What you'll need to do these exercises
- A computer with a photo editing software installed: Apple photos can do all of the adjustments covered in these videos. You can install a trial version of Adobe Lightroom here. Or install a 7 day free trial of Luminar which is my favorite inexpensive standalone photo editor.
- Photos to edit - use your own photos or the sample images provided with this download.
What You'll Learn in this basic photo editing tutorial
Directing Viewer Attention: 18 minutes
The difference between taking a photo and making a photo. Creating focal points in an image and how to draw in a viewer's attention.
Concepts and post-processing workflow you can use with any photo and any editing software: 13 minutes
- Why do you want to edit your photos anyway?
- Photo editing softwares do the same things in different ways.
- In what order should you make corrections to a photo?
Basic Edits - Understanding the Components of a Photo: 54 minutes
- Black point vs Shadows
- White point vs Highlights
- White balance and temperature
- Texture, Clarity, Contrast, Dehaze - how they each create impact in different ways
- What’s that Curves tool thing about?
- Sharpening properly and how not to do it.
- Color contrast and pop using Vibrance and HSL adjustments - hue, saturation, luminance
Universal Edits vs Selective Edits: 47 minutes
- Selective edits demonstrated in Lightroom using spot, radial, brush and gradient tools
- Selective edits shown using Luminar individual edits and whole image layer edit
- What are masks and how do they work - demonstrated in photoshop
- Purpose of a vignette
- Full selective edits on one image in photoshop.
Common Editing Mistakes - 23 minutes
- Flat tones or color contrast
- Oversaturating colors or unnatural colors
- Oversharpening
- Selective color
- HDR overdone
