The Slow And Meticulous Edit
Ayup! In recent months, I've been leaning towards editing fewer photos. Not through time restraints, nor lack of content, or even dwindling motivation. Yes, I've been doing this on purpose. Why? For the pure embrace of a slow and meticulous process.
I'd much rather have one image that I'm ridiculously excited about than ten that are just ok. Spending more time in post allows for a period of transformation. A photo is a photo, until you make it your photo.
Slowing down, really gives creativity time to work its magic in your mind. Frequent pauses allows time to discover your project and where you want to take it next. Sometimes possibilities need time for you to find them.
A Brutal Cull
This technique starts with the most brutal selection process. AKA, the cull. There's nothing more off-putting than a gazillion images sitting in a folder. Following each photography trip or outing, I normally whittle my saved files down to around 25% of everything that was initially captured. These aren't all keepers, far from it. However, they do show some sort of potential.
From there, I start to individually pick out any photos that either a) I know I want to edit, or b) I want to explore further. Here's a quick breakdown/example of the numbers:
100 shots taken
Around 25 selected
Between 2 and 8 final images
I don't personally save the other 75 photos. Instead, I'd rather focus entirely on the selected folder. For each location, I have a simple file management system set up:
Selected
Affinity Files
Finals
Think of yourself as a sculptor. You start with a giant block of marble (your massive folder of RAW files) and you chip away at it, revealing the beautiful statue hidden inside.
That’s culling.
It’s the process of sifting through all your photos and picking out the absolute keepers. The blurry shots, the ones where someone’s blinking, the 50 near-identical photos of the same pose – they all get lovingly (or ruthlessly) tossed aside, leaving you with only the best of the best.
Slower = Calmer
I recently wrote about introducing Photomator to my editing workflow. This isn't really working out. With this meticulous approach, I've nearly always been jumping straight into Affinity.
This would be comparable to editing in Photoshop rather than Lightroom. There's no right or wrong way, only the way that works best for the individual photographer. For me, Affinity provides a deeper level of control and precision, as well as an abundance of additional tools.
One example is the pen tool. I use this all the time to create shapes over parts of a photo. Sometimes, I also use it to replace the sky instead of using a mask. Ultimately, I can spend a lot more time dialling in the exact look that I want to achieve. More attention to detail, less flying through the edit ASAP.
I take it slowly, saving as I go, often completing the edit over multiple days. When the end result is something you're proud of that's taken hours, this gives the image much more meaning and value. The entire process is as relaxing as it is fun. It's mindful, calming, and pretty darn rewarding.
Slow Creativity is the idea of taking a more relaxed and deliberate approach to the creative process, allowing ideas to simmer and develop over time rather than rushing to produce something quickly. Just as slow living encourages mindfulness and being present in the moment, slow creativity emphasises the importance of allowing your creative ideas to unfold at their own pace.
Good for the soul
When it comes to selecting and editing photos, focussing on quality over quantity is the route to deeper work. Spending an hour editing twenty photos will have a vastly inferior outcome to spending an hour editing one photo. Slow it down. Enjoy the process.
Your photography, soul and mental health will all benefit in equal measures. Creativity is a gentle practice. It's not meant to be rushed. An unhurried and even deliberately prolonged edit allows for reflection and breathing space. We need it. Our work needs it. The world needs it.
