Do you ever struggle with decisions about post-processing? I do…

Obviously, not all photographs are the same, but with some it’s a real conundrum. I’ll edit it, then re-edit it, then convert to black and white, then maybe go back to it a few weeks later and re-edit it totally differently. Then I may look at it six months down the line and wish I’d given it a totally different treatment. I’m rarely totally happy with my final images.

These photographs of Jay are an example. I liked the original colour, but then was taken with the black and white treatment, which I felt gave it quite a vintage ‘Hollywood’ appeal. Playing around some more I faded the black and white layer to a more subdued colour, which I really liked. I think it’s this version that I’ll go with.

Decisions, decisions… I’d welcome your comments.

The photographs were shot in a small bedroom. I used a simple two light ‘sandwich lighting’ setup – studio-head with beauty dish and grid for main and a studio-head with metal reflector dish and grid giving some back-light (see lighting diagram below). The effect was a slightly harder light than using softboxes or umbrellas.

I hope you like. Click the photographs to see them larger and thanks for reading.