How do you edit photos?

[Phot]

I was hoping you guys could point me to some beginners guides on what to edit in photos. I don't need advice on how to edit, like using Gimp, there are lots of guides I have access to........ But what exactly are good things to edit.

For some background, I like to backpack in the woods and mountains, and I like to take lots of pictures, edit them, through them up in a forum. My camera is a FujiFilm F850EXR, I reduce all photos to 750x550px.

I imagine taking the photo properly has a lot to do with this subject. I always read that lighting is good, but I can basically never choose my lighting, only the time of day, so I am always playing with f-stop, Iso, and shutter speed. Any good guides on that would be welcome.



Note: I tried finding the right area to post this in, let me know if there is a better one.

 

[robbins.photo]

Well my first suggestion would be to do some research/reading on composition, then maybe post a single image for C&C for more specific feedback.

 

[table1349]

I have always had the philosophy that I would edit those things that need fixing and leave the things that don't need fixing alone. This job gets easier if you get it right in camera at the time you take the photograph.

 

[Scuba]

An impossible question to answer. My suggestion is look at all the images in the forum that follows your interest and read all the comments and try and see what others do. Make comments to the things that you see. A few months of this and you will start it leave what to edit. Sorry but it takes time to learn what I desire. Also post images along the way of what to learn to get feedback and keep learning.

 

[ricardouribeb]

There's not really much like a way to go, I guess it's about how you like it or how you need it. My advice would be to use a program specially designed for that. For example if you're using Photoshop or Corel, change it to Lightroom for instance. It's pretty easy to use. My workflow is always:

Shoot -> Choose pictures -> Crop when needed -> Lightroom -> Photoshop (for last adjustments, like erasing a fly or small stuff like that).

Of course that you always have to be accurate at the moment you take your picture, but there are some moments, specially when moving around nature or cities, in which you can't control the amount of time you have to take a good picture, and some minor details may have to be changed, and that's were your editing should come in.

For example, I really love to take pictures of water at very very high shutter speeds, I'll give you an example on this one:
View attachment 66047

On this one, I remember the water had a slightly different more-neutral color. So I changed saturation up a bit, and changed the hue to make it look more blue-ish. The backround wasn't dark at all, so I used the curves tool to make the dark areas even darker, and the selective color tool as well, to make black areas even darker. I used an unsharp mask to make sure the droplets were as neat as possible. I added the vignette on Lightroom, and changed the WB (I sometimes forget not to shoot on auto).

It's pretty much about what the picture needs, and how much you like to edit. Some people like to edit a lot on a single picture, some others don't. I feel it's ok.

 

[KmH]

!. Duplicate original (never edit an original)
2. Adjust White Balance
3. Capture sharpen
4. Adjust mid-tone contrast
5. Color corrections (set white point, gray point, black point)
6 or 7. Edit pixels as needed.
6 or 7. Local/artistic sharpen
8. Adjust local density (dodge/burn)
9. Add other artistic edits as desired.
10. Output sharpen.
11. Set output color space, bit depth, and file type.

 

[480sparky]

!. Duplicate original (never edit an original)......

Unless you use non-destructive software.

 

[Phot]

Well my first suggestion would be to do some research/reading on composition, then maybe post a single image for C&C for more specific feedback.

OMG man, I love this topic, never knew it existed. This is something I vary much needed and wanted. I have been running around the net looking for ways to take a good photo.... The word I was missing was Composition. Than you

 

[apaflo]

This is an excellent list! I'd like to add a couple changes.

!. Duplicate original (never edit an original)
2. Adjust White Balance
3. Capture sharpen

Capture sharpen technically does not need to be done. For some people it helps them to visualize the final effects they would like. If that works well for any individual, do capture sharpening as needed. (But hold it off for a couple steps.)

4. Adjust mid-tone contrast
5. Color corrections (set white point, gray point, black point)

These all fall under "gamma corrections", not "color corrections". They should be done in the RAW converter, immediately following White Balance adjustement and before any Capture Sharpen.

Brightness and gamma correctons are interrelated, and adjusting them is a back and forth process

After they are set, then start with Capture Sharpening if you need it, and followed by "localized" editing.

6 or 7. Edit pixels as needed.
6 or 7. Local/artistic sharpen

Just to be orthogonal, local/artistic blur is done at this state too!

8. Adjust local density (dodge/burn)
9. Add other artistic edits as desired

This is the point to resample an image to the eventual size. It necessarily precedes Output Sharpen..

10. Output sharpen.
11. Set output color space, bit depth, and file type.

Maybe a note here about the difference between an "intermediate file" and a "display file". If the file will ever be edited again in any way, it is an intermediate file. That means it should use a non-lossy form of compression. That can be done with the proprietary editor formats (psd and xcf for example), or with the TIFF format. But JPEG uses lossy compression, and once the image is saved in a JPEG format it ideally should never be edited again. (Instead, go back to the last save before the JPEG, and start there with new edits.)

A JPEG file, with it's lossy compression, should be used only to display on a computer or to print.

 

[apaflo]

OMG man, I love this topic, never knew it existed. This is something I vary much needed and wanted. I have been running around the net looking for ways to take a good photo.... The word I was missing was Composition. Than you

Wanna boggle your mind? Composition is a deep deep subject, fascinating, and is at the root of all visual arts.

"Entropy and Art", an essay by Rudolf Arnheim

The above is not exactly an easy read, but beyond that he wrote the definitive textbook, "Art and Visual Perception: A Psychology of the Creative Eye" which is available in cheap paperback. It's 500 plus pages but perhaps easier to read than the above essay.

Of course there are texts that address strictly composition in photography, but the more general concepts that apply to all visual arts are necessary to understand the topic better if you want more than cookie cutter style instructions.

And for composition in one line, Picasso said "Art is the elimination of the unnecessary."

 

[robbins.photo]

Well my first suggestion would be to do some research/reading on composition, then maybe post a single image for C&C for more specific feedback.

OMG man, I love this topic, never knew it existed. This is something I vary much needed and wanted. I have been running around the net looking for ways to take a good photo.... The word I was missing was Composition. Than you

Well you could spend half a life time reading about composition and still not cover the entire topic, and from the way you introduced the post it made it seem like a good portion of your question would be when to decide to leave something in a photo and when to either crop it out or remove it by other means - which of course has a great deal to do with composition. Thing I love is that you just immediately jumped to the conclusion that the advice was worthless to you and apparently thought it would be a good idea to get this incredibly sarcastic with someone that was simply trying to help you out.

Sort of speaks volumes, don't you think? I wish you well in your endeavors.

 

[jenko]

Well my first suggestion would be to do some research/reading on composition, then maybe post a single image for C&C for more specific feedback.

OMG man, I love this topic, never knew it existed. This is something I vary much needed and wanted. I have been running around the net looking for ways to take a good photo.... The word I was missing was Composition. Than you

Well you could spend half a life time reading about composition and still not cover the entire topic, and from the way you introduced the post it made it seem like a good portion of your question would be when to decide to leave something in a photo and when to either crop it out, which of course has a great deal to do with composition. Thing I love is that you just immediately jumped to the conclusion that the advice was worthless to you and apparently thought it would be a good idea to get this incredibly sarcastic with someone that was simply trying to help you out.

Sort of speaks volumes, don't you think? I wish you well in your endeavors.

I honestly don't think the OP was being sarcastic. I think she/he is new to technique and principles of design. I could be wrong, though ...

Anyway, I agree with robbins--composition, correct exposure, and lighting will get you to a place where post processing is fun and not a chore because you're correcting things that could have been avoided in camera.

You can't choose your lighting in the sense that the sun is what it is, but you can choose your angles and and how you capture the available light. You may see something out hiking that you would like to photograph. You can walk around it, looking at the light and how it falls, you can get lower to the ground, or you can decide you want to wait a few hours until the sun is in a different position or come back in the morning or at dusk. Doesn't work with wildlife, though. In that case, you just have to get the shot.

One thing I see newbies overdo in post-processing is sharpening. Try to get your focus in-camera as well. Avoid over-sharpening. Post processing can make a strong image even better, but too much can also make it worse.

 

[apaflo]

Anyway, I agree with robbins--composition, correct exposure, and lighting will get you to a place where post processing is fun and not a chore because you're correcting things that could have been avoided in camera.

I like the entire article, but in particular think the above statement should be expanded and emphasized!

As long as post processing is thought of as "fixing" things that should have been done "right" in camera, a photographer is wasting resources and creativity. Yes, get it right in the camera; but the target is allowing the right post processing. As Ansel Adams so famously said, "You don't take a photograph, you make it." and he clearly meant working with it before and after the shutter is released.

Learn not to avoid post processing, but to fine tune the image data captured when the shutter is released so that it matches what you can do with post processing to make the photograph you want. One of the most typical examples is that often by giving a capture more exposure it is possible to post process an image to reduce the visible noise. Many people repeatedly refer to that as overexposing and then later fixing it, but in fact it is choosing the correct exposure to produce, with proper post processing, the best image possible.

On the other hand, genuine over exposure, where desired detail is clipped at the white level in the raw sensor data, is virtually impossible to work with in post processing. In that case what some people might (incorrectly) call "under exposure" is actually correct simply because it allows manipulation in post processing.

Configure the camera to allow post processing to produce the best possible image.

 

[The_Traveler]

I found this, a downloadable pdf of notes to a lecture on this exact topic that may be useful

http://www.idemployee.id.tue.nl/g.w.m.rauterberg/lecturenotes/JFS-lecture/leymarie-2001.pdf

 

[The_Traveler]

As long as post processing is thought of as "fixing" things that should have been done "right" in camera, a photographer is wasting resources and creativity. Yes, get it right in the camera; but the target is allowing the right post processing. As Ansel Adams so famously said, "You don't take a photograph, you make it." and he clearly meant working with it before and after the shutter is released.

Learn not to avoid post processing, but to fine tune the image data captured when the shutter is released so that it matches what you can do with post processing to make the photograph you want. One of the most typical examples is that often by giving a capture more exposure it is possible to post process an image to reduce the visible noise. Many people repeatedly refer to that as overexposing and then later fixing it, but in fact it is choosing the correct exposure to produce, with proper post processing, the best image possible.

On the other hand, genuine over exposure, where desired detail is clipped at the white level in the raw sensor data, is virtually impossible to work with in post processing. In that case what some people might (incorrectly) call "under exposure" is actually correct simply because it allows manipulation in post processing.

Configure the camera to allow post processing to produce the best possible image.

This quote is about as sensible an explication of the issue as I have ever seen.
I suggest a slight change in one sentence:" Learn not to avoid post processing, but to fine tune the image data captured when the shutter is released so that the image from the camera provides a good starting point for what you can do with post processing to make the final photograph you want."