Photography Tips and Tricks: Editing - Portrait Magazine, August 2010 Issue

Photography Tips and Tricks: Editing
 By Emily

Hello again friends. In the last four months we have completed four of our 6 steps to creating that perfect photograph. Good work, friends! Since I started writing this column, I myself have been much better about carrying my camera with me whenever I am out and about. I hope that by reading the past four columns, you too have been inspired to photograph anything and everything, morning, day, and night.
Our next step has to do with editing our photographs. Editing is overall a broad term but I am going to break up the necessary steps for you to take your photo from nice to oh so lovely. Some of you may already have a good grasp on Photoshop and its different abilities to edit, add to, and enhance photos. I think since we are mostly in a digital world, as photographers, Photoshop is a must have a must to learn. Even if you just learn the basics, that will get you by until you choose or don’t choose to explore more of what Photoshop* has to offer.

Photoshop Basics:
1) Open your image in Photoshop
2) Next re-size your image. Near the top left tool bar you will see ‘Image.’ Click on that and then go to Image Size. The two things to pay attention to are Pixel Dimensions and Document Size. You can change either of these in order to get your overall image to the exact print size and pixel dimensions you want. Under Document Size, change the Resolution to 300. This is also called 300DPI. This ensures that if you print your image larger, it won’t be pixilated and will have a high resolution. Now just change the document size to whatever size you want in inches. If you want a 20 x 30 inch print, then set it for that size. If you want an 8 x 10 inch print then set it for that, and so on.



Before

3) There are a few different things that almost every photo will benefit from changing. These include Levels, Color Balance, and Brightness/Contrast. Go to Image, Adjustments, and then you can change all three. Select auto levels, auto contrast, and auto color. Sometimes the automatic changes are a little off and make the coloring off. If this is the case, you can undo the change by pressing on your keyboard CTRL, ALT, and Z at the same time. Then you can change each of these manually. To change each manually, start by clicking on Image, adjustments, then either click on Levels, Color Balance, or



After. Elements changed in this image: Levels, contrast, and brightness. Forever Photography by Emily Leiper.

Brightness/Contrast. Play around with the functions and see what looks best. Experiment! It can be quite a good time to just mess around in Photoshop and see what changes can improve your images.

4) If you photographed your image in color and you want to change it to black and white, you can! Photoshop is oh so magical. Also, if you want to change it to sepia, you can do that as well. Click on Image, then go to adjustments and then to Black and White. You’ll see your image instantly change to black and white. If you want to change the image to sepia, click on tint after you click on black and white. (Tint is located near the bottom left of the Black and White box that pops up on your screen).



Before



After. This image now looks good in both color and black and white! Forever Photography by Emily Leiper

There is a lot more to Photoshop than what is listed above. But I really think you’ll find these tips helpful in getting you started.

Good luck and happy shooting!

*Directions for Adobe Photoshop CS3


Photography Tips and Tricks Series
Part 1 - Subject Matter
Part 2 - Lighting
Part 3 - Technical Aspects
Part 4 - Composition
Part 5 - Editing
Part 6 - Enjoy and Share