Today I did up some before/after photos in Photoshop to give you an idea of what happens “behind the scenes”. Photos are the backbone of a good website (most of the time) and they are rarely perfect fresh off the card reader or film. They are often retouched in Photoshop to give them that extra pizzazz, to make them truly pop off the screen or page.
This was a site I worked on not too long ago, for Larry Stopper, a fishing guide out of Portland Oregon, USA. This is one of the pics he sent to me to add to his site. Of course we all love bright sunny days on the water but it doesn’t always make for a great photo. In this shot, I reduced the shadows cast from the sun, enhanced the colors and improved the definition. Of course, I brought out the details of the fish! Nice catch Larry!
Nice Catch by Caption Larry Stopper of Legend Sportfishing of Portland Oregon, USA
Next, I used a photo of our little Miss Mazie. She’s our adorable 7 month old lab puppy and she just loves to go out on the water with us. For this shot, I obviously cropped it, reduced shadows and removed the shadow on her side. I also removed some rope and the blanket plus enhanced the colors. It didn’t take much to make this a great shot but still worth the effort I’d say.
Mazie on the Boat
For this next shot, I am so envious of this lady’s fish! Our good friend Laurel from Absolute Sportfishing here in Campbell River, BC guided her into this fish. It’s a HUGE fish! Needless to say, we wanted to make this shot a feature one for his website so we did a little bit to it to bring out the best features in it. The bright sun was an issue for this lady, casting a shadow across her face that wasn’t the most flattering for her and it made her squint to see. I corrected both of those issues, tidied her hair from the wind, fixed her jacket that was sticking out and removed the blood off her prized catch. Now the focus is truly where it should be — on that amazing fish!
Nice Fish! Absolute Sportfishing, Campbell River, Vancouver Island, BC
Finally, we go back to another picture of Mazie. This one I cropped it, rotated it slightly, reduced the shadows and increased the overall contrast which brightened it up substantially. I then created a shallower depth of field and enhanced the colors and details. Nothing overly spectacular really but she is cute so I thought you wouldn’t mind another picture of her, LOL.
Close Enough for a Puppy Kiss!