How I Edit- Hockey
Often, I'll get asked whether or not I edit my pictures. The answer is, of course, yes! I think that anyone who is serious about photography should absolutely edit their pictures, whether they're using the latest and greatest in camera technology, or their phone. No matter the image, editing will almost always help to make it look better. I use Adobe Lightroom to edit my pictures. Lightroom costs around $12 a month, which is absoultely worth it for me, but there are free editing softwares out there that do many of the same things. Even the editing in iPhone camera roll can be used very powerfully.
For this week's post, I thought that it might be fun to walk through one of my edits to give an inside glimpse of my process and what exactly I use editing to do. Every photographer is different, but I'll take you through what I do for pictures like this one.
The final, edited product (Taken with a nikon z6 & nikon 70-200 mm f/2.8 @ 110 mm, 1/1250 sec, f/2.8)
To start with, this is what the picture looks like in its final, edited form. This is definitely a hockey picture that I really like. I am a sucker for good goalie pictures, and this shot has a goalie making a save, as well as the shooter on the right side. Additionally, you can see the crowd watching on in the background. But the picture didn't start out looking quite like this.
RAW file
This is the original shot, straight out of the camera. It doesn't look bad, persay, but the lighting is a bit dim, and I think that it's lacking some pop that could be added. I shoot in RAW, which is something beyond the scope of today's post, but this essentially means that the picture you see above is completely uncompressed and exactly what the camera's sensor took in. This helps to preserve details in shadows and highlights when editing.
Crop
As I do with every image, I started editing this one with crop. I didn't touch the zoom, just rotated the image slightly so that it is straight. A pretty basic change to start out with.
lighting
Next, I tackled the lighting. For this picture, I only needed subtle adjustments to exposure (how bright the whole picture is) and contrast. I toned down the highlights because of all the shiny things in the picture, particularly the helmets and ice surface. I boosted the shadows to make more of the crowd visible, as well as the whites, mostly to help brighten up the goalie's pads and jersey. This also makes the ice a bit brighter, which is a look that I don't mind. Because I turned down the highlights, the ice is more uniformly white even with the increase in brightness. Finally, I turned down the blacks, simply making some of the dark spots a deeper, more rich shade.
color
Once I'd finished up with the lighting, I changed the white balance, or color. I lowered the temperature (made the image more blue), as well as adding a blue tint. With hockey being played on ice, I think that the cooler temperature gives the white a more pure, natural look. It makes intuitive sense that a cold picture would look cooler. After temperature and tint, I increased the vibrance, and, as a final touch, a slight increase to the saturation.
effects- final
Lastly, I added some effects to the picture. I don't like doing anything too much, but I add a slight vignette (a darkening of the corners and margins), as well as boosting the clarity. Clarity in Lightroom essentially makes edges more clear. And just like that, this shot is done!
By now, I have edited so many sports pictures that I have a few different presets based on the environment in which the pictures were taken, but anytime I have a new subject or environment, I do this whole process for the first dozen or so photos, just to dial in my preset. Even after having a set preset, though, I tweak and make small adjustments to every picture. While a lot of my work is with a camera, I think that most photographers would agree that more time is spent editing pictures and making them look amazing. These are my works of art, and I want them to look as amazing as possible. As always, never hesitate to reach out with comments or suggestions. Until next week!
