Basic Photo Editing

When I decided to learn to edit my own photos, I turned to some of my favorite photographers who were offering tutorials. Naturally if you like somebody's style you want to learn how they do what they do right? Often when you learn from somebody who has already developed a strong style they have forgotten what they had to learn to get there.

I would find myself rewinding and watching someone explain a technique several times to unpack what they were trying to show me. They were teaching using terms and techniques that were several steps ahead of where my learning was. To replicate their style on my own photos was going to take considerable trial and error of my own and tons of practice. That much I knew and I had already made that commitment. But more importantly; I needed to understand some terminology and fundamentals before I could fully absorb and use what they were trying to teach me. Rinse and repeat that experience with half a dozen photographers and tutorials and this was my list of top questions:

• Why does a photographer edit their images a certain way? 
• Can I grab a viewer’s attention and direct their eyes to specific parts of an image?
• Is there a recommended order to make edits to an image?
• I can make adjustments to just part of an image? Why would I want to?
• Can I do these adjustments in any software if I don't want to pay for photoshop or lightroom?
• When has your edit gone too far? What does an over-processed edit look like?

Showing you how a tool works is pointless if I can’t explain the purpose of the edit. The how should follow the why. That’s a well worn cliche because it’s so true. Knowing how to make technical adjustments to a photo is pointless without understanding why an image would benefit from those particular edits.

A good photo edit will direct viewer attention to what you want them to look at in a photo.

When you look at an image that won a photo competition, which reaction do you have?

1. Wow, how did they do that? I wish I knew how to make that kind of image.
2. I can see what they did there. That's an awesome photo. I think I could improve on it though.

If your response is #1 then these basic photo editing principles are definitely for you. If your response is #2 then you're probably already advanced past these principles. Sweet. I would love to see your work!

There is an exciting shift that happens in your head and it's hard to explain. When you really grasp the principles of a successful photo, you start to look at every image critically. I don't mean that you're criticizing the image. You're no longer just seeing a subject and composition in a photo. You're analyzing why you're either drawn to the image or why the image doesn't have any impact on you. You're thinking, "what is it that I like about that image and how can I use it in my own work?"

Then you start to eagerly consume images from other photographers.  You're now able to both identify what you like about their images and you know how to start adding those elements to your own craft. Even after you know the principles of a successful image; sometimes a photo will surprise you and expand your reality even further. Every discovery of what's possible will further expand your own abilities for growth. 

There was a time in my life when spaghetti and meatballs was the extent of "cooking" that I could do from scratch. Then one day I wanted to make a soup that I couldn't buy in a can. Next it was Vietnamese pork dumplings. So good! I won't claim that I'm a chef or even a great cook today. The ability open the fridge with no plan in mind and make something that my whole family and even my wife will enjoy, makes me happy. Sometimes that new creation even makes it into the regular dinner rotation.

Taking creative control of your photo editing is something to embrace. Every edit doesn't have to be perfect. You may "bake" an image today, come back and look at it tomorrow, and throw it in the trash. In fact that will happen if you're actually trying new things and stretching your skills. With practice; and patience with yourself, you will throw away fewer edits and you will like more of the images you work on. Your tastes in food and cooking have changed over your lifetime right? Your photo tastes will grow and change as well. The ability to keep evolving your shooting and editing style is a key to keeping your creative photography practice alive and improving. 😉

The image below of a ranch in Pillaro Ecuador is one that I use for examples in the editing videos. The first one with a warm yellow tint was the first edit I made and printed. In fact it's still hanging in my office and I think you see it in the intro video at the top of this article. The second one with the white fog and orange moss on the rocks in the foreground was a new edit I did while working on these videos. I used to apply a color toned filter over the entire image; mostly because I didn't know any better. Now I only enhance colors selectively when I think they add some impact to the image. This is an example of how my learning has changed my editing style over the years. The full photoshop file with layers is included in the tutorial for you to see my workflow on the image and to experiment with.