Editing photos effectively is all about balancing precision and creativity. Small adjustments can bring out details, enhance colors, and shift the viewer's focus. This helpful video demonstrates how to make impactful edits using basic tools, masking, and color grading, showcasing practical techniques for a polished result.
Coming to you from Christian Möhrle - The Phlog Photography, this useful video begins with cropping to refine composition. Adjusting the aspect ratio shifts focus to the main subject, ensuring a more engaging image. Möhrle emphasizes the importance of framing, showing how small tweaks can align key elements with compositional guidelines. Next, he applies basic adjustments like reducing highlights to recover detail, increasing shadows for balance, and enhancing vibrance to make colors pop. These steps create a solid foundation without over-processing, setting the stage for more advanced edits.
Masking takes center stage as Möhrle demonstrates how to separate subjects from their backgrounds for targeted adjustments. He shows how to troubleshoot Lightroom’s occasional masking inaccuracies by combining tools like object selection and manual refinement. Once the subject is isolated, adjustments such as darkening the background, adding warmth, and softening textures draw attention where it’s needed. These small, precise changes are critical for creating a polished, professional look.
Noise reduction and sharpening are tackled next. High ISO settings often introduce noise, but Möhrle highlights how Lightroom’s Denoise tool can clean it up while preserving detail. Sharpening is applied selectively to avoid harsh edges or unnecessary enhancements in the background. His approach ensures that the image retains its natural appearance while improving clarity.
The tutorial wraps up with color grading, where Möhrle fine-tunes hues and tones to enhance the overall aesthetic. Using the color mixer, he subtly shifts color saturation and luminance for a balanced look. Split toning and calibration tools are used to add warmth and depth without overwhelming the natural tones. These thoughtful adjustments result in a clean, vibrant image that still feels true to the original scene. Check out the video above for the full rundown from Möhrle.
