Editing in Adobe Photoshop: Before and After of Lucy

What better way to get my sweet pup’s smile centerstage than editing in Adobe Photoshop? Learning how to use Photoshop takes time and patience, but the outcomes are well worth it.

My wife, Sara, and I took our dog Lucy out for a hike this last summer out at Palo Duro Canyon. It was a hot day, but all of us enjoy being out in such beautiful terrain. While on a quick water break, I was sitting behind my wife when Lucy turns around with this huge smile on her face. It takes a lot to get Lucy to smile nowadays, so I quickly grabbed my camera and snapped a pic. Looking at the image, I noticed that Lucy’s face was a little dark from the shadow of a nearby rockface, and as beautiful as Sara is, she didn’t make for the best composition with her back to the camera. So after we got home from our day of hiking in the canyon, I went to my computer and started utilizing Photoshop to really make this image shine.

As you can tell, there is a stark difference between the before and after images of Lucy. By lightening the shadows and removing Sara from the background, I was able to recreate the scene entirely. Photoshop can be a beast to master, but with some patience and dedication to learn the software, it can really elevate a photographer’s portraits. Even more beneficial is the ability to save an image that would have otherwise been amazing if not for a few less than ideal elements to the portrait as a whole.