It’s all about that edit, and photo editing isn’t just about making your subjects look good. A good photographer knows how to work with light, colour, and composition to take shots that others would tend to overlook. And for professional photographers, editing is no different. While editing at home with tools like Photoshop can be fun, some professional photographers prefer to edit their photos in Lightroom, the industry-standard editing software.
Here are the following steps professional photographers want you to know about the editing process:
- Select the editing software suitable for your photography level and needs. While editing at home with tools like Photoshop can be fun, some professional photographers prefer to edit their photos in Lightroom, the industry-standard editing software. If you are a beginner, then you should keep it simple and use easy-to-use and easy-to-learn software. Beginners should learn to use the tools that are available in their software. If you are an intermediate photographer, you will need to learn to use more advanced tools. You may also want to learn how to use additional editing tools.
- Crop and straighten your photo. This part deals with cropping the image to the exact size you want. It used to be that photographers had to measure the exact height and width of the photo they wanted, then take precise measurements for each photo. Then, they would use photo-editing software that came with software that came with the digital camera and then enlarges the image until it reached the proper size.
- Drop off any unwanted elements. Badly exposed photos, for example, can be edited to remove those elements by using proper exposure techniques. Cropping may be another solution to “fix” photos, but it will not remove unwanted elements from the photograph. Using a photo editor, you can remove unwanted elements like dust, scratches, or red-eye.
- Adjust the white balance. To get the best colour reproduction from your digital camera, you must use the correct white balance. A correctly set white balance determines what the final image will look like. White balance, or WB, refers to the camera’s ability to set the proper colour temperature for a given scene. The WB setting is adjusted by the camera until the image looks correct, and the camera alerts you when you’ve reached the correct setting.
- Use the proper exposure level. The correct exposure is the lighting that lays the foundation for great photographs. While you will be taking many shots throughout your photoshoot, doing your homework beforehand and understanding what lies behind your shots will make a big difference. Proper exposure is important for your images, but so is choosing the correct file type.
- Increase or decrease contrast on that photo. This editing technique uses a stylized brushstroke to darken and brighten the parts of an image that you want to emphasize. For the technique, start by creating a layer mask, then use a soft brush to paint on the mask in the areas where you want to adjust brightness. Doing this will reveal the areas you painted with darker tones and hide the areas you painted with lighter tones.
- Make some adjustments to the colours. If you’ve taken a photography class, then you know that one of the most important skills to learn is how to edit photos correctly. While editing photos is a large part of the job, it’s not the be-all and end-all. A lot of photographers add colour to a photo after the fact. Adding colour to a photo is easier than it sounds—you just need Photoshop, Lightroom, or whatever editing software you use.
- Keep Your Photos Sharp. When editing your photos, you want to keep the resolution as high as possible without going over the file size or image dimensions. So, if you have a 300-pixel image, don’t resize it to 300 x 300 pixels. It will look crisper when you resize it to 200 x 200 pixels.
A professional photograph is not just a snap of a subject but of a moment frozen in time, a piece of art created by a skilled artist who uses light, composition, and image processing, among other things, to bring a subject’s personality to life. A professional photographer knows what it takes to make an image look its best, but those same skills can also be applied to your photos from your phone.