Digital Magic

I am learning to edit. As someone who up until a few months ago shot exclusively film and rarely digitally-altered images beyond straightening or exposure correction, I feel a little at sea. Lightroom is a confusing place, and the temptation to simply try and make everything look as much like 35mm as possible is a strong one. A long-time lover of VSCO for my iPhoneography, I have followed the recommendation of a helpful photographer friend and sunk some cash into buying two of their preset packs to ease my inevitable evolution from Clueless Analogue Dinosaur to Genius Adobe Whizz Kid. It has made a big difference towards giving my photographs the look I enjoy within a few clicks as opposed to having to spend six hours sliding dials up and down at random whilst crying over my keyboard, but I often do feel like I’m just using expensive Instagram for adults. Bunging on filters left right and centre.

I’m keen to update my Portfolio to reflect my new digital leanings, so I hope to reach my final form as Fantastic At Editing sooner rather than later; luckily I have had many friends and acquaintances willing to lend their faces to my mission, as Adam and Imo are demonstrating above. (Always looking for new volunteers though, so drop me a line at alexkrook@yahoo.com if you’re interested.)

There’s a long way to go until I’ll feel at all confident at being able to edit work within a time constraint, but I’m glad that I’m no longer hating and resenting this new learning curve. It’s a work in progress – just like my photography itself. And, indeed, life in general.