Over the years, my editing style has changed quite a bit - when I started out, I experimented quite a bit with saturated colours, dark vignettes, retro filters… It was fun and some photos looked quite cool, but I’ve slowly moved towards a quite minimalistic editing - a less is more sort of approach. I don’t really believe in over-editing; just enhance what’s already there to make the photo feel timeless and true to the moment.
Of course there are still things that I do - and although I know there are software that apparently copies your editing style and can do it all for you, I prefer to have the full control myself (for now anyway!).
My go-to software is Lightroom, but I sometimes also bring the photos into Photoshop for some small tweaks (this is more of a habit which I might phase out soon!).
The main things I focus on when editing are…
Light – I adjust contrast, highlights, and shadows to bring out depth and details. This is usually the first thing I tweak, as it sets the overall mood.
Colour – I play with temperature, tint, and saturation slightly, to give my photos a soft, natural vibe. I also sometimes fine-tune individual colours (like toning down greens or warming up skin tones).
Composition – Cropping can really change the impact of a photo. I always try to compose the photo when taking it, but sometimes it needs some tweaking in post-processing. (I seem to always angle it ever so slightly!)
Below, some photos from a few years back - as you can see, they're quite strongly edited and not quite as 'natural' looking as I would prefer my photos now:
This is more the editing style I prefer now:
Which one do you prefer? I'm not saying any of them are right or wrong, and to finding one's editing style you often need to try a few things and experiment a little - and that doesn't mean you're 'done' or have to stick to your style forever. There's always room to explore and evolve - that's the fun part about it!
