I've been approached a few times by struggling amateur photographers who are frustrated that no matter how hard they try to shoot well, their pictures just seem to be missing something...that they can't get that certain look that they see from their favorite Pro.  

Well, that's probably because there is so much more to pictures than just shooting.  A HUGE part of developing your own style is in the editing.  Now don't get me wrong...if a picture doesn't have something special SOOC (straight out of camera), then there isn't much you can do afterwards to make it amazing, but editing is definitely where you can enhance your creative vision.

In the above picture, the top left hand picture is SOOC.  It's an interesting picture with beautiful light.  But the picture to the right of it is so much cooler.  That's because I've given it a creative edit in Lightroom.  The edit is a combination of many different things that I've adjusted according to my preference.  It is NOT a preset.  What I've learned as I have grown as a photographer (and an editor) is that it helps immensely to take the picture with the end edit in mind.  When I took the picture above, I knew what I wanted it to look like, but I also knew it wouldn't look like that before editing.  The creative edit is what made it really interesting.

I could edit the same photo 1000 different ways.  The bottom row shows two different ways I might have interpreted this photo.  I like them both as well.

While I'm talking about editing, I also want to explain to you a little bit about Raw files.  I've had several clients ask me if they could have my "raw images".  The answer is no.  I want to try to explain to you why I feel that way.  

First of all, I think a lot of people don't know what they are asking for...and think "raw" just means an unedited JPG image.  That's not true.  I don't shoot in the JPG format that you are probably use to for pictures.  RAW is the file format that I shoot in.  Here is the technical definition:

"A camera raw image file contains minimally processed data from the image sensor of either a digital camera, image scanner, or motion picture film scanner. Raw files are named so because they are not yet processed and therefore are not ready to be printed or edited with a bitmap graphics editor."

You see, you probably wouldn't even been able to open a Raw file if I gave it to you unless you had the right software.  And if you did open it, it wouldn't look very good.  Raw images are meant to be edited and then converted to JPG files, and do not look very good by themselves.  They are very flat looking.  It's much like developing film back in the days that some of you may be too young to remember.  

Second of all, as an artist,  I am not comfortable with you having my RAW files.  As I explained above, you can edit a RAW file INFINITELY many ways.  So, as the photographer, I wouldn't want you to take the Raw file and edit it in a way that does not match my style or vision.  What if I gave you the raw file from the picture above and you turned it into a color splash (where you made most of the picture black and white but left, for example, the bike, in color).  Well, I HATE color splash (no offense if you love it).  Then you post it on Facebook and someone asks you who the photographer was, and you say it was me.  Now that person has a completely wrong idea about my style based upon a photograph that was totally altered by you.  Make sense?

I hope this helped you understand a little of the process it takes to get beautiful images.  Just remember that after an hour or so of shooting your family, your photographer still has hours of editing work ahead of her.  And also, remember that photography is an art.  I think it's easy to forget that sometimes. It's important to make sure that you enjoy the style of the artist before you book a shoot, and to respect that style after a shoot.