{"id":116729,"date":"2018-10-28T13:46:08","date_gmt":"2018-10-28T20:46:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/erickimphotography.com\/blog\/?p=116729"},"modified":"2018-10-28T13:57:26","modified_gmt":"2018-10-28T20:57:26","slug":"how-to-edit-your-photos-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/erickimphotography.com\/blog\/2018\/10\/28\/how-to-edit-your-photos-2\/","title":{"rendered":"How to Edit Your Photos"},"content":{"rendered":"

As photographer-artists, we all strive to make beautiful<\/a> photos. But how do we do it?<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Why Edit?<\/h2>\n

We edit our photos, to elevate[editus<\/a>] them.<\/p>\n

Photo-Editor<\/h2>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

In the past, a photo-editor (for TIME) magazine was an individual who SELECTED your photos, and decided how to sequence\/show your photos.<\/p>\n

Now– when we say “edit” our photos, we mean<\/em> to say “post-process” our photos (adjust contrast, black and white, cropping, etc).<\/p>\n

But what does it really mean to edit a photo?<\/p>\n

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Editing<\/h2>\n

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  1. The art of selecting your best photos (deciding which photos to keep or which photos to ditch)<\/li>\n
  2. Post-editing (image-manipulation afterwards)<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n
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    Why edit?<\/h2>\n

    \"\"<\/p>\n

    The purpose of editing is to elevate your photos — to make them stronger.<\/p>\n

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    1. Choosing your best work<\/h2>\n

    \"Note<\/p>\n

    First of all, when you’re out shooting photos, you determine which scenes or people you want to photograph.<\/p>\n

    Then what you do is ‘work the scene<\/a>‘ — shoot lots of photos of the same scene.<\/p>\n

    When you get home, you look at your ‘contact sheets<\/a>‘, and determine the best version of the photo.<\/p>\n

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    2. Determining the best composition<\/h2>\n

    How do you know which photo is your best?<\/p>\n

    My suggestion:<\/p>\n

    Deconstruct and analyze the photograph, in order to figure out *why* you like the picture.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

    For example, look how I analyze the composition of my photo below:<\/p>\n

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    \"\"<\/p>\n

    \"\"<\/p>\n

    \"\"<\/p>\n

    3. Figure to ground test<\/h2>\n

    The next thing I like to do is to test the ‘figure to ground’ — to see whether there is clear separation between the subject and background.<\/p>\n

    A simple way to do this:<\/p>\n

    Increase the contrast and brightness to the max — to better see the separation.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

    \"\"<\/p>\n

    You can also add ‘gaussian blur’ in photoshop– to better see the edges<\/a> of your photo:<\/p>\n

    \"\" \"\"<\/p>\n

    Then you can paint in the details — using Photoshop and the Polygonal lasso tool, and filling the colors:<\/p>\n

    \"\"<\/p>\n

    \"\"<\/p>\n

    Voila– you’ve made your own abstract Picasso<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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    4. Experiment with different color overlays<\/h2>\n

    Try out using different color overlays; to re-vision your photos in new ways.<\/p>\n

    For example, a red color mask overlay (in Photoshop with the ‘darken’ overlay function in Layers):<\/p>\n

    \"\"<\/p>\n

    \"\"<\/p>\n

    Or just keep fucking around with the filters, until you get strange things like this:<\/p>\n

    \"\"<\/p>\n

    5. The tyranny of photographers<\/h2>\n

    \"\"<\/p>\n

    Ultimately, the tyranny of photographers from the past is this:<\/p>\n

    They told us what we couldn’t do (what was ‘forbidden’ in the art of photography), and what we *should* do (according to their tyrannical philosophy).<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

    For example, I love Henri Cartier-Bresson<\/a> to death, but he was the ultimate tyrant. He made all the rules of photography (no crop, no color film, no wide-angle lenses or telephoto lens, no flash, etc). Yet at the end of his life, he renounced photography. and said something like:<\/p>\n

    Photography isn’t as legitimate as painting. Painting is the ultimate visual-art-form.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

    Thus for the rest of his life, Henri Cartier-Bresson just sketched, painted — work which paled to comparison to his magnificent photos.<\/p>\n

    Why did Henri Cartier-Bresson renounce photography? My theory: He was such a self-tyrant on himself, he didn’t allow himself to evolve and change (like his contemporary, Josef Koudelka<\/a>).<\/p>\n

    Conclusion<\/h2>\n

    \"\"<\/p>\n

    There are no rules to editing. Do whatever you want.<\/p>\n

    Be fiercely aggressive in your experimenting. Know there are still so many new photos, compositions, and visual images which don’t yet exist!<\/p>\n

    ERIC<\/p>\n

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    Photography 101 ><\/a><\/h1>\n

    Dear friend,<\/p>\n

    If you’re new to photography, start here:<\/p>\n

      \n
    1. The Ultimate Beginner’s Guide to Mastering Photography<\/a><\/li>\n
    2. Free Photography Bootcamp<\/a><\/li>\n
    3. 100 Photography Tips for Beginners<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n
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      Photography Tips<\/h2>\n

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