Before and After | What Happens After Your Photo Shoot?

When you have a session with me, my work doesn’t end when I pack up my camera gear and go home after our photo session. Oh no, it’s far from being complete. At that point, only about one third of my work has actually been done. After uploading all the photos from each session onto my computer when I get back into the office, I then spend a lot of time going back and forth between the whole batch of photos (depending on the length of your shoot, this could mean a LOT!) and picking out the best images. My job can include sorting through dozens of photos where the location and poses are the same, but a facial expression in some might be off or perhaps someone’s eyes might be closed in others. Multiply that by the 6 or 7 different spots we probably used throughout the session. Once I am satisfied that I have the best of the best images (and after double and triple-checking), it’s then time to edit every single one of them.

This part is a super time-consuming process and usually takes hours. I like to make myself at least one cup of tea to prepare for this stage. ;)

Sometimes when working with dogs, quite a bit of editing is required. For example, some dogs are not reliable off-leash and so their leash is present in all their images. I would then remove these leashes as part of the editing process. Eye boogers are also removed. At other times, because animals are so spontaneous, they do something totally out of the blue that neither I nor the owner was expecting and I quickly take the photo to capture that special moment before it escapes, not caring then that something distracting was in the way. The distraction would then need removing as well.

This photo below of Rocky is one such example. His mom was walking him down the pathway, but a few steps in, Rocky decided to stand up on his hind legs to reach for the treat in her hand. It was so adorable, I took the photo and then removed the leash + buckle, the arm, and the dangling poop bag holder during the editing stage.

Of course, there is still more work to be done after the editing, but I won’t bore you with the details. I thought it would be helpful to show a before-and-after sample to help you understand a little more about the work that goes on behind-the-scenes here at KLP after you see me leave with my camera bag. :)