Avoid common photo editing mistakes to avoid

Photo editing is something that most people will do before posting a photo of themselves. Everyone wants to put their best foot forward and look great in every photo that they take or post. But in addition to people editing their selfies, editing also plays a crucial role for photographers and content creators too.

They need to edit their work to look great for clients, their profile, or their site. Unfortunately, while editing something perfectly is challenging, it is actually quite simple to edit them wrong. There are many mistakes people will make that can have a terrible impact on the quality of their photos.

Let’s go over some of the most common photo editing mistakes to avoid.

Not using the right tools

One of the biggest mistakes is people not using the right tools. There are dozens of amazing tools out there, but many people limit themselves. For example, if you are editing a photo for Instagram, and only using Instagram’s internal photo editor, you are missing out on a lot of features and functionality.

There are useful tools to get rid of shadows in pics, to easier crop your photos, to add borders and filters, and many others. A quick search on the internet should be able to help you find a free or affordable tool for whatever editing job you need to do.

While editing a photo is always recommended, you need to be careful when it comes to doing too much. In general, keep edits subtle. You want to improve and clean up certain aspects of the photo, without it looking over-edited.

If a person’s skin is too smooth, they can often look more like a plastic doll than an actual human. All different types of editing tools can improve photos but don’t feel the need to use them all at once on the same photo. Keep the photo as true to the original as possible.

Over-Saturating The Photo

The saturation of a photo is crucial to how it looks. More saturated photos can look more vibrant and colorful, which can often draw more people into viewing them. However, if you over-saturate your photo it could look more like a still from a cartoon movie than real life.

This is especially true if your photo includes people. While saturating the colors on buildings or in nature can be a great pop of color, saturating people’s skin tones can often make the photo look very unrealistic. It can brighten skin tones to look very unnatural and take away from the overall quality of the shot.

Editing on the Original Photo

Another common editing mistake that is often made is that people will make their edits on the original photo. The original should always be kept as either a reference point or a place for you to start fresh if you don’t like the edits you have made. Always make an effort to practice non-destructive editing and keep your original intact.

If not, you may not know exactly how far from the original you have gotten. Also, by saving over the same file too many times, the quality of the image will be degraded, little by little each time.

In conclusion, if you can avoid these photo editing mistakes, it can do wonders for how well your photo turns out. While mistakes will always happen, the more you know about the mistakes, the easier they will be to reduce.

About Ashley Lipman

Ashley Lipman is an award-winning writer who discovered her passion for providing knowledge to readers worldwide on topics closest to her heart – all things digital.