Before You Delete Throwaway Images - Try This in Lightroom First
When I travel, I come home with a lot of photos - most of which are not very good, admittedly. But that’s ok, because no one snaps a winner every time (or even most of the time). But I never delete these “lesser than” images, for a few reasons. Off the top of my mind, here they are:
I like to keep them to look at as a reminder of my trip. It’s a sort of documentation of my travels, which I enjoy reviewing every once in a while, even if the photos aren’t that great, and even if I don’t do anything with them.
Sometimes, there are some decent images hiding in there that I have just overlooked in favor of much better photos when I am scrolling through them. But that doesn’t mean the decent ones should be ignored.
I assume my editing skills will improve over time, and thus going back to older, overlooked images with a fresh eye and better editing skills often means I can take a decent image and turn it into a nice image.
Many times, it is #3 above that allows me to take an overlooked image and turn it into one that I am proud to share. You can’t turn a horrible photo into a winner with a bunch of lipstick, but you can salvage something that has good bones. Maybe you just needed a fresh look at it, or maybe you just learned a new editing technique.
In the video below, I demonstrate how I take a so-so image in Lightroom Classic and turn it into something much better looking, at least to my eyes. It’s usually centered around adjusting light and color, but with intention - not just randomly. Pick out what you want to accentuate, adjust the light accordingly, and color grade to fit the mood you are creating. In this case, I really love the end result, and it’s certainly much improved over the unedited version.
Hopefully this video gives you some ideas you can use in your own photos, and shows how to use some of the powerful tools in Lightroom Classic to get it done. Enjoy!
Want my free Lightroom Editing Guide? Get it here: https://jimnix.com/lightroom-classic-editing-guide
