Part 5 Lesson 2: Critical edits for colour photography

This lesson's optional theme is "Portrait ". This could be a portrait of a person or a pet, or even something inanimate with personality, like a flower. The thing to aim for is to convey something of the person/pet/flower's personality in the image, using lighting and composition.

Editing workflow

Before I run through a few colour edits you can use to make your photos pop, a quick outline of where editing fits into your photography workflow.

The different editing software I suggested last week (Polarr, Lightroom) are all types of "developing" software. You use them to apply digital effects to your image files (fix the exposure, change the crop). Some software (like Lightroom or Picasa) is also what's known as a "digital asset manager"; it organises your images for you, like a filing cabinet. Throughout this month I am just explaining the editing part of your workflow.

To put it in context though, your entire workflow should look like this:

1. Take photo

2. Download photo to a place where you can find it again

3. Backup your photo so it is archived (in a different place to (2))

4. Format your memory card so it's ready to use again

5. Edit your photo (preferably non-destructively)

6. Share your photo (online or in print)

If you want to read more about the best practices for your whole workflow, and what you can use at each stage, read this post:

Editing for best colour

There are 3 types of colour edit to have a go at this week. You can use the same software you tried last week, or pick a new one to have a go with.

In Lightroom the controls you need will be in the Develop module, at the top under the "Basic" section. In Polarr they are on the right at the top, under "Colors". If you can't find what you're looking for in your editor, try Googling it.

1. Saturation and vibrance

If you increase the saturation of a photograph, the colours will become more intense. It's an easy way to make your image pop, but you can overdo it so keep an eye on the overall effect.

Some software (like Lightroom and the free editor Polarr) also has a 'vibrance' adjustment option. This is similar to saturation, but the software is programmed to detect if a particular colour is already very saturated and it will not saturate that colour any more

I recommend you consider increasing (slightly) either the saturation or the vibrance on your colour images, especially if you are shooting RAW. These examples are extreme, to illustrate the difference between saturation and vibrance:

2. Black and white

There are many, many ways to create black and white images. None of them is the "right" way - they are all different and you should try them all to see which you prefer.

a) Simple desaturation. Just slide the saturation slider all the way to the left.

b) Software presets. Your software probably comes with some presets or filters, like "sepia tone" or "film noir".

c) Black and white conversion. There is probably a B&W conversion option that lets you fine-tune many aspects of your edit.

d) Silver Efex. This is what I use. Until recently it was free, but they have now introduced a 30 day free trial before you need to pay. It's a black and white converter. You can use it stand alone, or as a plugin for Lightroom. Just try it - the fine control it gives you over everything involved in your image is phenomenal.

e) Provoke app. This is iPhone only, but it's a great B&W app for recreating black & white film styles.

3. Colour temperature (again)

Last week I showed you how to correct colour temperature when it is wrong. This week I want you to try deliberately using the colour temperature adjustment to add either a warm or a cool feeling to your image.

THIS WEEK'S PROJECT: colour editing

Try one or more of the techniques from this week's email. Try over-editing, and also try minimal edits that enhance your image without being immediately apparent (this is particularly important when you edit your portrait shots - you don’t want to end up with odd coloured skin tones).

1. If you want to share in the app, join your start date’s group (eg. “June 2020”) and share there.

2. On Instagram, share with the hashtag #AYearWithMyCamera and the date for your start, eg. #AYWMCJuly2019.

The workbooks

Editing is the first chapter in Workbook 2. Search “A Year With My Camera Workbook 2” on your local Amazon store.