These are adjustments to specific parts of a photo, rather than the entire image. These are often referred to as 'global adjustments.' There are also 'local' adjustments. So far, we've looked at adjustments that affect the entire image. Even if you don't change anything about cropping, exposure, or white balance, assessing these big three first is important because each of them can completely transform a photo all by itself. Popsys thinks you should start your editing process with the adjustments that will make the biggest difference. In simple terms, exposure is how bright or dark an image looks, and white balance is how cool or warm it is.

Exposure and white balance have a significant impact on how your image looks. These are both straightforward adjustments in Adobe Lightroom or any other photo editing software. For example, if you're going to crop out a dark or bright area, you don't want that brightness information showing up in your histogram.Īfter cropping, Popsys likes to turn his attention to exposure and white balance.

You don't want to change your exposure or curves with unnecessary information that won't be in your final image.

Whenever you change your crop, the histogram changes, too, based on the information inside the frame. Why crop first? When making changes to your image's exposure or overall brightness, you should be using the histogram. That's where cropping comes in.īefore beginning with other image edits, it's a good idea to crop so that you know what the final image frame contains. While we hope to nail our composition in camera and not need to crop an image at all, that's easier said than done. Cropping an image can completely transform an image. It requires a careful, thoughtful approach. It's certainly a basic photo editing skill, but don't let that fool you. Photographer James Popsys has some great photo editing tips for beginners in his latest video.

Editing in lightroom for beginners