Photo Tip #94:
Post-Production Series #2: Editing Tips
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Greetings Fellow Photographers!
Last week I gave you a list of free editing tools you can use to edit your
photos. Today, I will provide some tips for editing and help you understand a
few basic editing terms so you can become more familiar and confident with the
editing process.
Editing can turn a good photo into a great one. It is also an important part of
the photography process that allows you to manipulate your photo so it looks
exactly the way you want it to look. There is no right or wrong when it comes to
editing your photos; it is just a matter of using the tools you have available
in order to get your idea across.
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Editing Terms
No matter which editing tool you are using, chances are it has the following options to use to edit your photo:
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Saturation
refers to the vividness or boldness of the colors in your photo. Increase the saturation to get bolder, vivid colors. Decrease the saturation for muted and more subtle colors in your photo.
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Color balance
refers to the color temperature in your photo. A warm color balance setting will bring our warmer colors like red and yellow in your photo, while a cooler color balance setting will emphasize colder color tones like blue and green.
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Contrast
refers to pushing or pulling middle color tones in or out of your photo. When set to the extreme, a high contrast setting will polarize the whites and blacks in your photo, so the colors are either extremely black or extremely white. A low contrast setting will make the photo totally grey.
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Brightness/Density
often works hand in hand with the contrast setting by making a photo lighter or darker. You generally want to adjust brightness and contrast to correspond with one another.
Most editing tools have other options as well, like converting a photo to black and white or sepia, but start with the four features above to develop your photo editing skills. |
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Main Ideas to Remember About Editing
As I mentioned last time, almost every professional photo you have seen has been edited in some form or another. The people who edit these photos are professionals, so my number one tip for editing is: do not get discouraged if your photos still do not look like professional photos after you have edited them. Spend some time playing around with your editing tool to get familiar with the effect of each editing option. Start by practicing the four items I listed above. A simple change can have a dramatic effect on your photo, so pay attention to cause and effect as well. Also, remember to always print out a small test shot before you order a large print or photo product, just to make sure the final print looks similar to how the photo is displayed on your computer monitor.
Keep at it; eventually, editing a photo on your computer will become as familiar as taking a picture with your camera! Next time I will give some helpful tips for cropping your photos. |
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Thanks for everyone that has shared their photos with me since the last email! Here are a few shots that stood out to me.
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 "It was my boy's 2nd birthday so I took him to walk around our neighborhood and discovered that the dandelion flowers had turned into parachute balls. I told him to sit there and gave him an apple to munch on so he wouldn't run around. I was able to capture many nice pictures of him with dandelions in the background. I just love these pictures!"
– May
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 "I love the colors and richness this picture has. My daughter loves ladybugs and she spotted this lil' guy on Easter Sunday. She was so excited. The sun light was perfect and I am very happy with the turn out of this picture! Hope you enjoy it as much as I do!"
– Chasity
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 "I am a scrapbooker and love to take photos, but I don't know a lot about capturing a great shot. I have really enjoyed the photo tip newsletters and they have been greatly beneficial. I now have a five month old, and I took the attached pictures using your photo tips for baby pictures. I'm not a professional, but I like the smiles I get better than the ones at the studio, and probably will not spend much money to get baby photos taken in the future - I will do them myself. For these pictures, I let the natural light come in the front windows. I draped a white sheet over a bench and put my little girl in the Boppy. She smiles all the time, so it wasn't hard to get a good shot, but I took a lot pictures! I used my photo editing software to change some of the pictures to black and white and make a square crop. Thanks so much for the newsletters."
– Andrea
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 Kathie shared this with me on facebook and I asked her to send to me so I can post it in an email as well. I love the tree line in this photo. It really draws your eye to follow the road. Well done! – Digi
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