The Photographic Process

Have you ever wondered about the steps that go into the process that turns a twinkle in my imagination into the image you view on your screen? I was thinking about the different passes I make on my photos before they're ready for sharing (because it's something I do on a pretty much daily basis), and I decided to write them out. Having written them out, I thought I'd share them with you. I've written about the creative process behind bringing a photographic idea to fruition before, but this is more of a focus on the technical aspect.

1. I grab my camera and shoot some pictures.

2. If I've shot any self-timer pictures on my phone (which is the majority of what I shoot these days), I have to go through and reduce each shot from 10 consecutive frames down to 1 (or more, if it's an action shot). That's just how the self-timer on an iPhone works - it takes a burst of 10 images for whatever reason, making my job harder.

3. When I get home (if I'm not already there), I transfer the files to my desktop computer.

4. I usually do this later in the process, after I've finished the still images (because it takes more time), but I'll view any videos I've recorded, and screencap interesting frames.

5. I review my photos (or captured video frames), pick out the ones that stand out, and edit them (lightly) in Lightroom.

6. I touch up the edited photos in Photoshop (again, lightly), to remove visual distractions such as moles and wrinkles on my body, or carpet lint, etc. This is something I've gotten into the habit of doing more and more over the years.

7. Sometimes I'll perform further functions in Photoshop (or Paint) - e.g., to create clone shots or polyptychs or animated gifs (I use GIMP for this). In the case of videos, I may need to edit, cut or combine files in MovieMaker.

8. I add watermarks to all images I intend to share online, and reduce them to web-ready sizes (because I'm not going to share high-resolution pics for no reason).

9. I wait for the right moment to post, sometimes writing down thoughts and observations to accompany the images.