My Approach to Editing a Photo
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Over the years, I have sort of settled into a “routine” when editing my photos. I don’t mean I do the same thing on every photo, with the same tools and the same sliders within those tools - but my approach is consistent in terms of what I think about, and that informs my editing choices. I’ve shared this in many videos but I feel it’s worth restating.
I think about light, detail, and color.
To me, these are the basic elements that you are adjusting in a photo. I feel like everything you can do impacts one of these elements in one way or another.
Any adjustments to exposure, highlights, shadows, contrast, whites, blacks…that’s light.
Any adjustments to structure, clarity, details…that’s detail.
Any adjustments to temperature, tint, HSL…that’s color.
When you start to think in these terms, you start to notice how everything you do impacts these things, especially light and color. And that is what makes a photograph stand out.
