At Pure7, we strive to do most of the work with the camera. By that, I mean that we don’t believe in using photo editing software to drastically change the pictures that we take. We believe in capturing the real, natural beauty of the moment as it happens, not later in the studio. That being said, there are a number of tools that help us to lightly edit and prepare the photos for our clients.

The editing process begins by using a program called Photo Mechanic. After every shoot, I use this software to quickly cull my images. Culling is the process of sorting through all of the photos and picking the best ones to move forward with. Before using Photo Mechanic, I used Lightroom for this step, but I wasn’t happy with how long it took. Less time spent culling and editing photos means more time that I get to spend with my family.

When I am done culling the photos, I import the best ones into Lightroom. I love that Lightroom allows me to do everything that I need, aside from sorting. My editing process is fairly simple. I do my best to keep it as natural as possible. I use three different VSCO presets: one for black and white, one for low light reception shots at weddings, and one for everything else. Once I am finished with Lightroom, I export these photos into an “edits” folder within the client’s shoot.

I use Photoshop on occasion, but I don’t rely on it heavily. My goal as a photographer is to get things right in the moment with my greatest tool – my camera. The times when I do use photoshop are typically for swapping heads in large family shots or cropping images for client orders.

For creating client slideshows or wedding sneak-peaks, I love to use Smart Slides by Pixel. The music choices are awesome, and I can set the photo transitions to line up with the beats of the song. Blogstomp is another one of my favorite software programs. I use it to prepare and resize photos for my blog.

When it comes to in-studio purchasing appointments, I use ProSelect. Clients come into the studio, and I project their images onto our large screen. ProSelect allows me to select images and put them side-by-side so the clients can easily pick their favorites. It also gives me the ability to showcase our wall gallery options.

Lastly, I don’t know what I would do without Spotify. It’s a huge part of my time in the studio, and it keeps me company while I work.

Our goal at Pure7 is to make your experience stress-free and keep your photos natural, no matter the occasion. Schedule your session today.