Table of Contents
Today, In this article we will show you how to Edit Photos Like a Pro. In the world of digital photography today, taking a picture is only half the job. The other half is making changes to the photo with a computer program. “You don’t take a picture, you make it,” said Ansel Adams.
So if your photos look different from the ones you see on your favorite creators’ photography website, they might just need some post-processing love. Almost all of the professional photos you see online have been changed in some way by computers.
Sometimes the photos are changed completely to make a whole new world. But most of the time, the photos are changed to fix mistakes or make them look better. We mentioned below are the ways to Edit Photos Like a Pro.
Ways to Edit Photos Like a Pro
Set a Game Plan
Think about what needs to be changed in your photo before you start making changes. Bridges said that there are only two reasons to change a picture: “One, to fix things that were wrong with the photo when it was taken, and two, it’s fun to be creative with the photo and really make it come to life.”
Before you think about creativity, you should look at things like color correction and white balance. Bridges suggests a three-pronged approach: accuracy, creativity, and mood (applying your taste and desire for how the photo feels). From there, you will be in a good position to get the results you want.
Straighten, Rotate, and Crop Your Image
Now it’s time to clean up your image so that it’s ready for the more technical and artistic changes that will come later. If things look a little off, put them back in order. Start by straightening the photo to make sure it looks good, and then decide if it needs to be cropped or moved to make the final product look good.
Adjust Vibrance and Saturation
After you’ve changed the white balance, you can use the saturation and vibrancy controls to make the colors in your photo even better. Vibrance makes soft colors stand out more, while saturation makes all the colors in the frame brighter.
In both cases, you want to find a good balance. Don’t make the photo too dull, and don’t oversaturate it so much that it looks fake. In many cases, an image will look better if the saturation is lowered and the vibrance is raised.
Import and Select Photos
Once you’ve taken your pictures, move them from your camera’s memory card (or iPhone) to the device you’ll be using to edit them. If you’re working on a desktop or laptop, put each image you want to edit in its own folder and label it.
This way, the edited images will be separate from the originals, well-organized, and ready to be changed. Then choose your selects. Look at all of the images you’ve saved to see which ones you want to edit the most. “You want to share your best work, not all of your work,” Bridges says.
Make Technical Fixes and Adjustments
White balance is usually the first step when it comes to technical photo editing. White balance lets you change any tones that don’t look right (including skin tones). Most apps and programs for editing photos let you choose from a number of preset modes that match the lighting in the original photo. Many of the best apps for editing photos also have sliders for “temperature” and “tint” that you can play with to change how an image feels overall.
Enhance Light and Shadows
The exposure settings, also called “brightness,” will change how light or dark your photo is. With the exposure tool, you can also make the highlights and shadows in your photo look better. In his Skillshare course on editing photos from start to finish, digital artist Sean Voelger says that the photo needs to be brighter than you think.
On the other hand, changing the contrast of a photo will change the range of tones in it. High contrast usually leads to an extreme edit, while low contrast gives you a flat image that looks dull and lacks life. Based on the picture, your best bet is to be somewhere in the middle.