Do you ever edit when you're hungry (hangry), tired or stressed?

— Lauren Bennett at Lemon Sky Photography.

Yesterday I opened Photoshop for an editing experiment to confirm something I've long suspected.

I edited the same baby session twice - once while hungry and stressed at 2pm, and again after my evening meal.

I also did the same for a dog portrait (both edited entirely using my Photoshop Action kits for consistency).

The difference was striking:

The Left images are hangry daytime.

Right is fed and chilled evening.

Original in the middle.

Apparently, hungry-me cranked up the contrast. Added deeper blacks. Vibrant tone. Blurred backgrounds to paper-thin depth of field.

These sweet subjects suddenly looked like they were in a dramatic film noir instead of a sentimental portrait to magnify the connection.

NOT necessarily a bad thing, art is subjective. But probably not the best for certain images.

Here's why this happens.

When you're hungry, your brain switches into hunter-gatherer mode.

You focus intensely on color and pattern - survival skills that helped our ancestors spot food and threats. You edit bolder because you're literally in problem-solving mode.

The issue?

You might lose the original image's vibe and spirit.

That baby session was all about gentle serenity, capturing expression. But hungry-me was editing like I was hunting mammoth.

After I returned to those same images. I could suddenly see what each shot actually needed from my own artistic point of view: Soft, dreamy tones to create a more peaceful moment of connection.

No right or wrong here, but one is “my” style, the other is someone else's.

Your most expensive images might be the ones you edited while hangry.

Or perhaps the ones you edited when calm.

This is just one piece of editing workflow psychology that affects every photographer's results.

Do you edit hungry, tired or stressed?

Have you ever noticed your edits come out completely differently when you edit hungry?

If you want to edit consistently, with flawless results (hangry or not) you can browse our Suite of Editing Packs built especially for creative photographers.

These Photoshop Actions, Presets and Overlays are designed so you can wow your clients and transform your galleries with scroll-stopping results (every time).