This is my portrait that I enhanced and edited to make it more clean and professional. I had my friend Julia stand in a rocky cove near Mirror Lake and the background allowed her to stand out, while also being interesting and pretty to look at. I cropped the picture, which originally had her centered, to make her face land in an intersection when placed in the rule of thirds grid. I traced around her body and brightened it up so she would stand out even more from the background. I then did the opposite and traced out the background and made it a bit greener and added some contrast. I did some basic spot removing on her face, though she didn’t need much at all and I also got rid of some stray hairs because they really stood out against her black shirt.
I had a much easier time editing this photo because it was supposed to be creative and exaggerated. I enjoyed not having to play by the rules of reality and found myself having a lot of fun with color. I made decided to play around with the color of her hair and decided on this pretty aqua color because it is both of our favorite colors! I tinted her shorts purple, and I made the grass very green. Before I did any of the color work I overexposed and brightened just her body to make her look very pale and almost ghostly. I enjoy this picture because it is fun, but I could’ve very easily gone the other way with it and made it look very clean and editorial. I like that with editing you have the power to make that decision, though.