Professional photographers don’t simply snap a shot and move on. Instead, they apply a wide range of editing methods to make a picture appear more like what they want it to, rather than what it is. On-site equipment changes and post-production editing are included in this method category.
Enhancing a photo and creating a more compelling image is not as simple as it may appear. Plus, if you’re just starting out, it complicates things considerably. Therefore, some excellent photo-editing pointers will facilitate the most fruitful application of your imagination.
- Crop:
The most straightforward approach to completely altering a picture is to crop it. Cropping can be used to improve composition, get rid of unwanted or distracting features, or draw attention to a focal point.
Double-checking that your shot is straight should be your first step after adding it to a photo editing program. Framing is a critical component for an image to get from blah to fantastic.
- Enhance resolution:
When editing an image, consider the pixels to be the unprocessed material. It’ll be simpler and yield better results if there are more of them to deal with. The importance of knowing the mode of presentation cannot be overstated. The resolution needed for print media is substantially higher than that needed for digital screen displays.
Compared to screen displays, which can be as low as 70 dpi, most print work requires a resolution of 300 dpi. Generally speaking, it’s best to work at 150%-200% of the final size and then downsample. Remember that the RAW format is always the superior choice for photography. That way, you can play around with different effects in post-processing.
- Modify saturation:
Saturation is a color’s purity. High saturation increases the color intensity and brightness. Lower saturation approaches gray.
Appropriately increasing saturation may make a dull shot more colorful and appealing. You may saturate sections of your picture or colors while under-saturating others to highlight them.
- Reduce blur:
The most efficient way to reduce motion blur is to fix the camera. Any object that serves the same purpose as a tripod may be used in its place or a tripod if available.
In the post-processing stage, you may reduce the motion blur even further. You can easily unblur photos quickly and simply using certain tools.
- Fixing colors:
Color sliders may appear difficult and risky to individuals who have never used them. Because there are so many different factors at play, even small changes can feel like giant jumps, and choosing the perfect color and color scheme can be quite difficult.
- Adjust lighting:
Consistent lighting is essential for a credible picture composite. Any scene piece with variable lighting and shadows can never blend in. It is defined as a “green screen effect.”
Learn how real-world light and shadow operate. Once you determine the scene’s principal light source, ensure that every surface is lighted or darkened. Then, repeat for all scene light sources. It seems complex, but it becomes easy if you understand the visual geometry and do some experiments.
- Scale it proper:
A feeling of anything being “off” is formed when pieces are not the same size. When it happens, the audience’s belief system is broken, and they know the image is fake.
To make sure everything in a picture is the right size, it’s essential to give some thought to the image’s perspective. First, locate the vanishing points and the horizon line, then adjust your composition to be in proper alignment.
- Sharpen it:
To make little things stand out more, increase the image’s edge contrast. Since the focus of sharpening may fluctuate depending on the size of the image, you should often only do it as the last step after resizing. You can manually sharpen the areas to emphasize certain details in the photographs, such as the eyes. Additionally, you may sharpen the entire image.
- Add textures:
The surfaces of a digitally enhanced photograph only appear realistic because of the high-quality textures used in the process. Indeed, use textures in your picture editing project to mimic the depth of detail we observe in real life.
Final thoughts:
You may take the first step toward taking photos that seem more professional by using these photo editing tips and methods. Photos seem stunning often because of the post-processing or picture editing it goes through.
Gaining expertise in picture editing will offer you a competitive edge as a photographer. So, these picture editing ideas will be very helpful to you if you’re an aspiring or experienced photographer, editor, or even graphic designer.
