching to your client’s true skin tone is key to achieving consistency and luxury photographer status. This is why while editing your photos, skin tones should always, always, always be the priority!

Whether it’s using a different film stock or editing preset that best represents each different skin tone, pay close attention to what makes your clients look their best. Don’t just stick to one standard setup. I love to choose my film stock based on the skin tones I’ll be shooting. Here are my film stock suggestions, but I encourage you to play around and test what stock, scanner, and edits make your clients look their best!

Film Stocks and Skin Tones:

• Rosy and Asian skin tones, use Fuji 400H
• Black and brown skin tones, use Portra 160 and Portra 800
• Latino skin tones, use Portra 400
• Understand each film stock’s nuances. Since Portra has pink undertones and Fuji has yellow, use that to your advantage.

Mylyn had a great suggestion specifically for editing skin tones. When trying to get a good white balance when you have different color casts, try zooming into something white (attire, teeth, eyes) and use the white balance dropper to get a base setting to work towards regulated skin tones.

Tools and Tips of the Trade:

To end this episode, Mylyn and I both shared some of our favorite hacks for editing and shooting consistently and professionally so that you can get started right away with creating more consistent and beautiful images!

Mylyn’s Tools and Tips of the Trade:

• Choose your film scanner based on the colors of the shoot. For shoots with more warm tones and details, scan through Frontier because it will pull those colors together instead of accentuating the warmth.
• Use an editing PROFILE versus a PRESET. (Check out Archetype Process here) When adjusting a photo after applying a preset, you will mess with the entire preset, versus a profile which is much more easily adjusted.
• Use the heal tool in Lightroom for small and simple edits instead of bringing the photo into Photoshop
• Copy and paste edits to multiple photos in the same lighting scenario to speed up your editing process (make adjustments as needed).
• For eye bags, wrinkles, etc, photoshop gives you a more detailed edit.

D’Arcy’s Tools and Tips of the Trade:

• Set your custom white balance in-camera to about 5000 kelvin depending on how warm or cool your lighting situation is.
• Choose your film stock based on skin tones (see above suggestions)
• Use your adjustment brush to apply clarity to your focal points like eyes, lips, or other details so that they stand out just a little bit more.
• Use the adjustment brush to edit specific areas of a photo, such as lowering the contrast of hair to match the look of film, raise the vibrance of lips, etc.
• Have a discussion with your clients before retouching physical attributes.

If you want to really perfect your editing process and final images, check out her editing courses here. If you have less time than money, and you’re in need of an editor to take that task off your plate, then contact Mylyn to inquire about her editing services here.

Check It Out!

• Mylyn’s Courses
• Follow Mylyn on Instagram
• Visit Mylyn’s website
• Refined Presets
• Archetype Process Profiles – Get 15% off with code DARCY
• The Profitable Portfolio (my photography course)