How Do You Actually Get Started With This Photo Editing Malarky Thing? Hi and welcome to Episode 127 of the Photography Explained podcast.
I’m your host Rick, and in each episode I will try to explain one photographic thing to you in plain English in less than 10 minutes (ish) without the irrelevant details. What I tell you is based on my lifetime of photographic experience. And not Google. Definitely no Google in this episode.
Want me to answer your photography question? Get your thinking caps on, more on this at the end.
Here is the answery bit
To get into this photo editing malarky thing start with one photo. Just one photo. Choose one photo that is interesting. Choose one photo that you like the look of. Choose one photo that you are happy to spend time working on. Choose the best photo. Choose that one photo that you will be happy sharing with the world. And edit that one photo.
That’s it. Choose one photo. Yep that really is it. Don’t worry, there is more to this that I will explain. But this is going to be a less than 10 minutes episode. Well I say that now, let’s see……
How does choosing one photo help me?
Right. You have been out taking photos. You have been on holiday. You have a load of photos that you have never edited. Whatever.
The first decision, and often the most difficult decision we photographers have to make is to choose which photos to edit. Or which photos we are not going to edit. There is a natural tendency to think that every photo that we have taken is an amazing photo. Or is that just me? There is also a natural tendency to think that we have to edit every photo.
Yes, edit every photo. I used to do this.
No – do not do this. You do not have to edit every photo. You never have to edit every photo dare I say?
Ever.
How do I know this? Because that is what I used to do. I used to edit every photo.
Why is this bad?
Because not every photo is great. Not every photo is worth editing. Would you not rather spend time editing the best photo, rather then spending time editing a load of similar images?
I know what I would rather do.
The reality is that when I go out taking photos, yes me, some of the photos that I take will be better than the others. Now that is a great start. And what about those ones that aren’t great?
Chuck them in a folder. Or delete them if you are feeling brave.
And from those photos that are better than the others, choose one photo. The best photo. Like I said in the intro,
- Choose one photo that is interesting.
- Choose one photo that you like the look of.
- Choose one photo that you are happy to spend time working on.
- Choose one photo that you will be happy sharing with the world
- And edit that photo.
If you do not do this, this is what happens.
Whatever photo editing software you use, and no this is not about Lightroom, whatever photo editing software you choose, you have many ways to rate photos.
- Star rating
- Colours
- Flags
- Thumbs up
Oh I don’t know, there are so many ways that we can rate photos. And therein lies the next problem. What do these ratings mean? How do they help you choose a photo to edit?
They don’t. I used to spend a long rating my photos, I used the stars, 1-5. And I ended up with say 10 5 star photos, well I thought that I had 10 photos that deserved a 5 star rating. But what did that actually mean? Whatever I wanted it to.
I have 10 5 star, knock out, world beating, masterpiece photos. Which one is the best?
I could spend loads of time carefully rating and grading the photos that I took. It became a technical exercise.
But what this did not do is get me a new photo. Sorting and rating photos is not creating new work. No, it is a distraction. An unnecessary distraction.
Get rid of the rubbish, and yes I still take rubbish, which I delete. Look at the rest. And pick one photo.
Edit it. Take the time that you would have spent adding flags and labels and all that stuff and edit that one photo.
Do this and is guess what, you have a new photo! Photography is about creating photographs. If we are rating and sorting photos we are not creating new work.
Choose one photo and edit it.
What’s the worst that can happen? The worst that can happen is that you don’t really like the photo once you have edited it. OK so this has cost you some time, but that is all. And in doing this you will have learned something. You will have learned what may be possible with one of the other photos.
But you might like it.
Not Lightroom specific
This applies whatever software you are using, and on whatever device you are using. It does not matter.
Doing this takes away a load of decisions, takes away a big time suck, and it helps you create new photos.
It might sound ridiculously simplistic, but if we think about this it makes perfect sense.
Choose one photo. Edit one photo. That is how you get started in this photo editing malarky thing.
The one thing
Now there is even a book called The One Thing. And I have read it. I don’t want to go on about it here, but this principle you can apply to erm well anything. I am a big fan of doing one thing at a time.
I am not saying only ever edit one photo from a shoot, holiday, whatever. But I am saying choose one photo, edit that photo, study it, learn to know it inside out. And only then choose another to edit. Or not…..
Up to you.
The talky bit
Already done – let’s move on.
What do I do?
Well, if I am photographing a sunrise, I only want one photo. I decide on the best composition, and take that photo a number of times, starting long before sunrise and finishing sometime after.
This is what I do, this is all I do for a sunrise.
I only want one photo. This single thing was a gamechanger for me.
I don’t need 2 photos of the same sunrise – what am I going to do with them?
And on a commercial shoot I apply the same principle, but to the client brief. If I need to provide say 30 photos, I try to take 30 photos, and I edit 30 photos.
The last word
Choose one photo. Edit it. Spend time on it. Study the photo and what you have done to it. Do the best you can with that one photo. And only then, think – are there any other photos worth editing?
Next episode
Photography Explained Podcast Episode 128 – How Do I Know When I Have Finished Editing A Photo? It's Taking Forever!
Do you want me to answer your questions?
You’re not limited to one question, not with me. My podcast has been created to answer your photography questions, not mine, so please get in touch with your question, and when I answer it I will give you a number of shout outs in that episode, which will exist forever in podcastland. Just head over to photographyexplainedpodcast.com/start ,where you can also find out more about my podcast and do stuff to help me.
This episode was powered by, wait for it, a homemade banana smoothie. Yes really. No cheese sandwich. No crisps. Well not yet. In a bit. No, a banana smoothie which I sipped whilst writing this episode in my home made acoustically cushioned recording emporium.
OK - I’m done
I’ve been Rick McEvoy, thanks again very much for listening to my small but perfectly formed podcast (it says here), and for giving me 10 (ish) minutes of your valuable time. I look forward to hearing from you and answering your questions in future episodes.
Take care, stay safe
Cheers from me Rick