Before and After -- Simon's First Birthday

A few weeks ago, I was lucky enough to photograph an adorable first birthday party. As I was editing the photos, I thought it was a good time for another Before and After blog post to show you how impactful the editing process can be.

This was a great photo of the arrival of one of the guests, but the original photo was crooked, had shadows and the colors are a bit dull. So, I pulled out the guests into a smaller frame so that they are front and center and made the photo black and white as opposed to color.

The original photo of this precious baby was far too dark. You could not even make out his sweet little cheeks or the little tuft of hair shining through the sunshine in the original. But the edited one lets you know that this little guy is happily playing.

On the other side of the spectrum, the lighting in this photograph was too light and harsh. Making the photo black and white as well as adjusting different elements of the lighting helps tremendously.

The original of this photo is fine. It's adorable, in fact. But the edited photo makes the colors pop so much better and gives the photo a bit more whimsy than the original.

The most important thing to me in this photo is the grandmother's face as she hugs her grandbaby. So I took all the other stuff out of there and let them be front and center. I also exaggerated the contrast and crispness so that her expression really stands out.