So in this section, I want to talk about some of the editing mistakes that I see with a lot of editors out there, especially with newer editors that are still learning and they're still trying to find their style. And I want to say that it's okay to make mistakes. It's part of the process. I just want you to be aware of these so you can think about them as you're editing and as you're going forward um and trying to find your own unique style. So the first one is seems kind of counterintuitive, but it's actually over editing. I see people over edit their photos um to the point where it just looks kind of off. And I know I said earlier in this course like there's no right or wrong with editing and that's true. This is just based on my subjectivity photos that are a little bit over edited. They just don't look as aesthetically pleasing as photos that are kind of edited edited with more fine tuned edits to make it just pop instead of just you know, overly saturated, too dark to bright, etc...

etera. So one of the things I recommend doing is when you're editing is to step away, you know, edit your photo for a little bit, but don't spend three hours at once. Edit it for a little bit, go away, do something else, get your eyes off the screen and then come back to it and then you can see it with a fresh set of eyes. Um and just take a keener look at it and see if you want to make any more adjustments to it if you like it once you come back to it, export it and you're done over editing is a big mistake I see with most new photographers. Um so it's totally okay. I just want you to be aware of it. I mean this leads me to my next point is the second common mistake is not stepping away. So that's what the people will do. I'm guilty of this as well. I'll edit a photo, I'll play with the colors, I'll do all these edits and then I'll just export it right away. I won't step away, go do something else and then and come back to it. And often times when I don't step away, I always noticed that my colors are just a little bit off, they just look a little bit unnatural, they're just not how I wanted them. Um So I always recommend stepping away and coming back and that will allow you to see with a fresh set of eyes um after instead of just staring at the screen for you know, an hour or whatever and your your your image starts to shift and you start seeing weird colors and it looks natural to you, even though it's not so don't be afraid to step away and come back to it. The next mistake I often see is not cropping your image, don't be afraid to crop your image to a better composition, you can completely change the composition of your photo by using an effective crop. So if you take an image and it just doesn't look that good. Try cropping it, try adjusting it to create a better composition cropping can be a really awesome tool and with that straightening as well, always make sure that you straighten your photo photo that's not straight. Even if the edit is spot on, if the photo is not straight it can look a little bit weird. So make sure you always straighten your photos as well. The next common mistake I see is too much contrast and too much clarity. It's very easy to to use those sliders too much. They're awesome sliders but you can get a little bit sugar happy and go too far with the contrast slider and then it just makes everything look a little bit too punchy, a little bit too high contrast. That's a big mistake with a lot of young photographers. If you are going to add contrast, I recommend kind of toning them down. Maybe adding some fade with the d. Hey slider going the back backwards with the D. A slider adding a little bit of haze just to kind of calm things down a little bit. Uh and then also clarity, clarity is a really cool slider especially in the beginning, don't go overboard with it, take it slow because it can really have a dramatic impact on your photo and make it really kind of a little bit too punchy to the point where you can't focus on anything because everything is just super sharp and in detail. So make sure you're not abusing those sliders too much. And the last mistake I see is using odd colors. So maybe these colors are natural but they're just not harmonious. So you're using colors that just kind of clash. They don't look good together. If that's the style you're going for once again, it's not wrong, but it's just something I see that I think a lot of photographers don't do intentionally but they just kind of have some weird odd colors in their photo. Maybe they're white balance is off or they use the tint slider wrong and the photos like overly pink or overly green or something like that. So make sure you're avoiding some of those odd color combinations. And one of the things I recommend is just to make sure your white balance is in check before you start editing. That's one of the biggest culprits of weird colors is having incorrect white balance but that's it for this section. Just wanted to kind of touch on those just so you're aware these are mistakes that I see a lot of people make. I made all of them when I was a young photographer and I still make these mistakes. So it's totally okay, totally natural. I just want you guys to be aware of some of these mistakes

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Sean Dalton

Lifestyle & travel photographer with 65k+ Instagram followers

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topics covered in this class

Beginner Post-Processing iPhone Adobe Lightroom Fundamentals Photo Editing Digital Photography

2,000+ classes ranging from fundamentals to advanced techniques.

Common Editing Mistakes

Common Editing Mistakes

Lesson Info

26. Common Editing Mistakes

Lessons

Class Overview

The Power of Mobile Editing

The Digital Anatomy of a Photograph

Class Project

Raw vs. Jpeg and Adobe .Dng files

Chapter 2: Quiz

Exposure and Emotion

Color Theory and Emotion

Editing and Storytelling

Editing Styles

Editing - The Right and the Wrong

Finding your Editing Style

Chapter 3: Quiz

The Best Mobile Editing Apps

Chapter 4: Quiz

Lightroom Mobile CC Overview

Lightroom Mobile CC Editing Workflow

Chapter 5: Quiz

Importing Photos and Organization

Prepping the Photo

Editing Exposure and Tone Curve

Editing Color

Effects and Details

Fine-Tuning With Selective Edits

Presets and Why You Should Use Them