5 Beginner Mistakes When Editing Photos

My philosophy of processing images is this: any manipulation is OK as long as no can tell it was manipulated. Once it is noticeable to anyone the image needs to be deleted and start over. When I go out to photograph birds (several times a week) my goal is to create art. RAW images don't do that unless you edit them. Edited images won't do that either unless they are done skillfully and tastefully. Scott, your video demonstrates and explains this concept exceptionally well. Thank you.

The purist conversation will be heated very soon with the advancements of AI. I can only barely imagine us 5 years down the road. I do understand the concerns of professional photographers. As a serious amateur I appreciate and use all the tools that I can use to make my photos “all that they can be”. Personally I draw the line on what looks fake to me. I’ve learned editing can’t save a bad photo, but it can make a good image better. I don’t have a pro prime F4. Golden hour and blue hour are a struggle with low light. Editing is needed to clean up those images. These tools allow me to create some fairly nice images with my budget! How lucky we are to have them! My work is just for me. Being in nature, experiencing these moments, respecting the subject, freezing a moment in time, and processing the file to my liking is all part of this wonderful endeavor! Off to the wetlands now! Happy shooting everyone!

I think many people try to edit their pics to look like the pros out there but the problem is the source image isn’t starting at the same quality point. What took me a while to accept is to look at the image I caught and enhance it as it is rather than trying to make it look like something someone else did.

Thank you for the information, Scott!!.

Great video, and timely for me! Thanks Scott!

Thanks for this video. I think I'm finally getting over the 'pop' masking trend. Looking back, they appear unnatural to my eyes.

I think the hardest thing when I started to edit was going too far too fast. Now I take images in two different directions if it's wild life it's more of a natural edit if I do a different genre I might isolate my subject with tone and imply a color grade at the end for artistic expression. Your points are valid and something I still need to keep in the front of my mind when I go to edit an image. Thank you.

Popping the subject isn’t a crime But the way to do it right is in camera, finding a hotspot in the shade, or…using a strobe (which at high ish iso isn’t going to bother the wildlife a great deal) Learning to use the masking slider with sharpening so that you’re only sharpening the areas with proper detail, well, it’s a whole topic unto itself . A well-chosen caution to put into a more top level overview kind of video

Great video. Thought provoking

Super video with informative content. I'm not a pro & guilty of stuffing up. You have taught me alot, many thanks😁

This was extremely interesting and helpful. Also, explained very well. Thank you.

I've made 3 out of 5 of those mistakes. I hope that I don't make those mistakes anymore. RAW files are 0s and 1s, binary data. They have to be edited. JPEGs are all edited based on choices you make.

Scott, a very helpful video! I'm enjoying your videos, so I just joined your Patreon!

Very interesting, Thank you👍

Quite a useful video. 👍

It's all part of the journey as an artist, figuring out what works and what doesn't.

My workaround for brightening a subject that is backlit is to increase exposure but also increase contrst and using curves or dodging and burning rather than a blanket exposure adjustment.

Wondeful Video

that as nice. something that makes me a bit uncomfortable (other than the extreme blue/red toning) is the overuse of flash that also creates very artificial images. As a field photographer that did a serious amount of macro photography for high end RM agencies, the purpose of good editorial photography is to represent the subject in honest way and true to its environment which is very demanding on camera skills rather than post-processing skills. It also generally requires minimal interference with small adjustments. It's not "artistic", but it is good editorial photography and I am repulsed by overly sharpened, over saturated, purple-toned images with glaring use of flash. It's not necessary-- just learn to use basic control of shutter, aperture, iso and know where the light is and be mindful of your subject. Sometimes seeing the corners of the lens is much harder than the actual subject. Not everybody shoots the same way and I personally never want to join the club of purple grass and skies. Maybe it's artistic, but it makes me queasy.

Editing to get what was seen and editing to fake something are 2 very different things. For me, removing a dark spot because your forgot to clean your sensor is perfectly fine. Removing a small branch is "ok", but things like changing the sky is very not acceptable 😅 Or using AI to change the shape of a face... Can't respect those who do it if their goal is to hide the truth.