Basic Photo Editing: 3 Techniques to Improve Your Editing Skills

Why Should You Edit Your Photos?

First, photo editing is the action taken to alter an image. So why should you edit your photo? Editing your photo will help bring the image as close as to how it looked with your own eye, or in a more artistic direction if you prefer.  As good as we’d like to think our cameras are, they still leave plenty of room for post production adjustments. Editing can include things such as adjusting the color, cropping to a different size, removing an object from the image, and much more. Subtle edits, such as, leveling the horizon and adjusting the exposure, can make a huge difference for your photo. The following are 3 basic techniques to help increase your photo editing skills, and the overall look of your image.

Two important aspects in editing that should be done prior to anything are:

1: Shoot Your Photos in RAW Format

Although you can edit a JPEG; a RAW file captures more detail, and allows for far greater editing ability in post. (technically this is a pre-edit step)

2: Adjust Your Lens Profile

Adjusting the profile of your lens for your editing software will correct the distortion, or “curvature” in the image, as well as reduce any chromatic aberration (color distortion creating a colored outline around objects in a photo).

What is the First Photo Edit You Should Make?

Leveling your horizon should be the very first thing you do once you get the photo into your editing software. It does not matter how breathtaking your shot was, if the horizon isn’t level, folks will be turned off by it. I personally use Lightroom, but most programs are the same, and most come with an auto-level function. These auto functions are great for getting your photograph level most of the time, but there are occasions when you may want to fine-tune it yourself, such as when your photo includes a bit of fog on the horizon.  To manually adjust the level of your horizon; first pick your horizon-line, then rotate up/down with the cropping tool until you’re satisfied. 

Using the “Auto” function to Edit Your Photo

What the “Auto” function in most editing software does is simple, however, it can greatly increase the overall look of your image in a single click.

Balancing Exposure

The auto function is going to bring the photo's exposure to an appropriate level, and you can see this by looking at your histogram (a graph measuring the brightness of an image). Once your histogram appears similar to the one below, then you know your image is properly exposed. This will get the “lighting” as close to how it looked in person, while avoiding darker shadows or harsh highlights.

Adjusting Contrast

Contrast refers to the range of dark to light tones. The auto function adjusts contrast to find a mid-range level, and avoids the extreme end of both. More contrast will create darker darks, as well as lighter lights (amplifying the contrast). Less contrast will produce an image that looks soft or foggy, while decreasing the harsh lines. 

Fine-Tuning Saturation

The intensity of color in an image is known as saturation, and the auto function tunes the saturation of your photo to achieve a more natural look. Increasing saturation will bring more boldness to your image, and will make the colors “pop”, or stand out.

• Vibrance is similar to saturation, but differs slightly. Vibrance only affects neutral tones (skin tones), and the adjustments are far more subtle.
  

The auto function adjusts vibrance and saturation simultaneously in order to accomplish a well-balanced look, but you can always tailor it to your own liking.

Cropping to Adjust Focal Point

Modifying the borders of an image, or “cropping”, changes the focal point of the photo.  Adjusting the crop, and using the rule-of-thirds (positioning the subject in the left or right third of the image, leaving the other two-thirds open), you can pull focus to your subject more intently.

Bonus Tip

Shooting with your rule-of-thirds grid on, and displaying a live histogram, will save you time in post-editing, as well as improve your understanding and skills as a photographer.

Simple Editing Techniques

These 3 simple editing techniques, that are available in MOST editing programs, will create a better photo, as well as produce a greater appreciation for nailing these things “In-Camera”...so you can spend more time out shooting, and less time inside editing.