If you are a beginner who is deciding to learn photo editing and don’t want to spend money on learning it simultaneously, you are at the right place. This article will show you some basic steps that will help you to be a professional editor.
For this, you need to have a standard PC and some photo editing software. You can choose any editing tool. Some of them are paid, and some of them are entirely free.
Let’s dive into the photo editing learning journey.
Photo Editing Tools
Before starting to learn photo editing, you have to choose a photo editing software or tool. You will get several numbers of paid and free photo editing tools on the market. You have to find out which one will be best for your learning. However, here you join online photography classes to learn more about photo editing.
Adobe Photoshop
​We cannot fulfill the list of best photo editing tools without including Adobe Photoshop. Because Adobe Photoshop is one of the best photo editing software so far. Let’s know about its features.
- ​Sophisticated touch-up and retouching option
- Huge collection of filters and brushes
- 3D designing
- Multi-layer editing facilities
- Pro tools for editing
- Top-rated photography software
Canva
Canva is a very simple and easily operable graphic design software with a huge active user. It comes with multiple editing tools and operates on a freemium model. Unlike any other photo editing software, Canva is downloadable on a mobile phone. It will make you able to edit photos on your phone instantly.
- ​Up to 8,000 templates collection
- blurring and vignette effect
- Image straightening and cropping feature
- Transparency controlling tool
- Photo frames collection
- Huge stickers and badges
- Texture adding option
- Speech bubble maker
- Photograph enhancer
Pixlr
This is an online photo editor software. You have to access this software platform via your browser. Many simple one-click functions and powerful toolsets are available here. The user-friendly interface of this software makes it popular.
- ​More than 2 million effects
- Overlays and filters
- Useable on both mobile and desktop platform via web
- Various Pixlr versions are available for choosing
- Creative editing tool
Adobe Lightroom
Adobe Lightroom is another giant photo editing tool. It also comes from the same owner of Adobe Photoshop. Its fantastic features will allow you to alter your photos in a straightforward way.
- ​Auto face detection ability
- Camera-based corrections
- Brush adjustments
- Blurring and fixing tool
- Huge number of professional presets and filters
- Good online support from Adobe
How to be a professional photo editor?
To be a professional photo editor, you have to learn all these techniques steps by step;
- ​Image Cropping
- Adjusting Contrast
- Adjusting White Balance
- Sharpen your Image
- Remove Noise
- Finalize Your Image and Share
Image Cropping
At the beginning of editing photos, you have to adjust your photo position by cropping and rotating it. The proper image cropping ability is very important for improving your composition. Sometimes cropping a photo by as little as 1- 5% can make a big difference, at other times, this may be lost its beauty for over-cropping. So be careful while cropping a photograph.
Adjusting Contrast
Adjusting contrast is not a rocket science in my opinion. It is a very easy task. Contrast level control the strength of the blacks on an image. High contrast makes a stark image, and low contrast makes the image flat. To ensure proper image tone, you need to learn to keep image contrast in the middle.
Adjusting White Balance
White balance is not related to exposure levels, and it is related to color levels. Many people think that a high white level makes an image more attractive. But it’s just a myth. If you feel a lack of brightness in an image, then increase the white level to a certain point. But don’t make overhigh.
Sharpen Your Image
Sharpening an image is very useful to get a cleaner and crisper looking image. There are many photo editing software available that offer multiple sharpening tools. You will also get many presets built in for instantly giving a better look at your image.
Remove Noise
Sometimes, we can notice noise in some pictures that are mainly captured in low light. These noisy pictures lose our concentration. Removing noise is a significant part of photo editing. Noise removal makes the image brighter and removes visitor’s distractions. So, learn to remove photo noise properly to produce a better photo.
Finalize Your Image
After completing all of the editing steps, compare the edited and original photo side by side. Then come back to the editing panel and give more finishing tasks where needed if you don’t become happy with your work.
The Sky Is the Limit
All of the mentioned techniques are basic in photo editing, but I think it is more than enough for beginners to help them improve their photos. If you want to be an expert in this sector, keep practicing with a patient and be careful to avoid mistakes.