Photo Editing: Revisiting an old image
![Photo Editing: Revisiting an old image](/content/images/size/w2000/wordpress/2019/02/SophieAlaskacolorcorrectgrade281of129-3.jpg)
This photo of one of my nieces is one of my favorite photos that I’ve taken. I think it captures some of her adventurousness, defiance, and curiosity. We’ve definitely butted heads a few times, but that’s because I can be stubborn and curmudgeonly. She’s going to do great things. We were on a family trip to Alaska, which was incredible, mainly because I don’t see the extended clan enough.
Overall, there’s a lot wrong with the photo, or things I would have liked to do differently. But I was pretty far away, and I knew the moment wouldn’t last long enough for me to walk closer and get a composition that included more sense of space. Next time.
I re-visited the image in Lightroom to see if I could make some edits that would bring the photo closer to how I remember seeing it. I went through several attempts, but I don’t think I was able to improve the image. The original photo is first. There might be a couple of small edits to it, but it’s essentially the original RAW photo. The next three images include all sorts of experimenting with tone curves, color grading, exposure modifications, etc. I think the last image is good, but I still think I prefer the original.
![Sophie Alaska original edit (1 of 1).jpg](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a71229df9a61eb777aa9262/1549260766453-LUW2NSQRIZXEGVSEU6PW/ke17ZwdGBToddI8pDm48kIQrPPdHBD7EDj5ratOuhbB7gQa3H78H3Y0txjaiv_0fDoOvxcdMmMKkDsyUqMSsMWxHk725yiiHCCLfrh8O1z5QHyNOqBUUEtDDsRWrJLTmmzJBBHkqvGAibxByi2-xi3AAgDQcUrEHIMSbfcKjb0xmAw23FarDFAtZkBImbz0R/Sophie+Alaska+original+edit+%281+of+1%29.jpg)
![Sophie Alaska color correct grade (1 of 1).jpg](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a71229df9a61eb777aa9262/1549260790099-CZ8MMR34ANSJEFM7HWZM/ke17ZwdGBToddI8pDm48kNO2SymwcR0CNt03aX8zdCd7gQa3H78H3Y0txjaiv_0fDoOvxcdMmMKkDsyUqMSsMWxHk725yiiHCCLfrh8O1z5QHyNOqBUUEtDDsRWrJLTmyh-8_5GJNvrfz4o4yOfLS6zQbzUiTKHw9oGJVKerm66NTpMeMsHjVpXC93GFBavO/Sophie+Alaska+color+correct+grade+%281+of+1%29.jpg)
![Sophie Alaska color correct grade (1 of 1)-2.jpg](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a71229df9a61eb777aa9262/1549260810190-4BLF80AS41FBXKDOIKR8/ke17ZwdGBToddI8pDm48kNO2SymwcR0CNt03aX8zdCd7gQa3H78H3Y0txjaiv_0fDoOvxcdMmMKkDsyUqMSsMWxHk725yiiHCCLfrh8O1z5QHyNOqBUUEtDDsRWrJLTmyh-8_5GJNvrfz4o4yOfLS6zQbzUiTKHw9oGJVKerm66NTpMeMsHjVpXC93GFBavO/Sophie+Alaska+color+correct+grade+%281+of+1%29-2.jpg)
![Sophie Alaska color correct grade (1 of 1)-3.jpg](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a71229df9a61eb777aa9262/1549263678756-NWIY9E7Z1D54AVX269FA/ke17ZwdGBToddI8pDm48kNO2SymwcR0CNt03aX8zdCd7gQa3H78H3Y0txjaiv_0fDoOvxcdMmMKkDsyUqMSsMWxHk725yiiHCCLfrh8O1z5QHyNOqBUUEtDDsRWrJLTmyh-8_5GJNvrfz4o4yOfLS6zQbzUiTKHw9oGJVKerm66NTpMeMsHjVpXC93GFBavO/Sophie+Alaska+color+correct+grade+%281+of+1%29-3.jpg)
Addendum: I watched a Peter McKinnon video recently where he walked through editing some viewers’ submitted photos. In one video he completely changed the color of a jacket. With freelance photojournalism, one of my mottos is to not go anywhere near Photoshop. You can make a few exposure/shadows/highlights adjustments to images, but that’s pretty much the extent of it. Still, I wanted to learn how to do it. Unfortunately, that Peter McKinnon moves at warp speed, so I found another site to walk me through it. Here’s the change (please keep in mind that it’s not meant to be a good, actual edit. I just wanted to see if I could do it.)
![Important Note: An exercise in changing the color of a jacket. Not intended to be a high quality edit.](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5a71229df9a61eb777aa9262/1549320479870-KXK2QQUZJAM8X0FK1FO6/ke17ZwdGBToddI8pDm48kNO2SymwcR0CNt03aX8zdCd7gQa3H78H3Y0txjaiv_0fDoOvxcdMmMKkDsyUqMSsMWxHk725yiiHCCLfrh8O1z5QHyNOqBUUEtDDsRWrJLTmyh-8_5GJNvrfz4o4yOfLS6zQbzUiTKHw9oGJVKerm66NTpMeMsHjVpXC93GFBavO/Sophie+Alaska+color+correct+jacket+%281+of+1%29.jpg)
Important Note: An exercise in changing the color of a jacket. Not intended to be a high quality edit.