The best perk of being a photographer is that when I do concerts, I get the GOOD seats. This week’s blog is part 2 of shooting Fireside for the Kappa Sigma chapter of the female musical fraternity Sigma Alpha Iota at Saint Mary’s University of Minnesota. In part 1, we focused on the prep stage of my Prep, Shoot, Edit photography process. This week will focus on the Edit stage. I chose three main ‘styles’ of editing for the Fireside photos, and today I’m walking you through how I edited each style.
Style One: Neutrals
My first edit is just a simple neutral tone. When I’m doing these edits, my goal is to maintain the actual colors of the photo and adjust the lighting just enough for it to be seen. I want these photos to look as close as possible to what you would see if you were actually in the crowd. This is especially important for more sentimental or group shots, like this photo of the full cast or the lineup of the SAI sisters.
Style Two: Rich
The second edit is a little more creative. The highlight of these photos is the color, I want the photos to really reflect the atmosphere of the concert. I’m making the colors that exist more saturated, but also adding or subtracting colors to make the photo really rich. For example, in this photo of the guitarist, the lighting was mostly a warm red. I added the complementary green and yellow tones to reflect the somber tone of the song, as well as to smooth out the photo. In these photos, the goal isn’t to make the subject pop out of the background like they would in real life or the neutral edit. Instead, I’m making the environment and the subject work together to create one cohesive image.
Style Three: Gritty
My third and final edit is the most dramatic. I specifically chose super intense moments for this edit. My technique was to make the contrast of light and dark really intense in this photo, rather than focus on the color. For example, in this photo, the lights were completely red. Rather than try to pull more of the natural coloring into the photo, I leaned into the pop-art theme, using the reds as ‘light’ and black as 'dark'.
I also added a fair amount of grain and texture to the photo. I wanted them to be a little messy, so I wasn’t necessarily focused on making the photo super sharp. The goal is to match the dramatic edit to the dramatic moment.
I had so much fun working with the sisters on this concert, and even more fun working on the editing. To catch up on how I planned this concert, read my earlier blog about prepping for Fireside. I also vlogged the entire weekend and have lots of behind the scenes content up on my Instagram, and my photos are of course always up on my portfolio, Instagram, and Pinterest!
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