AGK This cutie-head was in and out of the studio while his brother was having a photo session. When he was out, he was playing in paint. Each time he returned, he was messier than before. And as his brother was nursing and fussy, I decided to test lighting on him.
Can a messy picture be saved? Yes it can!
When working with babies and toddlers, sometimes a super cute moment happens but the little one is messy or the background isn’t just right. Technology and a photographer’s know-how for using it can turn a so-so outtake into a treasured image. I wanted to show you the before and after of a shot I took of my grandson yesterday when I was waiting on his baby brother to finish nursing.
I actually decided I wanted to practice on and save this image of him because he really looks like his dad – my son – here, and I wanted to get this look printed.
With the mood he was in, if I had stopped to try to clean the paint, etc. off his face, I have no doubt he would have gotten angrier and I wouldn’t have captured this look at all. I will sometimes tell parents to leave something be if their little one is also having a rough time. Something about face-washing really amps things up with kiddos sometimes. So, if we have images that we want to save, I’ll just clean them up in post-production. I’d rather clean up some images than not have any at all!
Overall, our session with the baby was a bust, but I am happy to have this final image of our bigger boy — even if he wasn’t necessarily happy to have the picture taken.
