Basic Photo Editing Techniques

Most professional photographers use editing software like Adobe Lightroom to organize and edit
pictures. Lightroom is a deep and powerful editing tool, and combined with Adobe Photoshop, can be
used to achieve pretty much any effect you can think of. There are many image editing techniques that
can be applied with photo editor software like Lightroom during processing. Some of the editing options
involve overall adjustments to your image quality, while others allow you to make targeted changes and
adjust only one part of the image. Here are some of the photo editing tools you'll use for basic editing:

White Balance: Adjust temperature and tint so that the colors are correct.

Exposure: Overall brightness or darkness of the image. Highlights control just the brighter parts of the
image. Shadows control just the darker parts of the image. Whites set the brightest point in the image.
Blacks set the darkest point in the image.

Contrast: The variance between the light and dark parts of the image. Adding contrast makes your darks
darker and your brights brighter.

Clarity: Adjust contrast, but just in the middletones of your photo. Increasing clarity has the effect of
enhancing texture and brings a little grittiness to the image. Conversely, decreasing clarity can give your
photos a dreamy quality.

Saturation: How much color information is in the photo. It’s similar to vibrance, which heightens the
more muted colors in your image without affecting the colors that are already highly saturated.

Sharpening: A method in which contrast is increased anywhere a light area meets a dark area, thereby
making the photo look sharper.

Noise Reduction: A method to smooth out any “noise” in a photo, which is usually caused by severely
underexposing and/or shooting at a very high ISO. Noise is not grain, and is generally considered
undesirable.

Lens Corrections: Corrects distortions made by the lens when capturing the image. Each lens is different,
and photo editing software like Lightroom selects the correct setting for your lens automatically.

Perspective Correction: Corrects distortions made by shooting an image that’s not quite square to your
subject. For example, if you shoot a building from the ground you will need to tilt your camera up to
capture the whole building; in the photo, the building’s walls will look like they are angling toward the
center of the frame instead of being straight up and down. Perspective Correction allows you to fix this
so that the building looks square.

Grain: Allows you to add grain to an image for creative effect.

Vignette: Allows you to darken or brighten the edges of the image for creative effect.
Radial Filter: Allows you to affect an area inside (or outside) of a circular or oval shape.

Graduated Filter: Same as the radial filter, but with a straight line instead of a circle.

Brush tool: Allows you to “brush” on changes using a mouse or pen/tablet. You can also use brushes to
remove blemishes.

HSL: Allows you to fine tune the hue, saturation, or luminance of a particular color. (For example, you
could use HSL to make all the reds in a photo appear more orange, more saturated, and brighter.)

Want to Learn More About Photography?

Whether you’re just starting out or have dreams of going professional, photography requires plenty of
practice and a healthy dose of creativity. No one knows this better than celebrated National Geographic
photographer Jimmy Chin. In Jimmy Chin’s MasterClass on adventure photography, he shares how to
capture your passions, build and lead a team, and execute high stakes photography.

Want to become a better photographer? The MasterClass Annual Membership provides exclusive video
lessons from master photographers, including Jimmy Chin and Annie Leibovitz.