There are so many beautiful filter functions out there.
So many presets.
So much… So much that tempts you to want to be able to do it too…
But let someone with messy handwriting tell you that developing your own signature style takes practice.
What do you want?
There’s absolutely nothing wrong with picking one of these filters and using it.
From “a little bit…” to “full blast!”.
However, I can’t say anything about working with filters and presets.
You’ll have to find that out for yourself or look it up elsewhere.
…So let me start differently:
Let’s say you don’t want to stage anything that wasn’t there when you took the photo.
Let’s say you just want to highlight the subject with appreciation.
“Do less and achieve more.” Vedic wisdom
Then I can give you some advice.
Shit in – shit out
Please keep in mind that with image editing—and more recently AI—you can get a lot out of images that are less than perfect.
That’s a good thing.
But you can’t replace a top-tier image with it.
A good image starts with a photo that is good in many respects. (I’ve already written a few posts about this.)
Take an image that speaks to you personally, one that is pleasingly composed and has a clear message. One where the sharpness is right in terms of focus and depth.
Here is an example.
On the left is the original version straight from the camera. I took it in the morning in poor lighting conditions in the forest, handheld.
So I kept the exposure time short to avoid camera shake.
You can see that in the finished image.
Also, there’s another mushroom in the foreground. I wish I’d had another chance—but breaking off the mushroom just to get a better photo… it would definitely have become a “worse” image.
Nevertheless, I’ll start with this.
What matters?
The image should please the eye. In my opinion, it should be inviting and flattering.
Highlights – Shadows – Midtones
Human vision is relative vision.
Unlike our cameras, for example, which quickly reach their limits in low light, we can still see something with our eyes and brains. Because we don’t see “it’s bright here and dark there” (absolute), but “it’s brighter here and darker there” (relative).
We are used to it.
So it makes perfect sense to have quite bright and quite dark areas and everything in between in an image—if the subject allows for it.
In other words: everything that the full width of a histogram provides.
The horizontal axis of a histogram indicates whether there are light values (right edge) and dark values (left edge) of a color—and how frequent they are (vertical axis).
Just play around with it a bit. Give it a try.
In my software, I have several sliders available for this.
- Brightness
Behaves a bit like playing with ISO values or exposure times.
The histogram appears to shift as a whole. - Contrast
This makes the histogram wider or narrower.
High contrast in an image is expressed by a wider histogram. - Blacks and Whites
The name says it all.
With these, you can shift the outer limits of the used histogram range. This allows you to ensure that your editing doesn’t cause areas to clip into pure black or white. - Highlights and Shadows
The “little” blacks and whites.
With these, you can control what happens in the light and in the shade.
This is where relative vision comes into play.
For me, for my personal taste, it works well if I play with the contrast first. I usually turn it up a bit.
Next, I make sure there are truly bright (Whites slider) and dark areas (Blacks slider).
At this point, the result is often too bright on one side and too dark on the other. So I use Highlights to bring it down a bit and Shadows to bring it up a bit.
If all goes well, I now have an image that covers a nice, wide range of the histogram.
It doesn’t matter how high the curves are at first—that is mostly determined by your subject. What matters is the distribution in your image to satisfy our habit of relative vision.
Warmth
The warmth of your image creates a lot of atmosphere.
Warm amber tones, warm light. Or cold, blue tones.
It’s a matter of mood. A matter of the scene.
I don’t have a fixed approach for this.
But what is worth mentioning:
Depending on the program and your taste, it may be necessary to counter-correct individual colors or color ranges.
For example, I don’t particularly like it when meadows become too yellow-green—but I do like warm, golden tones.
This is actually a contradiction and requires further adjustments.
So if you play with the warmth, don’t be alarmed.
There will be a solution for you.
Color or Saturation
I’ll say it right now…
Saturation is overrated.
I like to play with a slider that is usually found near saturation: Vibrance. Sometimes it’s also called “Vibrance”.
While saturation, I find, ruins a lot by pushing the natural colors recorded by the camera toward the recognizably botched RGB colors of bad 90s computer games…
Vibrance doesn’t over-saturate the colors—it simply shows more nuances of the existing colors.
Sharpening
Yes. Please.
But not too much.
As I said, the actual sharpness comes from the moment you take your photo.
Here, at most, you can add a bit of “crispness” to the “sharpness”.
However, there are also plenty of examples of images that have been “sharpened to death”.
Which program?
I have mainly worked with Adobe products. Generally very powerful programs. For example, Photoshop can do a lot of crazy stuff.
But I stuck with Lightroom, and now even the Lightroom app.
I edit my photos on my phone. This is easily possible and not at all inconvenient.
But there are also plenty of alternatives to Lightroom or Adobe in general.
One that I know by name, for example, is GIMP.
Examples
In both examples, I took the steps described above. Always with the goal of maintaining a natural appearance.
And now it’s your turn
You’ve probably noticed that I’ve written everything and nothing.
Most importantly, I haven’t given you any numbers or restricted you in any other way. You’ve just received a few tips.
And now you have to find out what you do with them.
I hope you have fun with it.
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