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Top 10 photo editing tips

Discover the top 10 ways to edit your photos and create your best ever shots…

1.Soften…

Modern digital cameras apply sharpening in-camera (unless you shoot RAW), but often it’s too much, or not enough. To remove over-sharpened edges, copy the layer and add a small amount of Gaussian Blur. Reduce the opacity of the blurred layer to blend with the original.

2. …or  Sharpen

To add sharpness to digital images, copy the layer and go to Filter> Sharpen>Unsharp Mask. Blend the sharpened
version with the original using the Luminosity blend mode, and adjust the opacity to suit.

3. Save time with shortcuts

Learn the shortcuts to the tools you use most frequently to help you save time in Photoshop. P is the Pen tool, C for crop, I for eyedropper, Z is zoom and H for the Hand tool.

4. Retouching

The Liquify tool can be helpful for portrait work. It can remove double chins, reshape and accentuate eyes. You’ll find Liquify in the Filters menu.

5. Clone tool

Remove dust and spots from digital photos with the Clone Stamp tool. Create a new layer and choose Clone Stamp. Make sure you check the Sample All Layers box , and paint onto the new empty layer. Once you’ve completed your cloning, merge the layers together.

6. Compare frequently

If you’re retouching a photo, always keep a copy of the original image at the top of your layers’ stack, so you can switch it on to compare your retouched and original version easily.

7. Non-destructive

Avoid frustration by using non-destructive editing effects wherever possible. Use adjustment layers if possible, as they can be discarded or edited later without reducing the quality of the image.

8. RAW vs JPG

The JPEG format should be used sparingly if you’re editing your images. Saving the photo as a JPEG will cause loss and damage to data every time you edit and resave. RAW and TIFF files, on the other hand, are lossless. Once you’ve edited your photo, save it as a TIFF file.

9. Shop around

Although Adobe’s Photoshop is the best-known editing software around, it isn’t the only one. Shop around to see which setup and price best suits your needs. Corel’s Paint Shop Pro and Capture One are both good alternatives. Some cameras will come bundled with free software too – so make the most of it!

10. Know when to quit

There are certain things that, no matter how hard you try, you simply can’t fix. Try and get the image right in-camera first and foremost, and use Photoshop to enhance what’s already there rather than to create a whole new scene. It may seem easier to go back and trouble-shoot in post-production, but you’re not likely to achieve as good a result. If not, a little post-production can work wonders!

Click here to visit our dedicated photo editing sister site - Photoshop Daily

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