The Simple OCF Edit

Maybe one of my favorite things about OCF is how little editing is involved. When I can control my light my images come out very close to my ideal SOOC.

My main goal when shooting is always to do as much as I can in-camera so that I can avoid having to spend time editing.

I thought I would share my basic edit here for anyone who is interested.

Basic Lightroom Edit

I always start in LR and only move an image into Photoshop when I have to clone extensively or extend a backdrop.

This image was underexposed straight out of the camera.

The first thing I did was crop the image and then did a basic edit for the exposure.
You can see the changes I made in the exposure panel to the right.

I added a slight s-curve to the tone curve area.

After those changes, I move onto cloning out any distractions.

I used the brush tool to clone out several distractions in the frame.

I also added a gradient (pictures in the image below) to reduce the exposure on the right side of the image so that the light fell mostly on my daughter.

At this point, I was pretty happy with the image and felt that it only needed a few other tweaks.

I prefer subdued tones and choose to reduce the saturation of the necklace and the flowers in order to tone down the hues in the pinks and blues.

I used the brush and clone tool to lighten the shadow on the white pitcher.

I spend most of my time editing dodging and burning. I love to dodge and burn fabrics, hair, and florals to give the image a painterly look. I overdid the dodging on the dress in order to show you where I would dodge.

Here is my final Lightroom Edit that I would be happy to share or print.

Here is my final version compared to my SOOC image.

I leave lines and marks if they are a permanent part of the child but I do remove blemishes or other temporary marks.

I left the bruises on her legs because they are marks from her playing and I think they are a lovely symbol of a playful childhood.

How heavily you edit is a personal call and I recommend you go with the look you like. I like to see skin texture and lines so this style of edit works well with my personal taste and vision.

Do you like to edit? I would love to see a recent edit that you are proud of!

Share your images and ask questions in the comments.

Happy creating

-Leah