In the digital age, taking a good photo is only half the fun.  Playing with editing options and falling in love with Photoshop is all part of being a photographer!  

My style of photography is one where I want you to look natural; where your smiles are real, your facial expressions are natural, and you genuinely are having fun while getting your photo taken.  My editing style echoes this.  I love special effects and definitely enjoy 'fixing' any problems so that your eye isn't drawn to that one pimple on your chin!  But, at the same time, I want you to look at a photo and see YOU, not the editing.

Today's post is about 'softening' photographs.  

Here is the photo after I edited it, but kept it very real looking.  Some softening was done
to the skin, but not so much that it's noticeable.
#1




Now, here is the same photo with more "softening".  This is something I would do if someone requested it. 
 (Yes, at LBP we take special editing requests, just ask!)
#2

 


Lastly, this is an example of extreme "softening".  You will notice that you start losing some of the details in the photo, and their faces are washed out.  For me, this is fake, draws your eye to the editing instead of the subjects; so I would not do this type of editing.  To me, it has an amateur look to it.
#3  
 


So my question to you is - which is your favorite edit and why?


Smiles,
Laura