6 Tips to Become More Efficient and Save Time Editing Your Photos
Editing! It can be an enjoyable task for a lot of photographers....and yet sometimes it can be daunting and take way too long to complete.
There have been times where I have spent hours upon hours editing a session, staying up till the wee hours of the morning and I'm sure you have too. With all the tasks that we need to do to grow our photography businesses, editing doesn't rank high on that list, yet it must get done.
So how can we edit in an efficient and timely manor so that we have more time to market and book in new clients? Here are 5 tips to save time editing your portraits.
1: Cull First. Once I download my images into Lightroom, the first step I take is culling. This means that I quickly run through every image I took at that session and star the best ones to edit. For a portrait session, it's approxiamitly 50 images in total.
2: Use keyboard shortcuts to edit. Now that you've culled through and pulled out your favorites, it's now time to start editing! To be more effecient with your time, you can utilize keyboard shortcuts that will allow you to switch between different tools and adjust settings with less clicking around. Here's a list of Lightroom's keyboard shortcuts. Take some time to learn the most useful ones for your editing process.
3. Use presets to batch edit similar portraits. Presets are especially helpful if you are still in the beginning stages of finding your editing style as they will help you achieve a consistent look across all your portraits. You can find a wide variety of presets you can purchase online or create your very own. Once you have determined an edit or preset you like, you can apply that particular edit to the rest of the portraits you took in that same lighting scenario, thereby saving you a ton of time.
4. Challenge yourself to edit right after a session. Do not procrastinate on editing! The longer it takes you to start, the harder it will be to complete. This is perhaps why I’m such a fan of hosting Same Day Viewings. Same Day Viewings means that I download, cull and edit an entire session as soon as we are done photographing. My clients meet back up with me within the hour and that’s when I review their portraits. Although this can be a bit nerve wracking, having the designated time block and also knowing my clients will be back within an hour to look at their portraits forces me to be efficient in editing. I have saved countless hours just by this one tip alone!
Even before I was hosting Same Day Viewings, I still edited directly after a session on a laptop at a local coffee shop before heading home. This allowed me to not get distracted by all the wife, house and mom responsibilities that were waiting for me as soon as I walked back in the door! Even you you are not yet hosting Same Day Viewings, you can still incorporate editing before you get home or as soon as you return home.
5: Edit backwards. I admit this one is kind of weird, but it works! I have no idea why, but editing goes faster if you edit from the end of the session or wedding back to the beginning. Test this one out and be pleasantly surprised!
6: Outsource your editing. Though you may feel as though no one can edit like you, you can train someone else to do that. Yes, it will take a bit of time and yes, you may need to do some slight adjustments afterwards, outsourcing will save you the most amount of time. There are many companies, such as Shoot Dot Edit, who pride themselves on quick turnaround times and matching your editing style.
Likewise, you can also outsource and train someone local, like a stay at home mom or a college student, to edit for your as well. As the business owner, there comes a time where your time should be reserved for the money making and marketing tasks. Editing isn’t one of those so even though this is the most expensive of the options listed, it’s also the one that will provide you with the most amount of time freedom.
So there you go, my friend: 6 tips to become more efficient in editing your photography sessions and weddings. By culling first, using keyboard shortcuts, presets, editing directly after a session, editing backwards and perhaps even outsourcing, you’ll be more productive in the editing process, stress less and gain more time back!
Comment below and let me know which tip you found most helpful and will try for your next session or wedding!
Cheering you on!
Heather
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