Editing can make or break your images, and mastering the details separates polished work from amateur results. Knowing what pitfalls to avoid can significantly improve your photos and streamline your workflow.
Coming to you from Evan Ranft, this practical video identifies common editing mistakes holding your photography back, beginning with a frequently overlooked Lightroom feature called camera calibration. Ranft explains clearly how misunderstanding calibration settings—especially when applying presets—can drastically alter your images’ colors in unexpected ways. If you've ever wondered why the same preset looks great on one image and terrible on another, camera calibration might be the culprit. By adjusting these settings properly, you can achieve consistent and accurate colors across different photos and cameras. Ranft provides visual examples showing precisely how calibration can either enhance or sabotage your image quality.
Ranft also addresses a subtle but noticeable mistake: color gaps. You've likely seen these strange, grayish areas appear when colors are overly manipulated, particularly in skies during sunset edits. These gaps usually result from heavy-handed adjustments to the hue, saturation, and luminance (HSL) sliders. The fix is simpler than you might expect, and Ranft walks you through quickly pinpointing the exact slider causing the issue. He also offers practical advice on considering your photo's final destination while editing, such as the mat or background color it will be displayed against, which significantly affects how viewers perceive brightness and contrast.
Another insight Ranft offers revolves around restraint. Over-editing is tempting, especially when you're new and experimenting, but learning to simplify your edits often results in cleaner, stronger images. Ranft demonstrates how small decisions—such as cropping unnecessary distractions or gently reducing clarity instead of always increasing it—can make your photos look more sophisticated and professional. He provides clear examples showing how these subtle adjustments lead to more readable, visually appealing photos. It’s a reminder to use editing tools thoughtfully rather than applying them heavily.
The video doesn't stop there. Ranft further explores essential yet underutilized Lightroom features, including the Transform module and masking tools. These tools allow for precision corrections, such as straightening perspectives or subtly guiding the viewer's eye to the intended focal point. His straightforward explanations of how and why these adjustments enhance image readability make the concepts easy to grasp and immediately applicable. Masking, for instance, becomes less intimidating when Ranft shows exactly how professional photographers use it to emphasize the most important elements in a photo. Check out the video above for the full rundown from Ranft.
