Online Editing Workshop | Lightroom and Photoshop | Laura Morita Photography

I am gearing up for another “SHINE ~ Unleash Your Awesome” workshop, and I’m so excited! When I first started out with photography, I had no idea how to edit an image. I relied on actions and a lot of guesswork to get an okay image. Over the years, through lots and lots of practice and lots of trial and error, I found what worked for me. It took me a long time to even consider using Lightroom but I now am so comfortable editing in Lightroom. It is so easy to edit one image from a set of images and then just sync them all. I save SO much time now. I’ve always loved teaching (all my siblings are teachers) and so this workshop for me is a chance for me to teach something that I love doing: taking images and processing them.

If you are ready to take control over your editing and get the results YOU want, then this workshop is for you.

In this image, I loved the interaction but the colors were drab, and dang it, I wish I had noticed that the little girl’s dress was hiked up a little bit too much. No worries. I can fix all of that. I did most of the editing of this image in Lightroom, and then brought it into Photoshop for some final touches.

SHINE ~ Unleash Your Awesome ~ Laura Morita Photography | Online editing workshop

Who doesn’t love a good sky? I know I’m obsessed with them. A blown out sky can be so boring and adding a sky can make all the difference. Problem is, it’s hard to get a sky looking believable. Learn all my secrets of how I add a sky while keeping it looking natural. And yes, that is my foot in the original image. This was shot with a 15mm fisheye. SHINE ~ Unleash Your Awesome ~ Laura Morita Photography | Online editing workshopWhen I first shot this image and all the ones shot that day, I was really disappointed in my SOOC’s. The color was so drab when I looked through my viewfinder. I remember driving home really upset. But once they were edited, they popped right off my screen! They went from drab to fab. :) Here, I achieved beautiful rich colors in Lightroom and then brought it into Photoshop to improve my framing by adding another tree. I also flipped the image and will talk about why I did that in the workshop. And please excuse my son’s expression. He wasn’t so thrilled with me making him hold his sister’s hand. Ha!

SHINE ~ Unleash Your Awesome ~ Laura Morita Photography | Online editing workshop

I loved the action in this, but regrettably, I had cropped off more of the bottom than I would have liked. No problem. Photoshop to the rescue! And that fence? Meh. That had to go.  And thank you Lightroom for making it so easy to get my colors just the way I wanted them, rich and warm. And then, boom, sync all of those images from the series, and I’m done and playing with my kids, instead of fretting in front of my computer.

SHINE ~ Unleash Your Awesome ~ Laura Morita Photography | Online editing workshop

I loved his expression (he saw a bee!) but again, the color needed work, and that road behind him really was distracting. No problem. Want to see more from this session? Right here. SHINE ~ Unleash Your Awesome ~ Laura Morita Photography | Online editing workshop

This workshop is just around the corner. Don’t miss out, because honestly, I don’t know when the next one will be.

Interested in learning more? Get some details right here! 

And be sure to read the reviews. Makes me proud. :)

Before and Afters | October 11 on 11

For the most part, I am not following the rules of this month’s 11 on 11. It’s supposed to be images that I shot in the past month, but with my upcoming workshop and recent return back to work (I’m a home health physical therapist), I haven’t had much time to get out there and shoot. I’ve been spending so much time marketing and getting ready for this workshop, that my poor camera has taken a backseat. Sorry, sweet camera. Add onto that that I recently did a presentation for Canon and am gearing up to a a few more (squeal!)…life has been busy.

But I hate missing out on the 11 on 11. So I decided to share some before and afters. I love editing. Like, it might be a bit of an obsession…. I just love looking at an image and unleashing all the awesome. It’s fun!

And hey, I did shoot a little bit, so I’ll share those images too. :)

Let’s start with an image of my amazing mama and my son. Words cannot express to you what this image means to me. I had it printed and hanging in my house within a week of taking it.

I love them.

Laura Morita Photography | San Francisco Bay Area Family Photographer

So, I’ll share some of the more recent images I have taken. This was shot on the tenth. One day before this blog post goes live. I’m taking pictures of my best friend’s family this weekend and wanted to scope out my location and make sure the light was gonna be good. I dragged my kids there after school, and my bookworm daughter just walked around with me from place to place while I snapped some images. I thought this was a nice transformation.

SHINE ~ Unleash Your Awesome ~ Laura Morita Photography | Online Lightroom and Photoshop editing workshop | October 27, 2013.

And this one cracks me up.

SHINE ~ Unleash Your Awesome ~ Laura Morita Photography | Online Lightroom and Photoshop editing workshop | October 27, 2013.

I see this image every day. It’s a 20×30 canvas in my house. This was shot a few years ago, but I still love it. I had forgotten what it looked like straight out of camera. Pretty big difference!

SHINE ~ Unleash Your Awesome ~ Laura Morita Photography | Online Lightroom and Photoshop editing workshop | October 27, 2013.

And here’s some from a couple of years ago that still really make me smile. Are they not completely adorable?

SHINE ~ Unleash Your Awesome ~ Laura Morita Photography | Online Lightroom and Photoshop editing workshop | October 27, 2013.

This little girl is so full of wonderfully bubbly personality, I could just eat her up.

SHINE ~ Unleash Your Awesome ~ Laura Morita Photography | Online Lightroom and Photoshop editing workshop | October 27, 2013.If you have followed me, you know I was OBSESSED with underwater photography this summer. I thought I’d share some of my underwater edits. Editing underwater images is challenging since the skin tones are very blue straight out of camera. But I’ve gotten pretty dang good at getting the color right.

And I love me some creative editing….

The black area around him on the left is from the port of the underwater bag. I was shooting with a 15mm fisheye, and it’s such a wide angle lens, the port made it’s way into the image.

SHINE ~ Unleash Your Awesome ~ Laura Morita Photography | Online Lightroom and Photoshop editing workshop | October 27, 2013.

I loved the splash of my daughter doing a cannonball, but just wanted it to be MORE. Thank you, Photoshop.

SHINE ~ Unleash Your Awesome ~ Laura Morita Photography | Online Lightroom and Photoshop editing workshop | October 27, 2013.

After shooting this image that I loooooove, I decided I wanted more space around them. I like it better like this.

SHINE ~ Unleash Your Awesome ~ Laura Morita Photography | Online Lightroom and Photoshop editing workshop | October 27, 2013.And yes, I did point her toes in this next one. I’m crazy like that.

SHINE ~ Unleash Your Awesome ~ Laura Morita Photography | Online Lightroom and Photoshop editing workshop | October 27, 2013.Hmmm… maybe I should straighten her knee too?

SHINE ~ Unleash Your Awesome ~ Laura Morita Photography | Online editing workshop October 27, 2013.

I’m bummed I didn’t pull out my big camera for a self portrait this month, but I did get some phone pictures that I sort of love. Just me being silly with my kids. A rather common occurrence. I love them. My finest accessories.

Laura Morita Photography self portraits

So, if you like what you see and want to see more, please follow me on Facebook!

And if you are dying to know some of my editing secrets, you really should check out my workshop! The introductory price is almost over! Save some cash and register today!

Next up in this blog circle mania is the one and only Sally Kate Photography.  Her imagery is all sorts of beautiful. Go check it out!…