Editing photos can feel overwhelming when you’re just starting out. With so many tools available, deciding where to begin often leads to trial and error. If you’ve ever struggled with this, a clear workflow can make all the difference.
Coming to you from Mark Denney, this informative video introduces a practical four-step photo editing process. The first step is balancing the overall exposure. Denney explains that exposure adjustments include not just the main exposure slider but also shadows, highlights, whites, and blacks. He shares a useful tip for Lightroom users: holding the Shift key while double-clicking these sliders automatically sets them to suggested values based on the histogram. While these automatic adjustments may not be perfect, they provide a helpful starting point for refining your image. Balancing exposure creates a foundation, ensuring you can see all areas of your photo before making further edits.
The second step focuses on enhancing color. Denney recommends starting with Lightroom’s calibration panel to adjust the blue, green, and red primary saturation sliders. These changes lay a subtle but powerful base for fine-tuning colors later. Vibrance, which Denney describes as a “smart saturation tool,” is then used to refine colors. Unlike saturation, which affects all colors equally, vibrance targets less-saturated tones, avoiding an overly intense look. For areas where certain colors appear too strong, Denney suggests using the color mixer to adjust specific hues individually. These steps simplify the often-daunting task of managing color while giving you control over your photo’s overall tone.
Denney also emphasizes the importance of experimenting with sliders to understand their effects. By swinging sliders to extreme values, you can see how they impact different areas of your image. This hands-on approach helps you make more informed adjustments and build confidence in your editing choices.
The third step involves adding effects and cropping the image. Denney demonstrates how to use clarity and texture sliders to subtly enhance details without over-processing. He also applies a vignette to draw attention to the center of the frame and adjusts the crop to improve composition.
Finally, Denney discusses applying masks to refine specific areas of your photo. Using Lightroom’s masking tools, he enhances dark areas, such as shadows and floating leaves, by adjusting exposure, contrast, and saturation. These targeted edits bring out details and make the image feel more balanced without overcomplicating the process. Check out the video above for the full rundown from Denney.
