Photo Editing Preview

Note: This free lesson is a preview of an upcoming class titled  Picture Perfect:  The Basics of Photo Editing
The full version of the class will contain detailed screenshots, sample photos and creative assignments.

Let's talk about lighting. Lighting is a key element of a good photo and so naturally, it's a key element of good photo editing as well.

Photography in and of itself is just one big study of light. The best photographers are those who understand light and how to manipulate it. In photography, your best images are going to be the ones taken with the correct amount of light.

When applying this to photoediting, we're going to work with the same principal. The photo editing process works best when you start out with a photo that is well lit.

But the good news is, if you have a photo that is too dark or too light, you can also use photo editing to correct that.

Getting our lighting right is going to be central to all of the rest of the photo editing we learn!

Okay, let's try this at home!

Written instructions for Photoshop Elements users:

1. FILE > OPEN and choose a photo to work with
   
2. Go to FILE > DUPLICATE
3. Go to ENHANCE > ADJUST LIGHTING > BRIGHTNESS/CONTRAST
4. Adjust both sliders. (For this photo I put my BRIGHTNESS on +12 and my CONTRAST on +2)
5. Now go to ENHANCE > ADJUST LIGHTING > LEVELS
6. Adjust the shadow, midtones, and highlight sliders accordingly. (I placed my shadow slider at 17, my midtone slider at 1.05, and my highlight slider at 243).
7. Go to FILE > SAVE to save your image!

Written instructions for Photoshop users

1. FILE > OPEN and choose a photo to work with
2. Go to IMAGE > DUPLICATE IMAGE
3. Go to IMAGE > ADJUSTMENTS > BRIGHTNESS/CONTRAST
4. Adjust both sliders. (For this photo I put my BRIGHTNESS on +12 and my CONTRAST on +2)
5. Now go to EDIT > IMAGES> LEVELS
6. Adjust the shadow, midtones, and highlight sliders accordingly. (I placed my shadow slider at 17, my midtone slider at 1.05, and my highlight slider at 243.)
7. Go to FILE > SAVE to save your image!

Keyboard shortcuts: pressing CRTL and L at the same time will pop up the levels box for you!

Now you should have started with the before image and ended up with something close to the after image.

These changes are subtle, but effective. Remember, we want them to be subtle because we are still early on in the photo editing process. We'll be doing a lot more to these photos and if we make them too light or too contrasty (I made that word up) it will actually hurt us in the editing process later. When we go to add a color wash, if our photos have too much contrast, it will make them grainy. So even though it doesn't look like a huge change, it is an important one!

Okay, now for some technical information. I really want you to have an understanding of WHY we do each step because I think that if you know WHY we are doing something, then you will feel comfortable experimenting more!

Brightness/Contrast.

Brightness works just like it's name suggests. It adjusts the brightness of the photo by either making it darker or lighter. If your photo is too dark, move your slider to the right to make it brighter. If it is too light, move your slider to the left to make it darker. Be sure not to "blow out" your white here by going too light. We can always add that look later, but if you do it at this stage you are apt to lose some detail in the photo. That's why we play it safe. If we want the look of blown out whites, we want it to be in a photo that has good detail so we will add it in later.

Contrast is the one that is tricky. Be very subdued in your initial contrast usage. There are better ways to play up contrast later on in the editing process. Over doing the contrast at this point will lesson your photo quality, causing it to go grainy. Later, we'll learn how lowering our contrast can give us a cool vintage feel. But at this stage, play it safe!

Levels.

The point of levels is to subtly manipulate the tones of a photo. Rather than making global changes that effect the entire photo, levels allow us to go in and change certain areas, specifically the shadows, midtones, and highlights independently of one another. This allows for greater control over the manipulation of the photo.

When working with levels, a good rule of thumb is to bring the shadow slider and highlight slider in towards the middle first, then move the midtone slider to fine tune the image. Also, be sure to keep the "preview" box checked in your level box so that you can see the changes you are making to your photo in real time.

It's true that there are many ways to use levels beyond what we did today, however, remember that this is just a basic overview. Future photo editing course will go deeper into more advanced level usage.

What NOT to wear do: You'll see buttons in photoshop that allow for auto adjusting. Auto Color. Auto Levels. They look tempting I know. Like one stop shopping photoediting. But don't get sucked into their trap! Seriously, don't do this. It doesn't give you any control over the photo and it rarely goes for subtle.