Facebook Live Photo Editing Session + Q&A

At the Facebook Developers Conference this year (2016), something pretty significant was announced. Facebook for the first time was opening up the APIs for its incredibly popular Facebook Live Video to work on cameras besides our mobile phones. As a photographer and photo educator, this was pretty big news as the idea of live streaming from my desktop to Facebook has been on my mind for a while! After a little digging and some help from a friend and colleague (Brian Matiash), it was quickly apparent that I had all the tools I needed, including having a verified Facebook Page.

Fast forward to yesterday and for the first time I was able to stream both a live photo editing session and an extensive Question & Answer series with my 115,000 followers on Facebook (Colby Brown Photography). So far the response has been incredible with thousands of people watching live and the video itself reaching over 100k people in the first few hours it was up on my stream. Needless to say, you can count on many more of these moving forward.

The image that I edited was from the Jokulsarlon region of South Iceland, taken last year. In editing this image I used Adobe Lightroom & Photoshop as well as Color Efex Pro 4, part of the Nik Collection by Google, which is now 100% FREE. Enjoy the following Before & After versions of the photo.

Sony a7R | Sony 16-35 f/4 fe
ISO 80 | f/16 | .6 Seconds

Aside from the full 1hr long photo editing session where I not only edited this image live but explained what I was doing and why, I also answered a ton of questions from those fortunate enough to be their live. I talked about my start as a photographer, which artists inspire me, photography filters and the business side of the industry to name a few. This video is long and I got cut off by Facebook at the end, but I hope you enjoy it!

*fast forward to the 2:00 mark to start the video

If you enjoyed this video and you want to see more, be sure to follow Colby Brown Photography on Facebook and subscribe to my Facebook Live Notifications. In the future, I will not only do more live editing sessions but offer prize giveaways, give presentations and even review cameras and lenses. More is on the way!

If you have any questions about Facebook Live or the image I edited, please feel free to leave them in the comments below!

About the Author

Colby Brown

Colby Brown is a photographer, photo educator and author that specializes in landscape, travel and wildlife photography. His photographic portfolio spans the four corners of the globe and all 7 continents. He has worked as a photo instructor for National Geographic and founded The Giving Lens, an organization that blends photo education with support for various non-governmental organizations (NGO) and causes around the world, such as child education, clean drinking water projects, and women’s rights.

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Upcoming Photo Workshop Adventures...

Wildlife Photography Workshop in Brazil Jaguars of the Pantanal

July 31st – Aug. 7th, 2025

The Pantanal region of Brazil is known as the land of the Jaguar. Nowhere else on Earth is there a higher concentration of these elusive big cats than this remote region of Southern Brazil, close to the Southern Amazon Basin. In addition to Jaguars, you will see Caimen, Capybara and a wide assortment of birds.

Aurora Over Skogafoss in South Iceland from Colby Brown's Iceland Winter Photo Workshop

Iceland Winter Photo Workshop – Ice Caves & Auroras

March 4th – 11th, 2024

Winter in Iceland is one of those unique experiences that everyone should have at least once in their life. With this workshop, we will focus our time on the South of Iceland, focusing our time on Ice Caves, Northern Lights, and glaciers, but we will also photograph a number of waterfalls such as Gullfoss, Bruarfoss, Seljalandsfoss, Skogarfoss and more.

A cheetah image captured in the wild in Namibia by Colby Brown during a Photography Workshop

Namibia Photography Workshop

October 12th – 24th, 2022

Namibia is home to some of the most incredible desert landscapes and wildlife on the planet. From the great sand dunes of Sossusvlei to the remote Himba tribes of Northern Namibia to the amazing mixture of wildlife found in the country, Namibia is a photographers paradise. Here you will find large populations of cheetahs, lions, rhino, elephants, buffalo and much more!

Leknes Northern Lights Lofoten Islands Norway Photo Workshop

Norway Photo Workshop – Lofoten Islands

February 22nd – March 1st, 2025

Join us this February as we explore this impressive series of Islands located above the Arctic Circle. While we will work hard to get you in the right spot for both sunrise and sunset, with over half the day steeped in darkness, we will make sure to chase any and all Aurora activity that presents itself throughout our time in the Lofoten Islands.