Editing images with intent

These last six months my photo taking has gotten slower and my editing has gotten faster. It almost seems like I just rush to get my photos done so I can blog and then show everyone what we have been up to these days. The format was getting very stale for me and although I love sharing my images with my family and I know so many of you are reading and getting updates about our life through my blog it was just missing something.

I realized I wanted to refine my skills in Lightroom, or at least that is what I thought my issues was. I am bored, so its time to learn a new trick and try to figure out something new. Then I came across a book that hit the mark perfectly for me. The book is about Lightroom, theoretically, but really the point is all about editing your images with intent. Seriously, think about that...

How often are you going through a session spitting out image after image, trying to create a look because it is the new trend, or you saw someone else creating it and thought it was beautiful so you want to do it yourself. There is purpose behind imitation, but finding your own voice is equally as important. As this book taught me, it works for some images but not all.

Then I thought of my editing process for my family photos. Basically I get a look going for one situation and then copy and paste it for all the rest of the photos, highlighting the eyes doing some other tweaks here and there, but I am never really trying to think of what my image is trying to convey or what originally inspired me when I shot that image. Am I really shooting with intent these days or just taking pictures?

Since I shoot constantly I will admit not everything is going to lend itself to some form of art and major editing. Let's take this shoot from yesterday. I was outside playing with the boys. The minute I took my camera out Erik started acting silly and I got some fun pictures of him at his insistance. These almost lend them self to same edits because they are fun, but I just capturing the energy. I have no idea how to edit with intent for these images.

Then something magical happened, Erik stopped for a minute, and I got this real expression of him contemplating, and I had a very clear intent when I took it. So I really tried to look at this picture and figure out what it is that I loved about it and why I took it. It was his expression and the far away look he has, so I edited to highlight his face and create a mood in the rest of the picture that would not detract from his face. Burning in the background and softening his face, and highlight his eyes which establish the whole mood.

I am definitely a work in progress when it comes to this whole intent thing, and some images are easier to figure out than others. I think it going to take a lot of practice to come up with my voice and what I want to do with it.

Here is my favorite image from that day. Right now Elliot is in a crying phase. If his brother looks at him wrong he starts crying hysterically, if he gets the wrong car he is mad, you name it anything can set him off. So I really wanted to step back a minute and capture this moment with my two year old.

This was an easy image to edit. I knew exactly what my intent was, to capture the pure exaggerated emotion on his face. So I wanted everything else to pale in comparison to his face. So I dodged his face, added a bunch of clarity and deepened the shadows. I wanted to make sure you could see the snot dripping from his nose and that everything else in the background was blurred out and not distracting.

I have a couple more that I played with and tried to bring out the faces of Erik and Elliot, but really I am not sure what my intent was by taking the pictures. For Erik I like his expression, for Elliot it was just so rare that he stared into the camera. This is where I need practice while I am shooting and editing, why did I really take this picture and now what...

Then here are the rest of the images I didn't mess with much because honestly I am not sure what to do besides some simple exposure and face edits.

After having all these images with no intent it is really making me rethink my role as an artist and start really thinking through my images as I take them. There is always room for fun in there, and gorgeous pictures of my kids. For every session there is a gem or 5 star image and I really want to start editing with a purpose.