4 Tips to Creating Your Look

Hi, I’m Laura, a boy-mom living on the West Coast of Canada. I teach a number of courses and workshops through Hello Storyteller but am also a full-time wedding and family photographer. I’d love to share a few things to consider as you work on creating your own look as a photographer with an emphasis on skin tones and greens as I believe these are two areas that are the bane of most photographers’ existence! Here are my 4 tips to creating your “look”!

1. Is my look consistent?

If you are a professional photographer, you want your clients to know what they are getting. The overall tones should not change despite the type of light you are shooting in even if the images look slightly different. What I mean by this is that if you are a cool or desaturated editor, this should be a consistent approach. If you are a vibrant editor, this should also be consistent. Here is an example shot at golden hour (flare in camera – not added) and then one shot at full noon.

You can see that even though the images have a very different vibe, my skin tones are still on the warmer side and my greens have a similar look between the lawn and darker bits of forest in the river shot. Now, I would never post the full sun image online (it was shot for me) because I do not do client shoots in areas like that or at that time of day so it is not representative of my overall work. This is just an example of how you can keep tones similar across dramatically different situations.  These were also edited with two completely different presets, but tweaked to match each other (i.e. my style).

2. What type of light am I working with?

The type of light you shoot in can absolutely create a “look” despite your editing preferences. We saw this in the example above, when I said that even though the tones were consistent, I would only post one of the images because the other didn’t match my overall style. Here is another example.

These images were taken around the same time on the same day. If you look at the green above my oldest child’s head (tie-dye shirt) and the green in the lower foliage of the river shot, you will see again, they are actually matching each other, but with two very different vibes. One was a pocket of fully open shade, and one was with dappled light in the background. If you are feeling like you aren’t being consistent despite your editing, take a moment to consider what light you are shooting in.

I forced my clients away from mid-day shoots a while ago and will look for open shade to shoot weddings in. On the rare occasion that I do have to shoot in open sun, I often don’t post those because I don’t want clients to associate my style with that. There’s nothing wrong with shooting in full sun. It’s just not my personal dark, moody preference.

 

3. Communication

This brings us to our third consideration – communication. I start all of my booking confirmation sentences now with, “Great, would you like to book a sunrise shoot on that date at x-time or an evening shoot at x-time?  If you need it earlier in the evening we can go to x-location where the sun sets behind the trees/mountain/etc. sooner.” If I have a client say it needs to be midday, then I warn them and just say, “No problem, but just so you know, your images will look a bit different than what you see on my site.”

4. Do I need a look?

Do I need a look?  If you’re a professional, yes, you do. Your clients need to know what they are purchasing. If you are working toward a portfolio submission or teaching style, then yes, you do. If you are a hobbyist, then you don’t “need” one. It takes careful time and intentionality to create one, so some might opt out and that’s totally okay!

Learn more about editing your skin tones and greens to look exactly how you want them with August’s Combo of the Month,  Mastering Greens and Mastering Skin Tones!

For more inspiration, follow Laura on Instagram!