Steve Roe

After wrapping up a big shoot, photographers head home with only half the job done. A huge pile of editing tasks is still waiting for them. The first step is the culling phase, where they go through all of the shots and decide which ones to keep. This selection is then narrowed down further until they are left with their strongest images. Once that is sorted, it is time to open the editing software and work through every single photo.

As I was learning the ropes of portrait editing, the one task I always struggled with was achieving flawless skin while keeping the natural textures intact. I would constantly go back and forth, making tweak after tweak, yet never feeling fully satisfied with the results. That’s because when you retouch skin in portraits, there is a fine line between looking perfect and looking plastic, and as a beginner I found it incredibly difficult to stay on the right side of it. This often led to long, exhausting editing sessions where I felt my portraits were never quite reaching the standard they could be.

Pet photos are those special shots you want to keep forever, to look back on fondly and remember your furry best friend and the moments you shared. No matter what kind of pet you have, all animals share one thing in common: they can be challenging to work with. I remember my old dog Max, a golden Labrador, and I could not keep that boy still for a moment. If you have a turtle, on the other hand, this will not be as much of an issue, although you might struggle to coax it out of its shell.

It’s nearly that time of year again: the days are getting shorter and the temperatures are dropping as winter approaches. For photographers, this brings a whole new range of ideas to experiment with in their style of photography. From cosy indoor scenes that make the viewer want to step into your photo, to capturing the beauty of a crisp and frosty morning, there is so much to look forward to shooting.

Thanksgiving is just around the corner, and it’s the perfect time to start thinking about how you want to capture treasured family memories. Compared with other holidays, Thanksgiving offers a chance for exclusive and unique shooting opportunities at this time of year. With a focus on warm, rich colours, we can use this palette to bring a nostalgic quality to your images that can be cherished for years to come.

With mornings getting cooler and the seasons changing, those of us who love moodier shots are gearing up. We’re hoping for morning mist, rain-soaked trees, fallen leaves, and outfits and poses to match.