People ask me all the time about the amount of post processing I do and what programs I use. The time and effort depends on the assignment. It is as simple as that, but I try to maintain a certain quality I deliver.

To cut a long story short 90% of the time I use flash, indoors & outdoors. I try to make the photo as good as possible. “Don’t fix it, but get it right from the first time.”

There are moments I do not have (or get) the time to get it as perfect as possible out of the camera. For example when photographing 30 Miss Belgium finalists in Egypt there are moments I need to place the flash further away resulting in less flattering light. To make sure the model gets enough light I work with smaller light formers and that means harder light. In post processing I use Frequency Separation 2.0.

By using FS 2.0 a median filter is used. Instead of selecting and performing a gaussian blur (like in version 1) you use the mixer brush and you blend the small or big differences in light. Compare the workflow it with a make-up artist blending the make-up. It also reduces the time in dodging & burning.

Anyhow. It is time consuming but the result is really worth it.

I don’t use plug-ins except for DXO Filmpack to add grain. I do think manual editing is far much better compared to using plug-ins for skin correction and I have tried them all. I buy most of the plugins just to try them out.

The editing time of a high end retouch can take up to two hours! That is when it has to be perfect. An example is a glamour portrait. But mainly I try to keep the photos as natural as possible with flaws and imperfections. I try to keep the editing below half an hour but that is not always possible.

My workflow is to edit the RAW file in Capture One Pro and then switch to Photoshop. Once I have done the editing in Photoshop I flatten all layers (but keeping the PSB) and then I finetune the photo in Capture One Pro.

For example here is a picture of Miri. Left is the photo without any camera profile! A lot of photographers don’t even know a camera profile is aplied to RAW files. That is why you see a difference between the several RAW editors like Lightroom, Capture One Pro, On1 Photo Raw & others. Without a camera profile a RAW photo looks really flat.

In this picture most of the time went to skin retouch and I removed her scar on her arm. I also used FS 2.0 to blend the light into each other but very minimalistic.

When people tell me it is fake they don’t know what they are talking about. If people shoot JPG some post processing is done in your camera. The only difference is you can do it a lot better as your camera.