Don’t Try To Learn It All At Once

There is so much to learn when it comes to editing photos. You can quickly get burnt out or overwhelmed if you try to tackle too much at once. Don’t feel like you have to learn it all! With Photoshop or with other editing programs, it will start to come together. Just take it all in little by little. I have been working with Photoshop for years and am still figuring out new things that it can do for my photos!

Do Understand How to Adjust your White Balance

This may be the single most important thing to know how to adjust when editing. White balance can make or break your photo if it is not correct. Setting white balance can be done in camera, but if it does need to be adjusted, you can easily do this in ACR or Lightroom (if you are shooting in RAW).

Don’t Overdo It

It’s easy when you are starting to play around with Photoshop to want to play with the different effects. It’s cool to watch what they all can do. Don’t fall into the trap though of over editing. As a general rule of thumb, when you are editing, apply whatever effect it is you are working with and get it to the point you think looks good—THEN just tone it down a little more. This will help ensure that you are not going overboard with a certain effect. There are still times I feel like I might be “overdoing” it. So I always just take it down a notch from where I originally thought it looked good.

Zoom In

When you are editing, it’s easy to make adjustments to a photo as a whole and think that it looks great. Before you save and close though, make sure you zoom in and make sure you are not overlooking a detail that could have an easy fix. Is there a pimple on someone’s forehead, boogies coming out of the babies nose, trash on the ground in the corner You might not see these details zoomed out, but the clients sure will. Zoom in and take a look paying attention to detail at things that might be a quick fix. When you pay attention to the small details, it will make your photo look nicer as a whole.

Set Editing Goals

As A long time photographer and photography educator, I know that Photoshop and other editing software can be overwhelming. Set goals for yourself and learn a little bit at a time. This will help you become more successful in the long run. Ask other photographers for help, keeping reading editing articles, watch one a the numerous free YouTube tutorials out there on editing, take an eCourse on Photoshop or enroll in a course at a local college.

The editing process is fun! It gives you the chance to be creative and really start turning your photos in works of art. It took me awhile to get to the level I am with Photoshop though and I still don’t know it all! I keep learning everyday and you should too. If you want to join me, I have a Photoshop eCourse for beginners that is enrolling now!