EDITING TECHNIQUES YOU NEED TO KNOW

Explore our collection of essential trending post-processing styles for success in 2024

At the outset of the digital age of photography, many creatives were critical of what was more commonly referred to as photo ‘manipulation’ – a word that carried many negative connotations in its own right. Some hardened film devotees may have seen post-processing as cheating, merely because of how much quicker it was to apply effects at the computer, compared with the equivalent darkroom processes.

However, today, photo editing is far more widely accepted as an art form in itself, with many top professionals and social media influencers fully integrating it into their role as content creators. As with all artistic genres, trends in photography change rapidly, fuelled by the continued growth of social media. Some of these changes are seismic shifts but, often, styles are an evolution of an existing look, amended to incorporate the latest editing software features and cultural inspirations.

In this final part of our successful Masterclass Series, which has aimed to re-establish the current core techniques that every aspiring photographer should be equipped with today, Lauren Scott provides three essential editing techniques. Each of these covers the baseline tools and tricks for making successful edits and applying the current styles – from fundamental compositing skills using layer work to advanced colour customisation and monochrome conversion.

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