3 Ways to Become a Better Photo Editor
Organize All Your Photos
Most digital photographers amass thousands upon thousands of pictures very quickly, but never take the time to organize them. Before long, they end up with more photos than they can remember or manage. This does not bode well for good photography. Why? Because working efficiently requires being able to find a photo at a moment’s notice. It is for this reason that you should try as hard as possible to organize all your photos.
Organizing your photos means labeling, rating and categorizing every single photo. Ocean-related photos go in that batch, while tornado-related ones go in the other batch. While this sounds tedious, be aware that there are plenty of software application suites that make this anything but complicated and tiresome. The best ones not only let you organize your photos, but they also let you edit them as well.
Become A Master Healer
You cannot become a better photo editor unless you first become a master healer. You need to know your chosen software suite’s healing tools like the back of your hand. As a reminder, healing tools are those used to remove imperfections like flakes, scratches, blemishes, pimples and crumbs. They basically let you heal a photo into pristine condition. The most common healing tools are patch tools, healing brush tools, spot healing tools and redeye tools.
The thing to understand is that the healing tools differ based on your software suite and operating system of preference. Some suites permit you to adjust the size of the healing tool. Other let you modify the size of the blemished area. Figure out exactly how the tools in your chosen suite work and learn to use them to your utmost benefit.
Process In Batches
Manually adjusting one or two photos is just fine. However, if you need to edit hundreds of photos, then you need to learn batch processing. It is a higher-end tool that lets you apply certain ‘healing’ gestures and edits to large swatches of photos. The beauty of batch processing is that you don’t have to open each individual picture. You program the tool like a macro, choose the photos you want to edit and then run the batch.
Batch processing works best with photos shot under similar conditions. Suppose for instance you took 200 photos at a wedding and simply wanted to adjust their white balance. Batch processing could help with this. Note also that not all digital photo software applications offer batch processing. It’s usually only available in more expensive, higher-end suites.
Never Stop Learning
Organizing your photos, taking advantage of healing tools and using batch processing will without a doubt up your digital photography game. However, these are just a few strategies. There are countless more strategies available. In fact, new strategies appear every single day. The key therefore to becoming a better photo editor lies with being willing to soak up every itty bit of information that you find. If you do that, you’ll soon be among the best of the best.
