How this portrait was born: Muswell Hill newborn photography
How I Edit The ShotTime-lapse video.
Posted by Louisa Peacock Photography November, 2020
Thought I’d show you a little sneak preview into how I make the perfect Muswell Hill newborn photography portrait.
Firstly, and perhaps most importantly, I try to get as many things right ‘in camera’ as possible. That’s industry lingo for: knowing your camera settings, ISO, white balance, shutter speed, aperture and so on! If that’s all jargon to you, don’t worry – that’s my job not yours!! Basically, I set up the lighting and camera to the optimal settings so that I get the best possible picture of Baby during the photoshoot without having to correct a load of mistakes later in photoshop.
And then comes the fun part where I edit the shots into the dreamy, magical, stunning portraits you see in my studio!
Here’s a time-lapse video of the editing process.
Step by step
Nearly all of my editing is done in Lightroom.
- First of all I increase the exposure just a little, to help the photo pop.
2. Then I check the white balance and colour profile treatments.
3. If I’m shooting ‘white blankets on white backdrops’, like this portrait, then toggle nearly all of the colour saturation profiles in Lightroom to zero. This gets rid of those yellow-y tones that aren’t welcome with pure white photography!!
4. Then I crop.
5. Then I apply individual preset brushes to highlight the face, nuke the reds and soften Baby’s skin just a little.
6. Lastly, I use the clone heal tool to make any temporary marks, scratches or white spots on Baby’s face magically disappear.
That’s it folks!
Quite a few steps, but it’s all within a controlled workflow and nearly always ends up with the most desirable, stunning portrait. Here’s the final image:
And here’s how that Muswell Hill newborn photography portrait could look in your Baby’s nursery. The perfect addition to celebrate the miracle of life.
