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Let's be real. When your first try your hand a photo editing, it sucks!
There are so many symbols and sliders and formats, oh my!
No worries! Editing digital photos is so fun if you understand basic editing/photography concepts. You can take that basic knowledge and apply it to ANY program, even if you cannot afford Photoshop.
In this post I am getting down and dirty showing you some of the basic tweaks that you can do to your photos to enhance them. Also, what some terms actually mean, you know, to real people.
Most programs or even mobile apps designed for editing photos have at least a few, if not all of these concepts and more!
Word of Advice: Before editing, make sure that you get the picture right first. You want your final product to look enhanced and polished, not distorted and over-processed.
Side Note- The "after" results are NOT examples of perfectly exposed/edited images, they are blown WAY out to show how each tool works. :)
Bokeh /ˈboʊkɛ/, /ˈboʊkeɪ/ BOH-kay
The aesthetic quality of the blur produced in the out-of-focus parts of an image produced by a lens. Bokeh has been defined as "the way the lens renders out-of-focus points of light."
Put Simply: The dots (or shapes, sometimes hearts,etc.) in the background of a photo.
Noise (Grain) /noiz/
Image noise is random (not present in the object imaged) variation of brightness or color information and is usually an aspect of electronic noise. It can be produced by the sensor and circuitry of your camera.
Put Simply: A bunch of little dots all over your picture. Sometimes noise is achieved on purpose, but you should typically aim for clarity.
Crop (Cut)
Cropping is removing the outer parts of an image to improve the composition and accentuate the subject matter, or to change the aspect ratio. Depending on how it is used, it can been performed on a physical piece of artwork or film, or digitally with some kind of image editing software.
Put Simply: Cutting off parts of your picture (for whatever reason.) Cropping can also reduce image quality, proceed with caution!
Filters /ˈfiltər/
A software routine that changes the appearance of an image or part of an image by altering the shades and colors of the pixels in some manner.
Put Simply: Easily changing multiple settings at once to create different image effects. Can be as basic as making a photo black & white or as complex as the Fractalius Filter. Made super popular by Instagram.
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| Selfie edited with Fractalius Filter in Photoshop |
Brightness
Brightness is the general intensity of an image; if the brightness value of an image is lower, the image is darker. And if the brightness value of an image is higher, the image is lighter.
Put Simply: How light a picture is (be careful not to "blow out" the already bright parts of an image.)
Contrast /ˈkänˌtrast/
the difference in luminance or color that makes an object (or its representation in an image or display) distinguishable. In visual perception of the real world, contrast is determined by the difference in the color and brightness of the object and other objects within the same field of view.
Put Simply: More Contrast= colors pop/more vibrant | Less Contrast= dull image/not as vivid
Saturation /saCHəˈrāSH(ə)n/
A measure of the strength of color in a picture. Most programs or apps will allow you to adjust the saturation levels by adding grey to the image to appear more monochrome. Also, by removing grey to produce richer and more highly saturated colors.
Put Simply: the more saturated the colors are, the more they POP (or make you look like you've been in a tanning bed a few days too long!) The less saturation that is applied, the less color (more greyscale) the image will look.
Shadows /ˈSHadō/
The term “shadow” refers to a wide range of light intensity conditions – it is not darkness. A shadow is where there is a difference between a specific light intensity and a specific lower light intensity next to it. The difference in light intensity between the two light levels creates a contrast that our eye can see.
Shadow is created by an object intercepting light from a light source. Any light that can pass the object will be brighter than the light behind the object where the beam has been blocked.
Put Simply: Notice the shadow under my nose. If you were with me in person, the shadow would not exist. However, you can clearly see it in the picture. This can be due to numerous things (mostly affected by amount/direction of flash/light) What the shadow adjustment does is lighten up the darker areas of an image, not completely remove the shadows.
HDR (High Dynamic Range)
A Set of techniques used in photography to reproduce a greater dynamic range of luminosity than is possible with standard photographic techniques.
Put Simply: Striking Images with enhanced visuals using various techniques. Many apps have HDR filters for ease of use!
Sharpen /ˈSHärpən/
Enhances the definition of edges in an image.
Put Simply: How visible details are. However, over-sharpening, in my opinion, is worse than have a less-sharp image.
Exposure /ikˈspōZHər/
The amount of light per unit area (the image plane illuminance times the exposure time) reaching a photographic film or electronic image sensor, as determined by shutter speed, lens aperture and scene luminance.
Put Simply: How bright/dark the overall photo is.
Highlights /ˈhīˌlīt/
An area of the lightest tone in a photograph.
Put Simply: This adjustment only adjusts the lighter tones of images. i.e. Where the light toughes the object. (On myself: nose, cheeck, forehead, hair, arm, dress and floor.)
Color Balance
Global adjustment of the intensities of the colors (typically red, green, and blue.)
Put Simply: adding/subtracting either more or less of each color will produce different hues that are true to the color wheel. For Example: adding more blue/yellow = green-toned image.
Put Simply: adding/subtracting either more or less of each color will produce different hues that are true to the color wheel. For Example: adding more blue/yellow = green-toned image.
Collage (photo collage)
A collection of pictures that are put together to make a single picture.
Put Simply: This.
Let me apologize for the sheer number of times you had to see my face in order to make this post possible...
I hope you have a better understanding of some of the basic photo editing terminology.
Is there something you feel I missed? Leave a comment below and I will add it, just for you!
What is your favorite adjustment for editing your photos?
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