Why Should Photographers Edit Photos?

I woke up one morning and remembered a random conversation I had with a lady several months ago. It weighed on my heart so I wanted to talk about it.

I don't remember who this lady was, or why we got into this conversation (I think we were talking about something else other than photography and I mentioned I was a photographer). She asked if I edited my photos. I told her yes and was a little blown away by her response. (I'm one of those that takes a minute to come up with a good answer - this is why I'm not a debater lol). She said, "Well, I have a friend who never has to edit their photos, they come out of the camera as is and that's how good of a photographer they are."

Well, that's perfectly fine, I don't have to edit my photos either. However, with today's technology and the huge selection of photographers and photos, you have to do something to make your work stand out. This is the same for both portraits and fine art.

Just think about it. In fine art you're photo is competing against millions of other photos. In portraits, you need to be creative and keep it from looking like the photo was from a nice cell phone.

Here's an example below on the Chicago Skyline. I'm sure you've seen 100's of photos of the skyline and the majority look the same or similar. So how do you make yours stand out from the rest?

Well, you of course need a great camera, composition, lighting, photographer's eye, etc. But to go even further, do something to make it different and to stand out. In this example the light wasn't really to the standards of a professional photographer. So, I got creative and made it into a unique piece of mixed media art. First the original image is from a RAW file (if you understand RAW you know they aren't as sharp until processed, however you should be shooting RAW to give you more editing flexibility because that allows the camera to record all the details and you'll be blown away about how much editing you can do and light and shadows you can recover). I then took the photo and used a couple different editing programs. You're probably wondering why more than one program? I do this so it can't be replicated. This makes it unique. Some of my mixed media work is digitally hand painted / touched up so again, it's unique. If you just use one program and use a preset with maybe a few extra tweeks, it's possible there's something else out there similar to it.

Here's a different example.

I took this photo at Dogwood Canyon near Branson Missouri during the autumn season. The first photo has been edited a little, while the 2nd photo has been edited into a digital mixed media painting. I love how it looks blotchy to give the appearance of a real painting. Some may like the photo better, some make like the painting better. Sometimes, depending on the photo, like to offer both options. I've found that my digitally altered photos / paintings to sell better though.

I'm not saying you have to edit your photos into paintings. Just touch up your photos even if just a little bit. Shoot in RAW and make adjustments to light and shadows. Especially make sure you don't have any sensor dust (they look like little spots on your photos.) and keep horizons and lines straight (unless it's met to be slanted). Here's an example of a photo that has been edited, but is still a photo.

When I took this photo of Alley Mill in Eminence Missouri, I took both a RAW Version and a JPEG version. The photo on the left is the original JPEG file with zero editing. In order to get the mill exposed properly, I had to over expose the sky. Or if I wanted the sky properly exposed, then I would have had to underexpose the mill. I knew with my RAW file, I could recover either one. The one on the right is the final edited version of the RAW file. You can see where I was able to recover the clouds in the sky and increase the light in some of the shadows. I shoot using Sony camera's, which already have great color so I didn't have to do too much with the color but did increase it a little.

So if you're a new photographer and you want to stand out, you need to find what you like that makes you unique. Regardless of what you do or what you shoot, I highly recommend editing all your photos, even if it's just minor light, color and straightening adjustments. Camera's and phones are great today, but they still can't beat the human eye when taken right out of the camera. Editing, does allow you to make it better than what the human eye can see.

Feel free to comment on ways you make yourself stand out as a professional.