From the very beginning, I knew I wanted my photos to stand out in an eye-catching and artistic way. So you can imagine my frustration when my photos came out dull and uninteresting when I simply snapped a photo with no thought as to what I was doing.
So I got to work learning everything I could, mostly from YouTube and Google, on composition, color, lighting, exposure, storytelling, and postprocessing with tools like Adobe Photoshop and Lightroom.
It’s been about two and a half years since I started and I still have so much to learn. But I am very happy with the results I’m starting to get.
My process now is to use the knowledge I’ve taught myself to use composition, lighting, storytelling, and exposure when shooting and then color and exposure corrections and more storytelling in the postprocessing by adding or taking away elements in the photo that add to or take away from the story.
I look at each photo like it’s a canvas. Once I take the photo it’s like the first sketch. Then I add life to it by literally painting over it to create the piece of art I had in my mind.
A lot of people will say “you’re not a real photographer because you use Photoshop”, and maybe that’s true. But that’s ok because I don’t really consider myself to be a photographer anyway, I consider myself to be an artist.
I believe in always continuing to learn and improve. And I love to teach what I’ve learned.
So if you would like to learn how I edit my photos, I have recorded myself editing all of the photos in this article on my website and explaining my workflow.
Also, follow me on social media to see more of my work.
You can find Phillip Haumesser on the web:
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