The Creative Use of Color in Editing Photos

Editing is your chance to add your personal touch to an image, and perhaps nowhere is that more possible than the manipulation of color. This excellent video features two professional photographers discussing one's creative use of color to give his photos a strong identity and how you can apply the principles to your own photos.

Coming to you from Nigel Danson and Mark Littlejohn, this great video interview features Danson discussing Littlejohn's use of color in his images (particularly his landscapes), such as split toning. One bit I really appreciated from Littlejohn was: "it's a picture, not a histogram." I think it is important to understand the tools we have at our disposal to give us the best images possible, but when it comes to creating the final image in post, one should edit to their creative vision instead of technical parameters. It is easy to fall into wanting to do things like always pushing the histogram to the right or bringing up the shadows, but at the end of the day, no one cares or even knows about any technical milestones in your photos. All that matters is the image and the way your creative personality shines through. Check out the video above for lots of great thoughts and tips.

And if you want to continue to learn about landscape photography, check out "Photographing the World 1: Landscape Photography and Post-Processing With Elia Locardi!" 

Alex Cooke's picture

Alex Cooke is a Cleveland-based portrait, events, and landscape photographer. He holds an M.S. in Applied Mathematics and a doctorate in Music Composition. He is also an avid equestrian.

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