As a photographer you have one of 2 choices, learn how to edit, or pay someone else to do it for you. Let’s start by saying that you at least need to know the basics to have decent photos.
For pro’s, it’s more of leveling up your game as the tech grows. I know 4 years ago when I got serious about photography and making a career out of it, I couldn’t do much in either Lightroom or photoshop. Now, the apps have grown so much that it’s easy to do things I had to pay an editor to do for me.
There are also bonus apps or plug-ins, even presets that do amazing things with the click of a button. One such plug-in is Portraiture, which is basically in simple terms an A.I. program that does skin smoothing to the next level without having to know all the things, worth the expense of the app though.
Take the above photo, and look at how the 2 halves are different images. One half is really light making the wall look crappy, the other I changed the lighting on the wall to darken it, and then did my basic skin smoothing, and editing presets, I played with the highlights on her skin to bring in some color so she wasn’t so whitewashed.
Though I will say this because I changed the wall color, this becomes a composite image, even if I don’t use photoshop, so be aware to change colors or parts of images, that’s a higher-end image, and usually reflects that in the cost, as they take more time on the back end to create.
My style of editing is my style and changes as I learn and grow as an artist.
The image above is another from the same set, I exposed for highlights on the black sheets which did blow out the skin tones and the lights. to correct that in the post, I made several masks, selecting her body, the wall, and the black sheet. The sheet I wanted to leave it alone for the most part as it came out perfect, the wall I darkened again to make it moodier, her body I corrected the blown-out highlights and smooth the skin tones, and matched them with the lighting.
Oh, and did you know I have learned more since I edited these images, and upgraded my tech as well? It’s a journey, not a destination. Walk with me and let’s help each other grow.