My Photo Editor Mind - Your Website

Your website is making a first impression on anyone who looks at it. Regardless of whether the images are good or not, if there are too many images and categories and it’s disorganized, that is what people will think of you. That’s their first impression of you. Enough thinking about it, let’s update your website! I will help you consolidate images and categories, and help you streamline your presentation, whether you are a seasoned pro or just starting out. And for gosh sakes….put your phone number on your website! 

My Photo Editor Mind - Autofocus can hurt you

One of the major drawbacks of autofocus is that photographers sometimes rely on it to compose their images. But there’s a problem. The focus is smack dab right in the middle of the image, and the image reflects that. You end up with either a poorly framed image or an image that seems off balance with too much sky or too much ground. If you go through a variety of your images and notice this pattern, try various focus settings to help solve this problem. Don’t let this technology get in the way of your vision.

My Photo Editor Mind - Shoot This

As a photographer, it’s your job to show the world in a way I’ve never seen before. Surprise me. Make me look at something or someone in a new way. One of the best ways to do this is by trying different angles. So my challenge to you this week is shoot an image from the lowest vantage point possible. How low can you go?  Post your pictures and let’s see who does this best!

 

My Photo Editor Mind - Sending Telepathic Suggestions

Whenever I see someone taking a picture, I can’t help myself, I send them ideas about how to improve what they are shooting. I even do this watching a movie, I talk to the screen…try a different angle, you’re standing for every shot! Try kneeling. It’s kind of weird. Even if I’m out and about, I saw all these people taking pictures, OMG if they just looked to the right, the light is beautiful, turn your head for goodness sake, the light, see the light.  In another instance, I might see someone ready to take a shot, and oh my god, the shadow on the subject’s face, are you kidding me, you’re really going to take a photo?  Oh geez, you just did. Not sure why I do this, maybe I’m a picture editor even deeper in my heart than I thought, always wanting to help someone improve.

 

My Photo Editor Mind - Words Can Hurt You

Sometimes a photographer’s headline, title or description of a project doesn’t match the photos I’m looking at. Make sure your words match your photos.

Let’s suppose you have shot a story or series of images and are ready to pitch it to a publication, submit it for a grant, or any other thing. You have the edit done and now begins the task of giving your story a headline and a synopsis of what the images are going to tell the viewer. Sounds easy enough. Well, this is the part that can actually hurt you.

Let’s say you shot a story about homeless people. You write your synopsis about the backstory, that an entire group of people has been harassed by the police and physically dragged from the streets in order to clear out the homeless population. You then title it, “Bruised and Abused by Police.” However, your pictures are about the present day population on the streets, how the homeless have come back and their numbers have grown. Hmmm, you gave me an idea of what I might see, people being harassed and dragged from the streets; you put these images in my head, but now when I look at your photos, I don’t see this. I’m disappointed, not happy, you didn’t deliver. The person you are pitching your story to isn’t happy either. Entice me with the photos you do have, the struggles of living on the street, the lack of food and water. Make me care about what you did shoot.

I think it’s really important to be careful what you say about your images; one false move and an editor might have expectations of what he or she is going to see, and if you don’t deliver…Yikes.

My Photo Editor Mind - Best Editing Advice

After I have completed a rather large edit for a project or story or even a website, there is one thing I always do – go through all the outtakes. Seriously, all of them. I recently edited a project and had decided on my final selection. The sequence was right, the flow of images was right, each photo building on each other, telling the story. I felt it was complete; I was done. Then as I always do, I went through the outtakes.

The process of editing is a process of elimination, so you finally have a set of photos that works, but through this process, you might have deleted an image that actually works with the final edit that may not have worked with your initial thoughts on the edit.

I always check my outtakes, and on this recent project I actually pulled images back into the edit that were initially discarded. Be patient with the process; you’ve spent an awful lot of time to get these images, now take as much care in editing them. And if you need help, you know I’m here to help.

 

My Photo Editor Mind - The Good, Bad and Ugly of Freelance Work

I’ve been a freelance picture editor for a couple of years now. Sometimes, I think this is the most brilliant idea I’ve ever had; other times, I think it is the stupidest idea. What was I thinking? Oh, and by the way, that’s usually in the same 5 minutes. I am pretty neurotic, never wanted to freelance because I always thought I would go crazy not having a steady paycheck, no knowing what would happen tomorrow. Well, here I am doing it, going crazy.

Anyone who does freelance work knows how this goes. Some days it’s so busy I can’t think straight. I’m getting two, three, four calls while I’m on a call (from all over the globe, hence several time zones), and my email is going crazy. Then, just when I think I can’t get all this work done…crickets. Nothing, nada, zilch. I have my husband call me to make sure my phone works. I send myself an email to make sure my computer works. Is it a holiday? Is everybody on vacation because the weather is finally nice? 

A while back, I had a fellow freelancer tell me that it’s always going to be like this; it will never change. Hot streaks. Cold streaks. So I’m trying to keep the crazy under control with regular, good old pep talks. Damn, I wish I was a better listener.  

 

My Photo Editor Mind – Let Me Translate That

When I am editing a photographer’s work, I try to get into the mindset of that photographer. What were they thinking? What were they trying to capture? What is the story? Always keeping in mind their vision, their way of seeing the world. It’s almost as if I become an interpreter of their work – a translator helping their photos speak, trying to bring out the best of what they are trying to say.

The photos I pick are not just photos I like. I never want to pick just the photos I want but try to figure out what a photographer wants or what they were trying for. I always want to bring out the best in a photographer, not confuse them with myself. It’s not me and not my vision but the photographer’s voice that is important.

On the other hand, I don’t always pick images just because the photographer wants or loves them either. My editing process involves finding the story the photographer was trying to tell, its essence, looking for themes, sub-stories, back-stories, in short, the thesis that he or she either intended to shoot, or sometimes, subconsciously shot.

And then when the edit is done, I always talk to the photographer to make sure that I translated his or her language (the photos) the way she or he envisioned it.