Basic Rules for Editing Digital Images
Submitted by mitch on Fri, 11/20/2009 - 15:40.
Someone posted "10 Rules for Editing Digital Images" on the Digital Photography School site. I thought it might be interesting to build our own list of basic rules.
(Feel free to use the comment system to add your own suggestions.)
Here's the 10 rules from the site:
- Tone of space (a room, for example) should be balanced and neutral, with no overall bias;
- Blacks (like tuxes) should be black;
- Whites (like wedding gowns) should be white;
- Don’t over-saturate images (my personal pet peeve)! Final edited image should be representative of what the human eye saw when photographing occurred;
- Flesh tones should be realistic and consistent. If he looks red and she looks pale white, something’s probably wrong;
- Image should be level or straight. Use reference points within image to determine this;
- Fix and remove any “red-eye” issues when flash is used;
- Sharpen all images last, and do it sparingly;
- Save images based on their intended use; images being posted online can be as small as 500 kb. Images that will be printed should probably be 1-2 mb (minimum);
- For easy tracking and identification, rename/save images based on the event, like – “Jane & John Wedding 1”.
Nothing all that much to quibble about. Some seem less important, though, than some stuff that is neglected.
Go ahead, share your thoughts.
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Basic Rules: Don't Over-Saturate
Hard to disagree with that advice. We've all seen shots where someone really goosed the Saturation slider. Where I will quibble is the comment that saturation should be representative of what the eye saw. Generally, that's OK advice. I find many digital photographs can benefit from a saturation boost. I shot Fuji Velvia for years to get rich, saturated colors. But, you still have to show good judgment with the Saturation slider. Like any photo editing, it is easy to overdo and very obvious when done badly.
Basic Rules: Sharpening
If you're going to sharpen just once, this is good advice. However, a look around this site should lead you to conclude there are more effective techniques. I agree 100% with not overdoing it. I've seen some downright scary images on the Web where someone was too aggressive with the sharpening settings.
Basic Rules -- My favorite NOT!
HDR is a hot topic these days. My personal pet peeve is looking at an image and hearing it scream, "Look at me! I'm HDR!" So that ties right in with Don't Over-saturate! Why do folks feel they need to over-do technology?
Lauren
Re. Basic Rules -- My favorite NOT!
I've been waiting for others to comment. I agree. There is a lot of "over the top" HDR out there.
Basic Rules: Tone of Space
For most photographs, white balance is not especially tricky. Once you understand white balance and how t adjust it, it's a quick fix.
When there are multiple light sources, white balance can be tricky. Even downright difficult in some situations. For example, light coming in through windows or doors in a room with interior lighting can be a challenge.
If you're looking for help on white balance and color correction, I strongly recommend Michael Kieran, "Photoshop Color Correction." It's out-of-print, but I learned more about correcting tone and color from this book than any other.
Re: Basic Rules -- My favorite NOT!
Lots of lurkers and few contributors! Anyway, I think HDR has become a cover-up for bad photography. And it never ceases to amaze me how many WOWs I hear when folks see over done HDR images. I love what Photomatix can do to an image, but I want folks to say, "WOW! That is a great photo!" And not, "WOW! That's HDR!" Anyone other than Mitch have an opinion? Okay! Time to get off my soap box.
Lauren
Basic Rules
I think all of them are good, but could be summed up in one rule.
Don't try to make a bad picture good with editing.
Re: Basic Rules
Hear hear!!
Lauren
Agree with most - however re # 2
Hi Mitch,
agree with most of these and especially your comments re HDR (as per the other thread)
I have a ? on # 2 - if a red light was shining on the bride gown, should we make it white? Because in reality it was not white - even our eyes would have seen it as not white.
The point I'm making is that colour (other than the source) is a result of reflection, a so called colour 'cast' is often desirable. Good judgement beats simplicity every time in the end result.
Brian - Melbourne Australia