I’m not a real dialed in, gear-head, exacting type photographer.  I’m more of a by-any-means-let’s-get-this-done-artsy-fartsy-feelings-and-whatnot type of photographer. There are basically two kinds of us: the scientists and the artists.  Can you guess which one I am?  I have a camera and I know how it works.  It’s the best camera because it’s the one in my hand.  I’m kind of the same with Photoshop.  I love it because I learned on it.  It’s based on layers, and since I’m a visual artist that works with my hands, I understand it.  Lightroom is cool and I shoot tethered into it when a client demands it.  But when it comes to your hardcore editing and RAW action, give me Photoshop any day.

Today I was sitting in the dark in my underwear in my apartment editing some recent corporate shots I did for a friend’s company and ran across this aesthetic issue with overexposure.  Lighting the interior on the fly and then shooting towards a giant window onto a patio really tested my skill with balancing light sources and you could pretty roundly say that I failed.  In a real production I would have had the time to dial in the Shot but this was a one-light, run and gun type of photoshoot, so it was more about getting the feel of the shot and then worrying about the details later.  Plus, these were small, web-only kind of shots.  Not making excuses!  Just setting up the situation.

Here’s a short, punk rock, cut and paste, sloppy, and sweaty way to fix a spot in your photo that’s overexposed.  It’s not a pixel-by-pixel, perfect Tutorial on retouching, but that’s ok, because I’m not that kind of photographer and you probably aren’t either if you read this far.  Most photos are used for the web these days so there’s not a ton of reason to go balls deep when retouching.  Sure, nationwide ad campaign, yeah, son!  Get on it and go hard in the paint.  Better yet, just hire a real retouching pro to do it for you.  You get back out there and find more work and keep shooting.  Those jobs are the ones we all want.  While you’re waiting for Adidas to call, though, you’d better be shooting your headshots and buddy’s wedding.

This is the first of hopefully more of these kind of videos that will show you some shortcuts in Photoshop, provide a quick tutorial, maybe some humor along with it (don’t bet on the last one).  I hope you enjoy.  If you want to stay up to date as these come out, sign up below.

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