As the forerunner in photo editing software, Adobe has produced numerous professional applications that can help edit various types of photographs, from landscape to newborn photography. Aside from Photoshop, Lightroom is another widely used photo-editing application that a lot of photographers utilize to produce breathtaking pictures. In newborn photography, Lightroom is primarily used for editing and post-processing requirements, including improving a photograph’s clarity, removing color tones that may separate from the whole picture, and improving a photo’s highlights and shadows. In this article, we’ll help you better navigate Adobe Lightroom for newborn editing so that you get the most out of all your photographs and deliver high-quality finished products for your personal use or for your image enhancement services.
Why Use Lightroom for Newborn Baby Photo Editing?
As Adobe describes Lightroom, this application uses “non-destructive editing.” This means that you’re essentially adjusting raw images without losing any crucial elements in the photograph. You can enhance a photo’s lighting, sharpen details, and even correct a photo’s perspective for a better angle.
In addition, Lightroom is designed to hold a large selection of photos, allowing you to upload images from your photoshoot and effectively organize them throughout your post-processing for a more linear workflow. Especially with Lightroom’s built-in keyword feature and search function, you can easily locate images and find the files that you need to edit. Lightroom can help you with your newborn baby photo editing by giving you better precision and a faster and more reliable photography process.
5 Lightroom Techniques to Edit Newborn Photos
If you’re not sure how to start editing your newborn photos on Lightroom, we’ve listed some useful tips and recommendations to guide you through the editing process.
1. Adjust the newborn’s photo’s white balance
Having just the right white balance ensures that your photos look as natural as possible. By tweaking the white balance sliders on Lightroom, you can edit your newborn photos depending on the naturalness of the colors on the pictures. White balance will also dictate how your photo will look, and that’s wholly dependent on your preferences – you can make them warmer or cooler depending on the vibe that you’re going for.
To correct the white balance, use Lightroom’s eyedropper tool that you can find in the basic panel. Find an area that has a grey color and click on it. You’ll then get the corrected white balance.
2. Play with the Lightroom color sliders to tone down the reds, yellows, and oranges
If you look at newborn photographs, what you’ll notice first is the creamy skin tones that most babies have. However, if you’re familiar with newborn babies, you’ll probably notice that they usually have some red, orange and yellow areas on their bodies that may register on camera. While these areas may not seem like a big deal, they might put off the color balance in the photo.
To achieve a more even and softer skin tone for newborns through Lightroom editing, you can balance them out by adjusting the color curves or moving the color sliders around. You can find these on the panel on your right-hand side. Look for the tabs that say Hue and edit the colors accordingly.
3. Brush out small details for a smoother texture
Almost all newborn babies have blemishes and spots, some even develop skin conditions as they adjust to temperatures and the outside world. They might have a few skin scaling, acne spots, and maybe an accidental insect bite here and there. Fortunately, the healing and spot removal tool on Lightroom can help you edit newborn photos to get that smooth and soft-looking skin that’s found in almost all photos around the world. Just make sure that you don’t blur their skin to the point that all textures are smoothened out.
4. Retouch the background for any spaces that need editing
During photo shoots, there are times that you fail to notice gaps in the background while you’re shooting. Maybe there’s a small wrinkle beside your newborn subject, or maybe there’s a missing part on the platform that’ll just look out of place. The great thing about Lightroom is that it has a built-in cloning or healing brush that can help you smoothen out these unwanted elements.
To use the cloning tool, simply navigate to the Spot Removal Tool on Lightroom’s develop module. Zoom in on the spot that you want to cover up and select the spot that you want to clone onto it. While Lightroom will automatically set the place for cloning, it’s best that you find the spot that’s the most compatible. You also have the option of using the healing brush for simpler issues in the newborn photos you’re editing on Lightroom since it borrows the texture and the color of the spot’s surrounding area.
5. Adjust the image’s sharpness to highlight details
Once you’re done with your color adjustments and editing, it’s now time to sharpen your newborn photo. Retouching and texture adjustment may blur out the details on a newborn’s face or body, which may make them seem unreal. By sharpening the photo, you can improve the details and improve the texture for a more natural and realistic finished product.
What Are Lightroom Presets and How Can They Help With Newborn Photo Editing?
If you’ve looked around the internet about Lightroom photo editing, chances are you’ve come across presets. In simple words, Lightroom presets work similarly to filters. These filters automatically execute color adjustments, sharpening, and other editing processes into one consolidated step. They can easily make your editing process faster, and at the same time achieve a more uniform look for all images in your photo set. There are numerous presets that are available online, with some artists making them downloadable for free.
However, if you want a much more hands-on editing process, you can either do the Lightroom newborn photo editing manually or create your own preset. The latter of which allows you to have full control over the color and appearance of each photo without having to repeat it for every newborn photo you’re editing on Lightroom. You can do this by editing your photo, clicking the presets button on the Edit panel, clicking on the Create Preset button, and grouping your actions together. For a clearer rundown, you can head over to Adobe’s tutorial here.
Lightroom Offers Versatile Editing Processes for Beautiful Newborn Photos
Two of the best software for photo editing are Photoshop and Lightroom, both of which have their own advantages. Lightroom is a versatile software that helps you manipulate the colors and get just the right hue and angle for all your photos, while Photoshop allows you to use processes that can combine and produce high-quality pictures out of different elements. Together, both Photoshop and Lightroom offer photographers strong editing software, regardless of what genre they practice. So, whether you’re focused on newborn photography or travel photography, you can easily improve your photos by editing and boosting various photo elements. This is why photo manipulation services and photography companies always ensure that their specialists and photographers are well-versed in both Photoshop and Lightroom.
If you’re still not sure about how to edit newborn photos on Lightroom, there’s always the option of outsourcing your editing to a professional photo editing company for a faster process. Check out Paper Boat Creative and see what our post-production services can offer your newborn photography business.
