Before and After.

Over the years I have learned that a good photograph sometimes needs a little tweeking or enhancing.  There is a lot of schools of thought into how much is acceptable and when it is pushed over the boundaries.  However as I researched photography and those who have worked with the medium since it's inception, I have found few case where a straight print works all on its own.

The greats have always worked their images to make them appear the way they envisioned and as I have grown I have come to the comfortable realization that I can achieve the same.  Now I am not claim to be a "great", but I do believe in the practice of post production to make my work stronger.  Today I would like to share two examples of my process as it relates to my iPhone photography.

Example 1.  I found this flower at a mall in Lakeview her in Calgary.  I moved in as close as I could to get the flower sharp and took this first image.

Once I returned home I opened the photo in Snapseed and took the following steps.

1.  Cropped it square so to share easily on Instagram. (If I want a rectangle image I have to down load the file to my computer and ad white canvas to make it square in order to share.)

2.  I adjusted the white balance to warm up the scene.

3.  I used the center focus filter to darken the edges and soften the background.

4.  I selected the frame I wanted.

5.  I opened the file in iPhoto and eliminated the white specks and some of the other spots I found distracting to the eye.

These steps resulted in the photo below.

Example 2.  There were some small sunflowers next to the previous flower and I cropped in camera with the iPhone to get the area I wanted to work with.

Again I started with Snapseed.

1.  Cropped it square.

2.  Using the Black and White filter I converted it using the green filter and then worked with the contrast and brightness to get close to what I was looking for.

3.  I used the selective adjust to brighten the centre portion of the flower and darken a few areas I felt needed it (In essence dodging and burning).

4.  I selected the frame I wanted.

5.  I opened the file in iPhoto and eliminated some spots I did not like.

These steps resulted in the photo below.

So that is a brief look at my process that I do on pretty well all the photo's I share.  If you have any questions or comments please post them bellow or contact me via e-mail.

I close with a photo of Luke and Cool as they get ready to return to school this morning.  It was a good first day and they were excited to get back.  Post processing for this was done using the earlybird filter native to Instagram (one of the few times I have used this apps filters).