What Story Is Your Image Telling?
What Story Is Your Image Telling?
In the past, I never gave much thought to why I edited the way I did. That's not to say I didn't spend time on my photos - I did. I made plenty of adjustments, experimented with different looks, and kept moving sliders until I thought the image looked good.
But my editing was aimless. I was just trying to land somewhere, but I didn’t know where. I stopped editing when I ran out of ideas, not because I had accomplished a goal.
But if you don’t know where you are going, how will you know when you get there?
As I've grown as a photographer and editor, I spend much more time thinking about what I want an image to feel like before I start editing. Every adjustment has a purpose. I'm trying to shape the mood. I'm trying to guide the viewer's eye. I'm trying to bring the image to life.
The tools haven’t really changed. What’s changed is my mindset.
I’m trying to tell a story. (Admittedly, I don’t always succeed.)
That's also why I settled on my editing framework of Light, Detail, and Color. It isn't about following a checklist. It's about making intentional decisions. Each step supports the story I'm trying to tell instead of becoming an excuse to use another tool or effect.
To be clear, the story does not have to be long or complicated. I’m not trying to write War and Peace over here. It can be a short story. It can be a simple story. But even simple images can tell a great story.
And everyone loves a story.
If you've never developed a consistent editing approach, I put together a free Editing Framework document that explains how I think through each image. You can download it by joining my newsletter, where I also share weekly editing tips, tutorials, and articles like this one.
For me, editing has become much more enjoyable since I stopped asking, "What else can I do to this image?" and started asking, "What story am I trying to tell?" That single shift changed my editing significantly.
What about you? Do you think about telling a story when you edit your photos? Has that changed the way you approach editing?
