September 3rd , 2010 → 11:56 am @ Yorgo Nestoridis // No Comments

Copyright © 2010 Yorgo Nestoridis. Visit the original article at http://yorgonestoridis.com/yorgo-nestoridis-media/photo-editing-in-3-steps/.

Smart Editing Digital Photos

At our recent calls we have been trying to crystallize a smart way to quickly edit digital photos. This post will resume the 3 steps we are following.

1. Camera Calibration

The camera calibration serves to correct systematic deviations inherent to the type and model of the camera. If you camera returns images which are too yellow or green, this can be corrected; the same applies to other lens corrections, like sharpness or distortions as the case may be. The corrections are saved as a Calibration Preset in Lightroom.

All photos you import from your camera can be automatically filtered with this calibration preset.

2. Photo Editing 1

This steps purpose is to recover a maximum of available data from your image. The image is brought down to a balanced close to ‘what you saw’ state whereas we try to recover data namely in the over exposed areas as well as in the shadow areas.

Most of the corrections are standard corrections by type of image (low-light, bright-light, sun-set and so on). These corrections can be saved as personal presets in Lightroom and you may then apply them to the corresponding type of calibrated image imported.

The corrections under this step do not yet tell the story or max-out the expression of the picture. They prepare the picture for best post-editing.

3. Tell the Story – Enhance the Expression

A good photo tells a story. If you shoot a landscape just before a thunderstorm, you may emphasize the the dramatic clouds with your editing tools for example. It’s about making the photo more expressive. When you shot the photo, you took it because nature was telling you a story; you ban that story in a photo and you try to express what triggered in you the emotion when looking at nature. If your picture can trigger that kind of emotion in a third person, then you have probably a good picture.

Don’t forget: the picture works only with visuals while in nature you are also experiencing sounds, temperature, humidity, smells and so on. Your visual image must therefore compensate for the absence of these additional sensations. Visual enhancements help to trigger a maximum degree of emotion or impression without exaggerating the effects. If you overdo effects, your image loses in credibility and you shift from photography to “art”, or “illustration” or what ever people often call  their messed up production.

Also: keep in mind that editing for printing requires good density and saturation levels. The use online at 72 dpi means automatically a loss of 50% to 75% of points per inch; therefore, if you start out with a “thin” picture, it will only get thinner and flatter when publishing for the web.

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