At weddings, you shoot portraits as quickly as possible so that your couples can spend as much time with their families as possible. I was an assistant shooter at this wedding with Lisa Robinson some years back, and she set this portrait up and shot from one angle while I shot from another. It was a pleasure to work with her and see her processes. When I shot this, I wished I was in her position so I could crop out the bright spot at the bottom right corner. However, I also knew my tools well enough that I was confident I could salvage this photo in post-production.

Our eyes are drawn to bright things in a picture, and this bright spot distracts from the important subjects. I used Luminar Neo‘s exposure tools to selectively darken that area and selectively brighten their faces. Of course, I love to craft black and white photos, so I also used a red filter in the black and white section to further brighten their faces.

You see, if you know what all your tools can do, you can relax and move on to the important stuff. If I had spent more time on this photo and asked them to move around and step to the left to find the perfect spot of sun, we’d have lost the cuddle of the moment. Also, it would probably have been less intriguing, not to mention interrupting my primary shooter’s work. But I knew my finishing tools could recover the problems and that allowed me to keep the flow going. You should learn all that your finishing software can do so you can relax and be present while shooting.

Check out more of my portrait tips right here.