A Simple Tip for Editing Your Photos

Sometimes, less is more, and even the simplest tip can make a huge difference.

In the latest video from woodland photographer Simon Baxter, he shares one simple but very valuable tip: edit your photos upside-down. Before you think he has gone barking mad, be sure to check out his video above. As he mentions in the video, it removes the natural relationship with recognizable objects. In that way, you should have a more objective judgment of the balance of light, shadows, and colors throughout the scene.

As soon as he turned his example photo upside-down, I saw several elements in the photo that threw it a little out of balance. He continues explaining he does not go for “perfect” balance, but the editing is supposed to reinforce the thought process he had when capturing the image. Let the light lead the eye.

He shares different small Lightroom editing tips throughout the video, which are all worth picking up. Among others is how he uses the radial filter for a natural-looking gradient and how he sharpens the image. Check it out above and let me hear your thoughts down below. Did you know about this technique, do you use it yourself, and how does it work for you?

Mads Peter Iversen's picture

Danish Fine Art Landscape Photographer and YouTuber. He is taking photos all over the world but the main focus is the cold, rough, northern part of Europe. His style is somewhere in between dramatic and colorful fantasy and Scandinavian minimalism. Be sure to check out his YouTube channel for epic landscape photography videos from around the world.

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7 Comments

Good article. It reminds of an Art class I had in college where we had to draw our subject upside down. It forced us to concentrate much more and pay attention to details. Also similar to using large format which does the same thing. It makes us take our time and compose better (hopefully) and look at the details closely. I like this photo. I am curious how it would look if you put more fog in the background, leaving the log clear. I would like to see that???? Thank you.

I liked this and found it useful. So much better than "ZOMG I switched camera brands here's why" articles.

awesome....
right place to post that

Well, another good trick is to edit the photos being sat behind the monitor…

Joke aside, I have worked for all my life with my Sinar cameras (view cameras) and so composed most of my images upside-down.
It really changes your perception of what is really important and what is less.

I think, even if I have never tried, that editing flipped images can result in a similar mental state.

If you watch the video then you'll see that it's primarily not about a 'trick', but a particular technique that can be used in any editing environment to help you assess balance

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