fbpx
Education Learn

Beginner’s Tips for Editing Your Images Down to Only Your Best Work

Ibarionex Perello
No Comments
08/06/2014
3 Mins read

IbarionexThePhoblographerEditingTips01

One of the hardest things for any photographer to do is to edit down their images to a select few. Whether they are images from a recent shoot or a body of work destined for a web gallery or portfolio, the process of editing is no easy task. It’s not something that’s taught alongside learning about shutter speed, aperture and ISO.

It’s an important skill to develop as a weak portfolio or web gallery can diminish the impact of one’s best work. Here are some suggestions that may help you to refine the way you evaluate, select and organize your best photographs.

IbarionexThePhoblographerEditingTips02

Apply a Simple Rating Immediately After a Shoot

After a shoot, go through the day’s images and apply a positive flag to the images you favor. Go through the images quickly and don’t linger. Just let your immediate reaction dictate which images work for you.

Add Keywords

Remember to add keywords to images to identify what category of photography they fit in: portrait, landscape, macro, etc.

Review Several Days Later

Return to that day’s shoot and review the images again and add one star to those images that you are interested in editing/processing. Try to weed out duplicates or very similar images.

IbarionexThePhoblographerEditingTips03

Use the Compare Feature

If you use Adobe Lightroom, use the Compare feature to eliminate duplicates or very similar images.

Create a Collection

Create a collection or group of these selects and identify that as your primary selects.

IbarionexThePhoblographerEditingTips04

Collect Edited Images

As you begin to process your images, save the edits as TIFF or PSD files and create a smart collection that gathers these images based on the category of photography, file type as well as the flag and current star rating.

Periodically Review Smart Collections

As the number of your images grow in the smart collection, review and compare and discern which images are stronger than others. Increase the star rating for those images that stand out to two or three. Create another smart collection that identifies this increased rating and name it as your secondary or intermediary pass/edit.

Make 4×6 Prints

When the number of images grows to about 30 to 40 images, print or order 4×6 prints of your best shots. Lay the images out on the floor or a table and edit out half of the images.

Use Your Best Shot as a Reference

When sifting through the prints choose the best image within the group. Get rid of images that are not as good or better than your initial pick. Avoid including too similar images.

IbarionexThePhoblographerEditingTips05

Edit Your Images to a Core 8

Cut down your print edit to a core eight. Imagine you are laying out for a portfolio and pick your first and last image of the book. Afterwards compare the remaining images until you have a final 8 selected.

Slowly Build Up

Once you have achieved your Core 8 slowly add images to build the body of work from 8 to 12 to 15 to 20. Don’t hesitate to completely remove images if you believe that you have created images that are significantly better than that.

IbarionexThePhoblographerEditingTips06

Create a PDF Portfolio

Using the Book module in Adobe Lightroom, create a PDF portfolio of your best images and review how they flow and work together. Identify areas of strength and weakness and plan your next few shoots to remedy the latter. To view a video where I walk through using the Book module in Adobe Lightroom, click here.

 

You might also like
Education

So What Exactly is a Petzval Lens?

3 Mins read
07/25/2013

Ever seen portraits that had a fascinating swirl-like bokeh and field curvature, but never knew how it was done? Well it all lies in the Petzval lens design, and we’re sharing some of its storied past.

lightroom-cc-profiles
Features

After 6+ Months with Capture One, I’m Coming Back to Lightroom

3 Mins read
06/30/2018

If you have been reading the internet for the last year or two you would have been hard-pressed not to notice the uptick in photographers that were unhappy with Adobe Lightroom and it’s nearly constant performance issues. Unsurprisingly, this also is when we started to really see a rise in photographers denouncing Lightroom in favor of PhaseOne’s Capture One Pro, a longtime favorite of professional retouchers that hadn’t really caught on with the masses.

Pauleth Ip The Phoblographer Sony FE 24mm f1.4 GM Product Image 3 of 5
Education Learn

Can 24mm Prime Lenses be Used for Street Photography Successfully?

2 Mins read
12/14/2018

Many photographers will tell you that the ideal prime lenses for street photography are 35mm lenses, 40mm lenses, and the trusty 50mm lens. These three lenses are considered to be perfect for street photography because they closely replicate what the human eye sees naturally. Usually you’ll find that anything longer than 50mm just won’t capture enough of a scene to tell a story, while anything wider than 35mm can create images that lack intimacy. Recently photographer and YouTuber Pierre. T Lambert decided to try 24mm prime lenses for street photography. After the jump you can watch the video and can see what he found out.