One thing I’m really bad at, is editing photos. With this, I mean that I don’t really edit my photos. Sure, I make minor changes to exposure, contrast, colour temperature, etc., but I very, very rarely try any substantial edit. But when I see other photographers work I realise that I should become braver, learn to imagine how I want the picture to look like and figure out how to do the actual edit.

And don’t get me started on tools like Photoshop, I have no idea how to use these programs. What is most irritating is that I can’t figure out why I haven’t bothered to learn how to use them.

So, here are a few quick edits I tried today … trying to relax after work. Note, they are not intended to be examples of good edits, instead I consider them as rough sketches for things that I should become better at. They are also a bit overdone, ideally you shouldn’t suspect that a photo have been edited … unless, of course, the photo should look overdone like the first photo below.

I took this photo in Stockholm a couple of years ago. I wanted to get a “spooky” feeling and decided to try out some Lightroom Presets. In other words, I didn’t actually do any editing, I just clicked around until I found something that looked like I wanted.

The next photo was taken a few weeks ago. The original is a bit flat, dull and cold, so I tried to enhance the colours to get a bit more depth. I also wanted to make the sky warmer and enhanced the colours in the clouds.

Here I tried to enhance the yellow, orange and brown. The idea was once again to get a warmer, more autumn like, feeling.

Another autumn photo, it looks like I’m only taking photos in the autumn, and once again I’ve tried to get a warm feeling. I changed to color temperature to get the feeling of sun rise … in reality the photo was taken in the middle of the day.

It’s fun to see how different edits change the photo, but I find it difficult to go from what I see in my head to something I can see with my eyes. I don’t understand what kind of adjustments I should make … but I suppose it’s a matter of getting more practice.