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6 Photography Editing Techniques To Make A Photo Look Different

There are some people who prefer not to make any dramatic changes to their images and that is fine. On the other hand, some people look at their photos in the same way as an artist paints a piece of art. So, manipulating a photo is something they will want to do. Whatever your personal preference is will be up to you. What is for certain is that editing software gives a whole world of opportunity. So here are 6 ideas for ways to edit your photos to give it completely different looks.

Crop

One of the quickest and easiest ways to transform an image is by simply cropping it differently. The great thing about digital photography is that you can crop as much as you want and always return to the previous version. So, don’t be afraid to give it a try and keep in mind that it doesn’t always have to be in a 4:3 ratio. For example, cropping in a panoramic ratio can make a photo look very different.

If you are using Lightroom, simply press “R” on your keyboard and you’ll be able to start trying out different crops. A useful tip to know is that when you have pressed “R” if you then press “O” you can toggle through different overlays (i.e. rule of thirds, golden ratio etc).

Black & white

Another quick but dramatic change to a photo can be made by switching the photo to monochrome (i.e. black and white). You will need to adjust some of the settings after converting to black and white as the image might look a little flat. Black and white images generally work best if there is some contrast in the shot so you may find boosting these will give a more pleasing result. Keep in mind that some images will work better in black and white than others but there is no harm in simply trying it out. You can always revert back to the previous colour version.

Low saturation

There are lots of different ways in which you can treat a photo. Most photographers tend to boost saturation and vibrancy as RAW files will generally be more muted in colours. So, boosting saturation will often give a pleasing result. But there are times when reducing the saturation for a more muted look will look great. This works well in shots where you have flat colours like landscapes on a cloudy day. Don’t pull the sliders all the way to the left as this will basically make your photo monochrome.

You can also combine (or instead) of this “global” saturation and vibrancy, use the sliders in the “HSL” section in Lightroom to selectively add or remove saturation from specific colours. Play around and see what you can come up with.

Hue

These sliders in editing software basically move a colour tone from one to another. For example, the Blue slider can make blues look purple or aqua at either end of the slider. While this might seem useless as most of the time these extremes make photos look unrealistic, sometimes a little bit of movement can really help an image.

Say for example you have a scene with yellow, dried grass. Moving the yellow slider to the right will make the grass appear greener. But keep in mind that if other parts of your image also have yellows in it, it will also make them green. You can use these sliders to make some subtle (or more dramatic) changes to your images.

An example of how using the Hue sliders can change an image. Here I’ve added more green to the grass areas.

Vignettes

Vignettes are another easy and quick way to add a little something extra to a photo. While the change won’t be dramatic with vignettes, it will still make a photo look different. Vignettes are great for occasions when you want to bring more focus on the subject in the centre of the shot. For example, in portrait photography, vignettes can work really nicely.

The important thing when using vignettes is subtlety. I have often seen examples of really dark vignettes of almost black, which for me seem to take away the focus from the subject. So my advice would be to just add a small amount, but ultimately it will be down to you and your desired effect.

Sky replacement

Replacing skies in photos isn’t something new. Luminar have had the function for a number of years. Now Photoshop has also introduced it to their interface. Obviously changing sky has always been possible in Photoshop, but the new automated function does make things a lot easier. Like any kind of editing, whether you are OK with replacing a sky will come down to your personal preference and the purpose of the photo.

If it’s just for personal use, then there’s no issue about replacing a sky. But for example, if you want to enter the photo into a competition you will find that replacing a sky isn’t allowed. But what the sky replacement technique does give you is a completely new way to show a photo.

There is no harm in trying it out. Make sure you have an image open in Photoshop then click Edit => Sky Replacement. It is self-explanatory from that point onwards.

Editing is an important part of the photography process. While like most photographers I would advocate that you get as much correct when taking a photo, there is nothing wrong with using editing techniques to achieve the desired effect. Photography is after all an art and an expression of your creativity. At the very least you can play around with the techniques above to see what you can come up with.

5 Tips When Using Photoshop’s Sky Replacement

Photoshop’s sky replacement function has been a welcome addition to an already astonishing software. It gives photographers the opportunity to replace a sky in a photo effortlessly without the need to learn how to mask or use layers. And because Photoshop works so well with Lightroom, it means moving images back and forth between the two is quick and straightforward. But whilst the sky replacement function can be useful, if not used correctly it can actually ruin a photo. So here are 5 tips for when you are replacing skies in Photoshop.

Firstly, is it cheating?

The short answer is NO! There are of course purists who believe that photos shouldn’t be manipulated. But the way I see this process is that it really depends on what the purpose of the image is. For example, if you are a photojournalist, then the photos should be free of post-processing. But if you are going to be printing your photo to put on a wall in your home then why not change the sky? In the same way that a painter would change colours to produce their vision, you are doing the same thing, just digitally. So, don’t worry about post-processing and image manipulation being cheating, because it is not.

Find the right match

The biggest challenge in using sky replacement is being able to find the right sky to match your scene. Because if there isn’t a natural match, the photo will just not work. So, before deciding to replace the sky in a photo, you need to ensure you have the correct sky. Whether you purchase a pack or you take your own photos of skies, the important thing is to go through and look for a sky that has similar tones but also is what you would expect in those conditions. For example, if you have a bright but flat light, a dramatic sunset sky just wouldn’t match the tones in the scene. See the two images below and how even blue skies can differ and how the second sky works better (although still not perfect – we’ll come onto that next).

Tweak the sky

As you can see in the image above, even the blue sky still doesn’t quite feel natural. The photo has more brightness and tones of yellow in the scene which are not currently present in the sky. So the next step should be to tweak the colour of the sky for a better match of your original photo. Using the “Temperature” and “Brightness” sliders, tweak the sky until you have a more natural match between the foreground and sky.

In the image below I have brightened the sky and added more yellow to it to match the scene better. At this point, you may also want to move your sky around to get the perfect placement of the clouds for the composition.

Check edges

Before you save your sky you also need to take a look at the edges between your sky and where your image meets to ensure that there is a natural transition between the two. There are a couple of options on the sky replacement panel for tweaking this.

First is the “Shift Edge” slider. As the name implies, this moves the edge of the sky lower or higher depending on where the default – which is zero is. Pull the slider to the left and your sky move further up revealing more of your original sky. Move the slider to the right and it will move your sky lower covering the horizon line (see image below).

If around your horizon line is fairly clear, like for example there are no low clouds, you shouldn’t really need to change the value beyond zero. However, if you do have low clouds these will often show through the fade gradient of the sky to image transition. In these scenarios, you can move the edge of your sky up a little so that it clears these low clouds.

Fade edge

The next slider is the second part of checking your horizon line. The “Fade Edge” slider, does exactly as it implies. It fades more of the edge of the sky for a smoother blend into the horizon line. The default for this fade is the maximum which is 100 and the lowest is zero. This will usually mean a very sharp edge between sky and horizon which looks unnatural (see image below).

But you may also sometimes find that 100 is too much as you want less of a fade between the two (for example to cover some faint clouds). My suggestion would be to zoom into your image and then tweak the slider until you get the desired effect. Then click OK and you’ll notice your image adjustment layers appearing on the right. At this point, you can save your image or make further adjustments as required.

As I said earlier, the aim should be for a final image that looks natural and seamlessly blends those two elements of sky and foreground together.

Photoshop’s sky replacement is a great tool to use to manipulate your photos. Even if you are a complete beginner you will find the whole process incredibly quick, easy and enjoyable. But remember to use the tips above to make your finished photo look natural.

The Easy Way To Remove Chromatic Aberration In Photoshop

Chromatic aberration is an optical issue that occurs within lenses. This manifests itself in photos with colour fringing or purple fringing around the edges of objects, especially with high contrast areas. Most of the time the chromatic aberration can be removed with just a few simple clicks in Lightroom. However, in some more extreme cases, you may not be able to get the results you want. So you will need to use Adobe Photoshop to be able to remove the chromatic aberration completely from your photos. But fear not, the process is actually very simple. So here’s a step-by-step guide on how to remove chromatic aberration using Photoshop.

What is chromatic aberration?

To fully understand chromatic aberration and what causes it you need to understand optics and wavelengths of colour. To summarise, chromatic aberration is caused when wavelengths of colour are not brought together by the lens to the same focal plane. Or when wavelengths of colour are focused at different positions in the focal plane. As a result, you often end up with colours such as red, green, blue, yellow, purple, and magenta appearing around the edges of objects. This is especially apparent in high contrast situation where are you have very bright and very dark areas next to each other. If you want to really understand chromatic aberration there are plenty of resources out there that go into great detail about this issue. For most photographers, the only thing they need to know is how to remove it from their photos.

How to remove chromatic aberration?

There are lots of different ways to remove chromatic aberration in Photoshop. However, I have personally found that this is the simplest and quickest way to do it.

Step 1

Open your photo in Photoshop and duplicate the image. The reason for this is that it is much easier to revert to the original if you still have an untouched version. Keep in mind that unlike Lightroom any adjustment that you make on a photo is actually permanent. So ideally you should get into the habit of working on layers. Once you have duplicated your image add a layer mask. If your layer mask isn’t black simply click on it and inverse it.

Step 2

From now on you will be working on the duplicated layer of your image. So next you need to add some Gaussian Blur to your image. Yes, that’s right you read it correctly, we are going to add blur to your image. To do this select “Filter” on the top menu. Scroll down to “Blur”, and select “Gaussian Blur”.

Once you’ve clicked to add Gaussian Blur to the image you need to adjust the radius to between 9 and 12.

Step 3

Now you need to go back to your panel on the right-hand side and change the blending mode of your duplicated image. Select “Colour” from the drop-down menu.

Step 4

Now comes the fun part. Select your mask layer and then select the brush tool from the left-hand menu. Make sure that your brush size is fairly small. Now it’s just the case of simply brushing around the edges where chromatic aberration is evident. You should notice that the chromatic abrasion, in other words, the colours are disappearing. Once you have gone through your entire image removing any chromatic aberration double check your image at 100% size to ensure nothing is out of place. It’s as easy as that!

Step 5

One way to make your workflow even faster is to create an action of this process on Photoshop. Actions are very useful to help speed up the process of the same repetitive action. So, for example, you can create an action to add all the processes from above to an image apart from step number 4. So you will then simply brush the chromatic aberration away as specified in step 4.

How to create an action in Photoshop

Creating an action in Photoshop is easy. Simply click on “Window” on the top bar, scroll down to “Actions” and click. This will open the actions panel on your workspace. Click the record button to start recording any actions you take from that point onwards. Press the stop button when you have finished a particular sequence of actions. You now have an action to use on your photos. When you want to use the action, select it from the menu and press the “play” button. Creating actions for specific things can really help speed up your editing process.

Chromatic aberration can be a real pain to remove. But it is incredibly important that you do not forego removing it from images that are affected. This method can be used to removed chromatic aberration in the majority of photos quickly and easily.