Fixing Bad Studio Lighting After the Shoot: A Photoshop Workflow That Actually Works

Fixing Bad Studio Lighting After the Shoot: A Photoshop Workflow That Actually Works

Every working studio photographer has a folder somewhere they’d rather forget. Mine has a fashion editorial from my third year shooting commercially where I mixed daylight-balanced strobes with tungsten practicals and didn’t catch it until I was culling at home. The images were technically salvageable, but they cost me hours in post and a fair amount of pride. That experience is exactly why I now pay close attention to any tutorial that promises to fix lighting problems after the fact.

Painting With Light in Photoshop: A Studio Photographer's Take on Dramatic Lighting

Painting With Light in Photoshop: A Studio Photographer's Take on Dramatic Lighting

Most of my lighting problems get solved before I ever open Photoshop. I label every head in my studio with masking tape, I keep a lighting journal of every setup I’ve ever shot, and I’ve designed my own diagram app because the ones available never matched how I actually think on set. But even with all that prep, there are times when a client image needs something the strobes couldn’t give it on the day.