Starting a career in photography is exciting, you get to enjoy the creative process of capturing moments as they unfold and telling stories through your pictures. But it’s not all fun, there’s a lot of work that goes into post-production, or photo editing. Whether you use an online program like Adobe Lightroom or Photoshop to edit your photos, some basic knowledge is essential to get the most out of your images.
Here are four tips for budding photographers to get the most out of their photo editing.
Establish a Working Color Profile
A working color profile is the starting point for all photo editing and will ensure consistent color throughout your photos. Before you start editing, make sure to set up an appropriate working profile that matches your desired output such as sRGB or Adobe RGB. This way, when you’re done editing, the colors in your final image will match the colors you saw on your monitor during the editing process.
For example, if you’re editing photos of API pumps for a print job, you want the colors in your final image to match the ones used by the printing company. Otherwise, the colors will be off and your images won’t look as good as they should.
Use Adjustment Layers
When editing photos, it’s important to make nondestructive edits whenever possible. This means that you should avoid editing the original pixel data in your image and instead use adjustment layers. Adjustment layers allow you to make changes to your photo without permanently altering the pixels.
If you decide later that you don’t like a particular edit, you can easily delete the adjustment layer and try something else. This is a great way to experiment with different looks without having to start over from scratch each time.
Take Advantage of Presets
Presets are an easy way to quickly apply different effects and styles to your photos. Whether you’re looking for a vintage look in pictures, a high-contrast black-and-white effect, or something totally unique, there are countless pre-made presets available to use.
Presets allow you to save time by streamlining your editing process and providing consistent results. Once you find the perfect preset for an image, you can apply it to other photos with just a few clicks.
Know When to Stop
It can be tempting to keep tweaking an image until it’s “perfect,” but sometimes less is more. It’s important to know when to step away from the editing process and call your photo complete. The key is to edit your photos until they look good and not worry too much about getting them “perfect.”
One way to do this is to limit the number of edits you make before moving on. For example, set a goal of making no more than three adjustments per image and then take a break from editing.
These four important photo editing tips for budding photographers should help you get the most out of your post-production work. From setting a working color profile to taking advantage of presets, knowing what to do and also when to stop will make it easier to achieve consistent results and create stunning images.
