Hello everyone! We hope the holiday season has been treating you all well so far! If you guys are anything like us, your plates are CRAZY full right now. Photoshoots, family obligations, holiday parties with friends... the list goes on & on. And to top it all off, you probably have 50 bajillion photos to edit. YIKES. Post production is definitely a huge part of what we do as photographers, and your efficiency with post production can make or break your business! Leon Sandoval joined us a few weeks ago to chat about outsourcing (he's the awesome owner of Essential Edit... listen to his episode HERE), and he's back this week to share some common mistakes photographers make during their post production phase! He lists 7 deadly sins in the episode... keep reading to hear our three favorites, and tune in to hear the complete list! Our Three Favorite Post Production "Sins"

1. Overthinking: We photographers tend to overthink EVERYTHING when it comes to post production!. We overthink what images to give the client while culling, we overthink the amount of photos to retouch, we overthink which presets or actions to use... we overthink it all! We have to keep in mind that our clients do not see things the same way we do. They just want to see clean, consistent images. We need to remember that by downloading a bunch of presets/actions, you're creating more decisions for yourself. Leon suggests finding one preset to establish your baseline, and go on from there. Too many photographers play around too much with presets, which is taking up a ton of time & making your job more difficult!
2. Not Knowing Your Pace: Leon totally put us on the spot & asked us how much time it takes to edit a shoot from start to finish... and none of us had an answer for him! WHOOPS! Everyone should totally know their pace when editing for a few reasons. First, it erases uncertainty. You know exactly how long it's going to take you to process each job, so you're able to plan your schedule accordingly, and helps you predict post production time in the future. Secondly, your efficiency will continue to improve when you know what goal you'd like to beat time-wise. Leon suggests keeping track of every single task you do for a job as your first step to learning your pace, and then improving upon it!
3. Using Un-Calibrated Monitors: Did you know you should calibrate your monitor a lot? Like... every 15-20 days?! Because we totally didn't! Leon taught us that every single monitor strays from its calibration over time. Calibration is a very simple task that can make a HUGE impact on your post production process. It ensures that you're editing photos correctly & that you have accurate prints & consistency within your work. Calibration is such an easy process; you basically stick a calibration tool on your screen, run the software & sit back & let it do its thing. It's really not scary!

We hope you enjoyed reading 3/7 of Leon's 7 deadly sins of post production! Definitely tune into the episode to hear more & let us know if we missed anything by chiming in on our Facebook page! Relavent Links:

• Essential Edit
• Spyder Calibration Tool
• Unstoppable Referrals

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