📸Intro to Digital Photography Unit 13 – Photo Editing Basics

What's Photo Editing?

• Process of modifying and enhancing digital images to improve their visual appeal, correct flaws, or achieve a desired artistic effect
• Involves using specialized software tools to make adjustments to various aspects of an image such as exposure, color, contrast, and composition
• Can range from basic tweaks like cropping and straightening to more advanced techniques like retouching, compositing, and applying creative filters
• Allows photographers to fine-tune their images and bring out the best in their photographs, making them look more professional and polished
• Helps to correct common issues such as underexposure, overexposure, color cast, and unwanted elements in the frame
• Enables photographers to express their creative vision and style by manipulating the image to achieve a specific mood, atmosphere, or aesthetic
• Plays a crucial role in modern digital photography workflow, as most images require some level of editing before they are ready for display or publication

Essential Tools and Software

• Photo editing software provides a wide range of tools and features for manipulating and enhancing digital images
• Adobe Photoshop is one of the most popular and powerful photo editing programs used by professionals and enthusiasts alike
• Offers a comprehensive set of tools for retouching, compositing, color correction, and applying various effects and filters
• Adobe Lightroom is another widely used software that focuses on organizing, editing, and processing large volumes of digital photos
• Provides a streamlined workflow for importing, sorting, and applying basic adjustments to multiple images at once
• Other notable photo editing software includes Capture One, ON1 Photo RAW, Affinity Photo, and GIMP (a free and open-source alternative)
• Most photo editing software supports the use of plugins or extensions that add extra functionality or specialized tools for specific tasks (Nik Collection)
• Many software options offer non-destructive editing, which allows you to make adjustments without permanently altering the original image file

Understanding File Formats

• Digital images can be saved in various file formats, each with its own characteristics and advantages
• JPEG (Joint Photographic Experts Group) is a widely used format that compresses images to reduce file size, making them suitable for web use and sharing
• TIFF (Tagged Image File Format) is a lossless format that preserves image quality but results in larger file sizes, often used for high-quality printing
• RAW is a format that captures unprocessed image data directly from the camera sensor, providing the most flexibility for editing but requiring specialized software for processing
• PNG (Portable Network Graphics) is a lossless format that supports transparency, commonly used for web graphics and logos
• PSD (Photoshop Document) is a proprietary format used by Adobe Photoshop that preserves layers, adjustments, and other editing information
• Understanding the properties and limitations of each file format is essential for choosing the appropriate format for a given purpose (archiving, sharing, printing)

Basic Adjustments: Exposure, Contrast, and Color

• Exposure refers to the overall brightness of an image and can be adjusted using tools like brightness, exposure, and shadows/highlights
• Increasing exposure can brighten underexposed images, while decreasing exposure can darken overexposed ones
• Contrast controls the difference between the lightest and darkest parts of an image, affecting its visual impact and depth
• Increasing contrast can make an image appear more vivid and punchy, while decreasing contrast can soften the image and reduce harshness
• Color adjustments allow you to modify the hue, saturation, and luminance of specific colors or the entire image
• White balance tools help to correct color casts caused by different lighting conditions (tungsten, fluorescent) and achieve a neutral or desired color balance
• Vibrance and saturation sliders control the intensity and vividness of colors, with vibrance affecting less saturated colors more than already saturated ones
• Tone curves provide a more advanced way to adjust exposure, contrast, and color by manipulating the relationship between the input and output values of the image

Cropping and Composition Tweaks

• Cropping is the process of removing unwanted parts of an image to improve its composition, focus on the main subject, or change its aspect ratio
• Rule of thirds is a compositional guideline that suggests placing the main subject or key elements along the lines or intersections that divide the image into thirds horizontally and vertically
• Straightening tools help to correct tilted horizons or skewed perspectives, ensuring that the image appears level and well-aligned
• Perspective correction tools can fix distortions caused by the camera's angle or lens, such as converging vertical lines in architectural photos
• Resizing allows you to change the dimensions of an image to fit specific requirements for printing, web use, or social media
• Sharpening tools can help to enhance the clarity and detail of an image, particularly when resizing or preparing for output
• Vignetting effect can be added to darken the edges of an image, drawing the viewer's attention to the center and creating a more immersive feel

Retouching and Healing Techniques

• Retouching involves making targeted adjustments to specific areas of an image to remove blemishes, smooth skin, or enhance certain features
• Healing brush and clone stamp are tools used to seamlessly remove unwanted elements (dust spots, power lines) or duplicate parts of an image
• Spot removal tools can quickly eliminate small imperfections, dust spots, or sensor artifacts with just a few clicks
• Frequency separation technique allows for more advanced retouching by separating the texture and color information of an image, making it easier to edit each component independently
• Dodge and burn tools are used to selectively lighten (dodge) or darken (burn) specific areas of an image, adding depth, dimension, and emphasis to certain features
• Content-aware fill is a powerful feature that can intelligently fill in missing or removed parts of an image based on the surrounding content
• Skin smoothing and blemish removal can be achieved using a combination of retouching tools, adjustment layers, and blending techniques to create a natural, polished look

Working with Layers

• Layers are a fundamental concept in photo editing that allow you to work on different elements of an image independently without affecting the original
• Each layer can contain different parts of the image, adjustments, or effects, which can be combined and blended to create the final result
• Background layer is the bottom-most layer that contains the original image, while additional layers are stacked on top of it
• Adjustment layers apply color, contrast, or tonal changes to the layers below them without permanently altering the pixels
• Layer masks are used to selectively hide or reveal parts of a layer, allowing for non-destructive editing and more precise control over the image
• Blending modes determine how the pixels on one layer interact with the layers below, creating various effects like darkening, lightening, or enhancing contrast
• Smart objects are special layers that preserve the original image data, allowing for non-destructive scaling, transformation, and filtering
• Layer organization and naming help to keep complex editing projects manageable and easier to navigate

Exporting and Sharing Your Edited Photos

• Exporting is the process of saving your edited image in a format suitable for its intended purpose, such as printing, web use, or social media sharing
• File format choice depends on the image's destination and the desired balance between quality and file size (JPEG for web, TIFF for printing)
• Resolution and dimensions should be set according to the output requirements, such as 300 DPI for high-quality prints or specific pixel dimensions for digital displays
• Compression settings control the balance between image quality and file size, with higher compression resulting in smaller files but potentially more visible artifacts
• Color space selection ensures that the image's colors are accurately represented across different devices and platforms (sRGB for web, Adobe RGB for printing)
• Metadata, such as copyright information, keywords, and captions, can be embedded into the exported image file for better organization and attribution
• Watermarking can help to protect your images from unauthorized use by adding a visible logo, text, or pattern overlaid on the image
• Sharing options include uploading to online platforms (Flickr, 500px), social media (Instagram, Facebook), or sending directly to clients or collaborators via email or file transfer services