Tips for Better Photo Edits
Hey guys! If you follow our journey on Instagram or Facebook, you know that I’ve begun to finally crack the vault and share some of my photography hacks and tricks. Over the last couple of weeks, I’ve given you ideas to make your photos better, but today I’m consolidating them into one blog post, plus adding a few more helpful editing tricks. So let’s jump in!
Remove the Distractions
In this example, you can see that I removed the street lamp because I knew it was going to serve as a distraction. If it is something unimportant to the story you are trying to tell, go ahead and remove it to create a more cohesive final image. You can do this in Lightroom by using the healing/clone tool.
Create Movement
This one is more a tip for the photo shoot before we arrive at editing, but using a bit of movement in your images can cause the viewer to subconsciously watch to see if it will continue to move, thus looking at your image long enough to truly take it in. We are naturally adept to want to figure things out, and this is an example of that in it’s purest form. In the example, I’m showing the before and after edits.
Change the Temp
In this tip, you see an example of all three prior tips put into play. But something as simple as changing the temperate of your image can do wonders. Me, personally I’ve been in a “warm” phase for a few years now. I just like the warmer, richer tones so I increase my warmth in post-production. You can do this by utilizing the features under the Color tab in Lightroom, specifically the Temp and Tint drag bars.
Frame your Shot
In this example, we see I’m using the branch of the tree to frame along the bottom and side of the shot. Doing this draws in the viewer to want to explore more of your image. This can be easily accomplished with items like trees, doorways or windows, plants, anything, honestly. I know it’s more of a tip during the shooting phase, but it will help out a lot once you get to editing to know where and how to crop your image.
Set the Mood
And for a final tip only available on the blog! Set the mood you want in Lightroom by utilizing these features:
Under the LIGHT tab: Adjust your overall exposure, highlights + shadows, contrast and any other major lighting adjustments. For a darker, moody image, lower your shadows and bring down your overall exposure slightly, adjusting your highlights as needed until you find your perfect happy spot where your darks are dark enough to not cause pilling (that’s where you see lines through your shades, I’m guilty of this, we all are) and where your lighter colors are *just under exposed.
For a lighter, more airy image, do the same steps as above, only use your slider to adjust your shot to be *just over exposed, your shadows lifted and highlights shifted to find your happy place.
Combine all of these tips and you’re on your way to better photo edits! If you’d like me to share more tips and hacks for taking better photos, reach out to me this week. You can find us on social media:
Instagram: @mojaveandwolf
Facebook: @mojaveandwolf
Youtube: @mojaveandwolf
Until next week, may the road rise up to meet you!
D+Mo
