In this photography tutorial, I will help you understand different steps of post processing which will help make your pictures better, so that you can try to recreate what your eyes saw while shooting the picture. This is meant for beginners who wish to increase the quality of the pictures they shoot while travelling.
For super quick processing, I recommend a software I've been using for ages now, called FastStone Image Viewer. It's simple, light and does the job perfectly especially if you don't like spending time working on the picture (unlike Photoshop which is more advanced but is time consuming)
Sometimes, when you shoot a landscape, the orientation may be slightly off. You can correct the orientation very easily to ensure your picture is straight, just as our eyes see the scene.
I applied the following settings (-0.8 or 0.8 rotation to the left). I used the line separating the river from the trees and the mountain to ensure I had a properly straightened picture.
Just experiment with the rotation and figure out what your picture requires. Remember each picture is different. Some times, you may just skip this step if your picture is perfectly aligned.
In this step, you will try to work on the lighting in the picture. It contains the following elements:
1. Shadows - Shadows refer to the darker areas of the picture. Increasing this will add more light to the darker areas and decreasing it will make it darker. It is used to bring out details in darker areas of the picture mostly. Remember not to overdo it or you will have a picture which looks pretty bad.
2. Highlights - Highlights refer to the bright areas of the picture. Increasing it will make the brighter areas brighter and decreasing it will make bright spots less bright. In this picture, the most prominent bright area is in the center of the picture in the cloud formation.
3. Contrast - Contrast is the difference between the whites and blacks in the picture. Increasing the contrast makes brighter areas brighter and darker areas darker.
4. Saturation - Saturation is used to increase or decrease the colours in the picture.
I applied the following settings (Shadows + 40, Contrast + 20, Saturation + 70). I didn't touch the highlights as I thought they were fine.
See how much of a difference it has made to the picture especially on the rock formation in the bottom and the colours of the sky.
In this step, you will work on colour corrections mostly. Some times, due to the lighting, blues/reds/greens may overpower the picture. You can use this tool to correct it.
I applied the following settings (Brightness + 8, Red + 10, Blue - 5)
I increased the brightness of the picture slightly. Further, I thought the picture was too blue for my liking, so I reduced the Blues and increased the Reds to make the sunset look more appealing.
This step is used when picture sizes are too large for social media like Facebook and Instagram. Resizing helps in reducing picture size and consequently it may look better on a Computer or a Mobile Phone. Also it takes lesser time to upload for you and to load for the viewer. Remember that resizing may lead to a little loss of quality. It is to be used only for uploading pictures online and not when you want to print your pictures.
I applied the following settings (2000 pixels by 1399 pixels)
This step is to be done ONLY AFTER resizing. Sharpening helps to bring out the details in the picture. But overdoing it will lead to the picture looking too processed, so go easy on it.
I applied the following settings (USM Sharpen, Amount 15, Radius 1.0)
Don't forget to SAVE your picture.
Try these steps on any picture you have, post your awesome picture on Facebook or Instagram and see the increase in the number of likes! Remember to tweak the adjustments based on the needs of the picture. What I have shown above is for this picture, but I'm sure it gives you a pretty good idea how to do this on your own picture.
Remember that you can only make a good picture look better, and not a bad picture look good :)
Do let me know if you have any questions in the comments below and I will help you make your picture just the way you would love it.
For super quick processing, I recommend a software I've been using for ages now, called FastStone Image Viewer. It's simple, light and does the job perfectly especially if you don't like spending time working on the picture (unlike Photoshop which is more advanced but is time consuming)
You can download FastStone Image Viewer here. So give it a shot and believe me, you will have fun playing with your pictures.
I'm going to be using a landscape I shot in Maharashtra for this tutorial. You can see the difference between the original picture and the final output below:
Step 1 - Straightening the picture (Ctrl + R) - Optional
Sometimes, when you shoot a landscape, the orientation may be slightly off. You can correct the orientation very easily to ensure your picture is straight, just as our eyes see the scene.
I applied the following settings (-0.8 or 0.8 rotation to the left). I used the line separating the river from the trees and the mountain to ensure I had a properly straightened picture.
Just experiment with the rotation and figure out what your picture requires. Remember each picture is different. Some times, you may just skip this step if your picture is perfectly aligned.
Step 2 - Adjusting lighting (Ctrl + T) - Required
In this step, you will try to work on the lighting in the picture. It contains the following elements:
1. Shadows - Shadows refer to the darker areas of the picture. Increasing this will add more light to the darker areas and decreasing it will make it darker. It is used to bring out details in darker areas of the picture mostly. Remember not to overdo it or you will have a picture which looks pretty bad.
2. Highlights - Highlights refer to the bright areas of the picture. Increasing it will make the brighter areas brighter and decreasing it will make bright spots less bright. In this picture, the most prominent bright area is in the center of the picture in the cloud formation.
3. Contrast - Contrast is the difference between the whites and blacks in the picture. Increasing the contrast makes brighter areas brighter and darker areas darker.
4. Saturation - Saturation is used to increase or decrease the colours in the picture.
I applied the following settings (Shadows + 40, Contrast + 20, Saturation + 70). I didn't touch the highlights as I thought they were fine.
See how much of a difference it has made to the picture especially on the rock formation in the bottom and the colours of the sky.
Step 3 - Adjusting colours (Ctrl + E) - Required
In this step, you will work on colour corrections mostly. Some times, due to the lighting, blues/reds/greens may overpower the picture. You can use this tool to correct it.
I applied the following settings (Brightness + 8, Red + 10, Blue - 5)
I increased the brightness of the picture slightly. Further, I thought the picture was too blue for my liking, so I reduced the Blues and increased the Reds to make the sunset look more appealing.
Step 4 - Resizing the picture (Ctrl + R) - Required
I applied the following settings (2000 pixels by 1399 pixels)
Step 5 - Sharpening the picture (Ctrl + U) - Required
Don't forget to SAVE your picture.
Try these steps on any picture you have, post your awesome picture on Facebook or Instagram and see the increase in the number of likes! Remember to tweak the adjustments based on the needs of the picture. What I have shown above is for this picture, but I'm sure it gives you a pretty good idea how to do this on your own picture.
Remember that you can only make a good picture look better, and not a bad picture look good :)
Do let me know if you have any questions in the comments below and I will help you make your picture just the way you would love it.
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