Have you heard the social media/photography news? Instagram has surpassed more than 2 billion monthly active users. Are you one of them?
They say a picture says a thousand words. What do you have to say?
Whether you’re a budding photographer, a hobbyist, or an influencer, you’ll want to have certain skills in your toolkit. One of which is editing your photos.
What is the best way to edit photos online? Our guide has everything you need to get started. Keep reading to learn what to do.
Crop and Clean Up Your Images
Once you’ve imported your digital photos into the photo editor, the first thing you’ll want to do is crop and straighten. This will allow you to fix accidental compositional issues. Maybe the shot was somewhat tilted, too wide, or kind of a Dutch angle.
The best way to edit photos this way is to begin by straightening. Make sure the horizontal is indeed horizontal.
Remove Any Unwanted Elements
Do you have any unwanted elements in your image that would be distracting to the viewer? These would be things like a cloud or bystander in the way. It could also be in the details such as stray hairs or blemishes to clean up.
To do so, take advantage of the “spot removal” tool. Alternatively, you could even remove the background entirely with a free online background remover. Once it’s gone, you are free to put your creative hat on and experiment to your liking.
Correct the White Balance
The next step in editing your photos would be to correct the white balance. This essentially means balancing the color temperature from the light in a shot. Sometimes the white balance of an image will be too warm or too cold.
Aside from temperature, there is also tint. When thinking of temperature you’ll be adjusting the color spectrum of blue and orange. “Tint” is where you adjust the greens and magentas.
Adjust Exposure and Contrast
What is the best way to edit photos when the image is over or underexposed? There will be an automatic setting titled “exposure” or “brightness” in your photo editor. We recommend toggling with the manual settings, so you’ll get a feel for how to do it on your own.
You’ll want to keep in mind that this will affect the shadows and highlights too. When you increase the contrast, an image will appear more dramatic or sharper. Play with the settings and slide to achieve the look you’re after.
Practice the Best Way to Edit Photos for Yourself
Every professional photo editor will have a different workflow. While there are tips and tricks to learn, we recommend figuring out the best way to edit photos for yourself first. Each shoot will be different and you’ll learn something new each time.
Our blog has everything for the budding photographer. Before you snap some shots on your next shoot, be sure to focus on it and read some how-tos.