Sunday Spotlight On: Editing

Once upon a time there was an art student who became undecided about her editing process. She was unsure if she should try color, black and white or the fancy filters that are sold online by the dozens. In the process of being undecided, she left images to sit and sit for days without any attention at all….

This character in this story sounds really familiar. Matter of fact, it sounds like me! I am so bad about creating images and once I pull them up onto my iMac I become so undecided about the editing process that I just walk away only to come back weeks or months later and still no process. Here is what my workflow consists of:

1.     Plan, plan and plan

I like to get a concept when I shoot for my creative psyche down to hair and makeup, styling, location and I always need to have a theme. It makes me follow through without having to continuously change the entire shoot. I always like to have control and know what I am doing so that I can just go in, set up and shoot.

Quiana P Jackson. Untitled, 2014

2.     Shoot

So today is the big day! After I already used up a lot of time when it came to planning, I just go in and jump right into it. Although there is more that goes along with this step such as checking the lighting and doing some warm up shots, it goes pretty smooth. Occasionally I have to tell the model how to pose if she is not use to it, but I have been lucky that these last past years since moving to Hawaii, these girls know their stuff!

3.     Transfer images to the computer

This is my giddy moment because I really want to see these on the “big screen.” After I back up the images in Lightroom, my external hard drive and then onto another hard drive, I pull the images up in Bridge and select the ones that I want to use.

4.     Halt

Okay why does my workflow always seem to stop here?

5.     Halt again (a week later)

Still stuck

6.     Halt again (a month later)

Still stuck

Quiana P Jackson. Untitled, 2014 

It seems that I can never just get past step four. This never happens when I am doing my documentary work nor my photojournalism work. It's always when I am shooting something for myself to remain creative. After this last shoot that I done in March, I finally got around to editing the photos and yes I know it is now May. My problem is postproduction because I can never decide if my work is good enough, or the direction that I want the image to go in. Due to being so busy working on my thesis, I finally put the finishing touches on the selected images and I must say that I am happy with the way that I went with them. I had to rearrange my workflow to include postproduction in the planning section. If I am shooting bright vibrant colors then I know that I will work in color, and if I am shooting an emotional image, then probably black and white. In the end the image will speak for itself and let you know what it should look like.

Since my time is winding down at the school I want the new students to know that the instructors are not just here for you when you are their students. I guarantee that if you reach out to them and ask for their opinion through a phone call or email, they will give you all the help that you need. All you have to do is reach out and ask for help. I was given advice on the images that I posted with this blog from an instructor that I had months ago! He was willing to help and I was willing to listen. 

I wish that you all could see the rest of the photos from this collection! Due to nudity I had to crop a lot from the above photo.

I am your Sunday Funday Ambassador!

Happy Shooting!