9 Techniques Every New Photographer Should Learn to Create More Powerful Photo Edits

Knowing how to compose a frame and choose the right camera settings is only half of what it takes to create a good photo. The other half is knowing how to edit the file into a polished final image. If you are new to photography, check out this fantastic video tutorial that will show you nine effective techniques for creating more compelling and eye-catching images.

Coming to you from Photography Pro, this great video tutorial discusses nine editing techniques for creating more powerful image edits. As you will see, a lot of these techniques focus on increasing the things like contrast or saturation to make images punchier or more vibrant. It is crucial that you not push these aspects too far, however, as doing so can quickly lead to images that look overly artificial or gaudy. An easy way to combat this is to step away from your computer when you are done editing a batch of images to allow your eyes a few minutes to reset. Often, when you come back to reevaluate the photos a bit later, you will decide to pull your edits back just a little bit. Check out the video above for the full rundown. 

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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4 Comments

I had to check the date of the video posted, and sure enough yesterday... am I going crazy?! I know I've watched this video before... Sure enough, 4 years ago... https://www. youtube .com/watch?v=nukEQjQEXVU . 🙂

Still good information; I was just making sure I wasn't experiencing a "Mandela - Déjà vu" or some other effect... or tripped though a wormhole. heh.

A very disappointing video. It boils down to: Here is a not-so-good image and here is what it looked like after I fixed it. In most cases, he doesn't show what he did. Not helpful.

It is a sales pitch for a Lightroom training course.

1. Crop and straighten photos to dramatically improve their composition
2. Fix highlights and shadows to add drama to your photos
3. Remove the unwanted objects from the photo to bring all attention to the main subject
4. Bring out the blue in the sky to significantly liven up your photos
5. Fix unnatural looking lights for magazine quality night photos
6. Adjust only one color for dramatic b&w photos
7. Use selective color adjustments for vibrant landscape photos
8. Give average looking portraits the movie poster look
9. Get stunning colors by getting rid of the ultraviolet haze