Don't ditch those dull pics just yet

It's a given that you're going to have images during a session that just didn't turn out the way you wished they would have. If you're a photographer, you probably know what I'm talking about. You take what you think is a great image, everything looks like it should on camera, but when you get home and upload the image to your computer, you see that it didn't turn out the way you wanted it to. Whether the lighting was too dark or light, the picture was out of focus or color was just blah.

When I first started out, I would have deleted these images instantly. I wasn't the best editor back then and I really didn't think I could "fix" an image that didn't turn out the way I thought it should. But as time has gone on, I've learned to experiment with these not-so-good images and with just the right amout of editing, to my surprise, the "bad" photos often turn out to be some of my favorites.

Take the picture below for example. I left it SOC. I shot it yesterday at Tommy and Lauren's wedding. On camera, it looked perfect - the lighting seemed right, it look very clear and crisp and I just couldn't wait to edit it. But when I opened the image in my photo editing software, this is how it looked.....

Yikes!!! I was a a bit disappointed. As you'll notice, the right side of her face is way too dark (and I'm using the right and left as it's viewed in the image). And no matter how much I tried to lighten it up, it just didn't look natural. The natural light from the window to the left of this image highlighted one side of her face, but the other side was hidden from the light source.

So, I put my thinking cap on and started to play around with the image. After about 15 failed attempts with color, I converted it to black and white and right away, I knew I had something. The right side of her face became even darker in B&W and I LOVED the way her one eye popped. So I decided to make the focal point of this image just on left side of her. I also bumped up the exposure and brightness, added some contrast and added a slight sepia tone to it. I also added a texture to give it a more rustic feel. In the end, this was the result....

This is by far one of my favorite images. It took this picture and the whole story of it to a completely different level. To me, this captures the pure innocence of a child.

So the next time you come across an image that may be rather dull, play around with it a bit and see what you come up with. You may be surprised at what you find and you might have just saved one of the best images from being thrown in the recycle bin.

Have a great Sunday!