Wir hoffen, Ihr seid gut ins neue Jahr gekommen und haben direkt eine kleine Aufgabe für Euch! Wir möchten mit Euch gemeinsam auf das Jahr 2018 zurückschauen und wissen, welches Euer persönlich wichtigstes Foto des vergangenen Jahres ist.

In den sozialen Medien wurden in den letzten Tagen ja bereits die „best nine“ gezeigt. Dabei ging es jedoch um die Fotos, die die meisten Likes bekommen hatten. Wir wissen aus eigener Erfahrung, dass diese Aufnahmen oft nicht zu unseren Lieblingsbildern gehören. Denn hinter unseren wichtigsten Aufnahmen stehen besondere Geschichten, Momente, Erinnerungen. Und genau um solche Bilder soll es heute gehen. Welche Aufnahme ist für Euch 2018 am wichtigsten gewesen?

Teilnahmebedingungen

• Suche Dein wichtigstes Foto heraus, das Du 2018 veröffentlicht hast.
• Poste den Link dazu in einem Kommentar.
• Beschreibe in ein paar Sätzen, warum Dir dieses Bild wichtig ist und wie es entstanden ist. Achtung: Fotos ohne Beschreibung werden nicht berücksichtigt.
• Mit dem Kommentar stimmst Du einer möglichen Veröffentlichung auf kwerfeldein zu.
• Der Einsendeschluss ist am Sonntag, den 6. Januar 2019 um 21 Uhr.

Wir freuen uns darauf, in ein paar Tagen wieder Eure persönlichen Rückblicke zu lesen und in Bildern zu schwelgen, die für jemanden ein ganzes Lebensjahr repräsentieren und immer in Erinnerung bleiben werden. Und wer weiß: Vielleicht brennt sich das eine oder andere dieser Bilder mit seiner Geschichte auch bei uns ein.

Am 9. Januar präsentieren wir Euch an dieser Stelle unsere ganz subjektive Auswahl aus Euren Bildern. Die spannendsten, berührendsten Geschichten und die gefühlvollsten, eindrucksvollsten oder einfach lustigsten Fotos.

Das Titelbild stammt von Steven Van Desande. Vielen Dank!

Sourced by Time Trap Photography sharing the best photography tips, news and tricks throughout the industry. Time Trap Photography is dedicated to freezing those special moments in life that can be revisited and admired for generations to come. - Shannon Bourque
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Getting Started: Part – 2

Get to Know Your Equipment

As a landscape photographer, you must be able to recognize the variety of light conditions you’ll encounter in the field. Knowing that your camera alone cannot capture thee landscape photos properly, you must be proficient with different types of camera lenses, photography filters, tripods, focusing rails, and more. You also must know what techniques to use with what equipment to manipulate or control the light effectively. For example, if you are shooting during golden hours with a wide angle lens, you may have to use a GND filter or rely on high-speed bracketing to get your exposure right.

How to choose the best camera lens for a cluttered scene – Skipper Canyon, New Zealand

Skippers Canyon is a landscape photographers dreamscape… but there’s a lot going on out there! Here’s how Varina chooses the best lens for the job in our  IN BEHIND THE LENS COURSE .

Coming up next: Create Visual Impact

About Author Jay Patel

I could startoff like this – “Seeds of Jay Patel’s appreciation for beautiful places were planted early in his childhood….” but it would get boring really fast. I will just sum it up and say that I am a Landscape and Wilderness Photographer who loves to capture dramatic light. My photographs have been published in various magazines, calendars and advertising materials throughout the world.
Patience is a virtue...unless you are chasing your dreams

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Das Bild des Tages von: Nick James Adams

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Das Ende eines Jahres ist immer eine gute Zeit, um kurz zurückzuschauen. Das haben wir auch gemacht und uns einmal angesehen, welche Artikel im Jahr 2018 am erfolgreichsten waren. Den Erfolg haben wir ganz simpel an den Seitenaufrufen gemessen. Im Folgenden seht Ihr die zehn beliebtesten Artikel sortiert nach den Aufrufzahlen. Vielleicht entdeckt Ihr ja auf diesem Weg auch einen tollen Artikel, den Ihr bisher verpasst habt.

Überwinde Deine Angst vor der Straßenfotografie

Die Straßenfotografie ist mehr als nur ein simples Handwerk. Als fotografisches Genre ist es stark abhängig von Deiner Persönlichkeit und mentalen Stärke. Um die Straßenfotografie vollends zu genießen, musst Du die Angst besiegen, auf fremde Menschen zuzugehen und solltest dazu in der Lage sein, Deine Komfortzone zu verlassen. → weiterlesen

Verlieren Fotos an Wert?

Dass wir hier in Europa überwiegend in einer Überflussgesellschaft leben, merken wir in vielen Bereichen. Lieber werfen wir 1,3 Milliarden Tonnen Lebensmittel jährlich weg, anstatt nur so viel zu produzieren, wie wir wirklich benötigen. Schließlich möchten wir auch im Oktober Erdbeeren essen können. Bei Fotos verhält es sich ähnlich. → weiterlesen

Crossdressing in der Wehrmacht

Als Crossdressing bezeichnet man das Tragen von spezifischer Kleidung des anderes Geschlechts. Dabei spielt es keine Rolle, ob dies aus Modegründen, Spaß oder dem Ausdruck der nicht zum biologischen Geschlecht passenden Geschlechtsidentität getan wird. → weiterlesen

Im Gespräch mit Ben Bernschneider

Als mich Ben Bernschneider anschrieb und fragte, ob ich Lust hätte, mir mal seine Buch-Trilogie anzusehen, war ich zunächst irritiert, denn im Anhang der E-Mail sah ich auf den ersten Blick nur junge Frauen, die sich auf zum Teil unscharfen, analogen Aufnahmen auf Motorhauben räkelten oder sich das T-Shirt nach oben zogen. → weiterlesen

Test: Presets von Paul liebt Paula

Es gibt sie zu Hauf: Die Lightroom- und Capture-One-Presets, die unseren Bearbeitungsprozess vereinfachen und beschleunigen möchten oder gar solche, die uns bessere Bilder suggerieren. Dass dabei kein Preset der Welt unsere eigentliche Arbeit als Fotograf*innen aufwertet, ist sicher allen, die diese Zeilen lesen klar – und dennoch: wir nutzen sie und das zu Recht, denn sie vereinfachen und beschleunigen unsere Arbeit. Ganz gleich, ob wir selbst entwickelt oder, wie in diesem Falle, erworben haben. → weiterlesen

Was dokumentarische Familienfotografie NICHT ist

Wenn man sich viel mit dem Thema dokumentarischer Familienfotografie beschäftigt, dann stolpert man auch regelmäßig über Irrtümer und Missverständnisse. Manchmal lassen sie einen herzlich lachend zurück, ganz oft aber auch einfach ratlos und resigniert. Oder ungläubig. Und manchmal auch alles zusammen. → weiterlesen

Objektiv – Eigenschaften und Nebenwirkungen

Die Auffassung, gute Fotografien seien eher mit Festbrennweiten als mit Zoomobjektiven zu erzielen, wird von manchen als elitärer Standpunkt betrachtet. Oder ist vielleicht doch etwas dran an dieser These? Und, wenn ja, durch welche Eigenschaften und Nebenwirkungen zeichnen sich die beiden Objektivtypen eigentlich aus? Wie beeinflussen sie das Sehen und Gestalten? → weiterlesen

Bildsprache – Was ist das?

Alle sprechen davon, „ihren Stil“ finden zu wollen und fotografisch wiedererkennbar zu sein. Was bedeutet eigentlich Stil? Geht es dabei um die Art, wie die Bilder aussehen oder mehr darum, wie man Bilder macht? Wie entwickelt man eine Bildsprache und ist das etwas, was man als Amateur*in anstreben sollte? Über diese und ähnliche Fragen wird es in meiner sechsteiligen Kolumne zum Thema Bildsprache und Bildstrategie gehen. → weiterlesen

Der Nippel-Instinkt

Als ich mein Baby zum ersten Mal an meine Brust legte, folgte es einem Schlüssel-Schloss-Prinzip. Die Hebammen in der Klinik haben mir am Anfang geholfen. Was danach passierte, war nicht so idyllisch, wie man es aus Büchern und dem Fernsehen kennt. → weiterlesen

Neustart. Alles auf null.

Vor etwa einem Jahr habe ich alle, wirklich alle Bilder, die ich bis dahin gemacht hatte, aus meinem Portfolio geworfen. Ich hatte ein eigenes kleines Fotostudio, in dem ich Familien-, Schwangeren-, Bewerbungsfotos und Portraits gemacht habe. Es lief nicht schlecht, die Kundschaft kam und war zufrieden – aber ich war es nicht. → weiterlesen

Ist Eurer Lieblingsartikel in der Auswahl oder hattet Ihr einen anderen Favoriten im Kopf? Schreibt es gern in die Kommentare und verlinkt Euren persönlichen Lieblingsartikel des letzten Jahres.

Sourced by Time Trap Photography sharing the best photography tips, news and tricks throughout the industry. Time Trap Photography is dedicated to freezing those special moments in life that can be revisited and admired for generations to come. - Shannon Bourque
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2018: A Look Back in the Mirror - Or Mirrorless Now (if You Prefer)

Yeah, that happened. And so did a bunch of other stuff. In the spirit of the season, I wanted to take some time to look back at the Top Ten list for 2018 here on Earthbound Light. A look in the mirror, so to speak. Or mirrorless, if you prefer, because yeah, that really did happen. And a lot more.

For over seventeen years running now, I have been posting new PhotoTip articles every week without fail. That's a lot of articles. Neither rain nor snow nor gloom of night and all that. But more importantly because writing is fun. Topics have ranged widely based on my interests and current happenings in the world of photography. And based on my quasi-scientific analysis of webserver and social media logs for this past year, I herewith present the composite Top Ten list of PhotoTip articles for 2018.

#10: If DNG Can Read My Files, Why Can't Lightroom?
So you've been using Lightroom for years but find that it can't read the image files created by your new camera. At one point or another, we all find ourselves in this predicament. This article from June clearly must have struck a chord with readers as it came in at number ten for the year on our Top Ten hit parade. Hint: it's all part of Adobe's clever plan to get you to upgrade.

#9: Old Filter Habits Die Hard
When I first started out in photography, I learned from books, magazines and magazine ads that filters were the secret of getting good images. Of course, that was never as true as they wanted us to believe, but that was the official line. They had filters to be sold. But what's more curious is that in many respects, it still is official line. Even in this era of digital white balance and color correction. That shouldn't be. Published way back in January, this article looking at the topic came out as number nine for the year.

#8: RAW Versus JPEG in the Age of Mega Megapixels
One of the main reasons offered for shooting raw instead of jpeg is that you needed that extra data to get the best results during post-processing. But since each new generation of camera sensors offers ever-greater resolution, it's tempting to ask whether this megapixel bonanza is sufficient yet to mitigate the need for shooting raw. If you haven't already guessed, raw is still very much needed, and likely always will be, but please read this year's eighth place finishing article for the full details.

#7: White Skies as a Measure Progress in the Digital Age
White skies have always been the bane of nature photography. It's just not that easy to capture detail in both the darker foreground landscape and in the sky above it. Cameras just can't do it in one shot, although they are getting better. This article considering the history of how photographers have dealt with this problem shows just how far we've come. Based on my tally of Top Ten articles for the year, this one from November comes in at number seven.

#6: Afternoon Thoughts on Photographing Where Ansel Adams Shot
Somewhere along the way, everyone has seen and hopefully admired at least a few images created by photographer Ansel Adams, famous for his stunning black and white images of the American west. And somewhere along the way, most aspiring nature photographers have found themselves in a position to stand where Adams once stood and attempt to mimic the work of the master. I know I have. It's often looked on as a test of skill. But looking back on how my interest in photography grew, Adams wasn't my only influence. This article from November examining this topic came in at number six for the year.

#5: Why Not Always Shoot High ISO?
Even though early digital cameras allowed the user to adjust the ISO, you'd have to have been foolhardy of desperate to do so. The noise problem was just too horrible to inflict on any image you cared about. But newer cameras can produce remarkably good results at ISO settings previously unthinkable. So good in fact that it's worth considering whether it's OK to just shoot everything at high ISO. I mean, it sure would be a lot easier. This fifth-place article for the year looks at this question.

#4: Vocabulary Terms for the Frustrated Photographer
Every once in a while, the urge to write an article with a bit of a humorous bent to it. Or at least I hope they're viewed as being humorous. This list of alternate definitions for some common photography terms came in as number four for the year, I mean, who doesn't want to know what "circle of confusion" really means. Apparently at least some of you did and got a chuckle. Either that or my evil sense of humor has everyone completely fooled. Yeah, that's it.

#3: Say Hello to Our New Mirrorless Overlords
This look at the changing mirrorless landscape from September came in at number three for the year. Yeah, that did happen. But no, all your current camera gear is not obsolete. The technology of how cameras work has been improving for years, buoyed along by advances in technology in general. The mirror was just next in line to go. It solved a problem that has perplexed photographers since the beginning. It's not as easy as it sounds to see an accurate preview of the image our cameras are about to take. Now camera sensors and LCD screens have gotten good enough, what better way than to create that preview straight from what the sensor is seeing? This change won't come overnight, but I'm guessing that mirrorless will be the norm at some point. Thankfully, Nikon and now Canon are making this shift as easy as they can. Personally though, I'm waiting a bit to see how this actually pans out before panicking. And personally, I'm not planning on panicking even then. Just taking things under advisement for future purchases.

#2: What's a Little Mirror Between Friends?
Another mirrorless article from August came in at number two on this year's Top Ten hit parade. When Nikon first introduced their new Z-mount mirrorless system, it was almost as if some users were going out of their way to fault it. Yes, I'm looking at some of you. And no, the new Z 7 and Z 6 (Nikon says there's supposed to be a space in the middle of these model names) aren't perfect. But walking such a narrow tightrope, it really wasn't possible for Nikon to please everyone completely. And on balance, I'd say they did a pretty good job, once you get beneath the rumors and internet memes.

#1: The Grass is Always Greener When You Pump up the Saturation in Photoshop
And this brings us to the number one PhotoTip article for 2018. At least as far back as Fujichrome Velvia, photographers have been working to create bolder, more vibrant images because the image buying public do. This is all an effort to stand out from the pack and get noticed of course. Color accuracy has been sacrificed in pursuit of more compelling images. But in service of proving the rule, when it comes to saturation, there can be too much of a good thing. And limiting ourselves to only the more saturated hues can limit contrast and thus apparent detail. It would seem best to paint with the full palette.

So this rounds out our recap of the top ten posts for 2018. Yeah, a lot has happened over the year. It always does, after all. Here's to more fun in the new year. My thanks to all who drop by and support the site in one way or another.

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Das Bild des Tages von: Steven Maess

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Die letzten browserfruits des Jahres. Wir wünschen Euch einen guten Rutsch und einen tollen Start ins neue Jahr! Und keine Angst, die browserfruits wird es natürlich auch in 2019 noch weiter geben, denn die Linkliste der Woche ist uns selbst sehr ans Herz gewachsen.

Linktipps

• Für mindestens ein Jahr sollen im Londoner Museum Tate in der Abteilung für Kunst ab 1960 nur noch Werke von Frauen zu sehen sein. → ansehen

• Damian Zimmermann hat Uta Mahler anlässlich ihres neuen Fotobuchs „Kleinstadt“ interviewt. → ansehen

• Der Fotojournalist Lu Guang wurde in China verhaftet. Er gilt als wichtigster chinesischer Fotograf, der vor allem die Missstände des Landes in seinen Bildern aufzeigt. Die Süddeutsche berichtet. → ansehen

• Ein sehr ausführlicher Artikel mit vielen der Bilder von Lu Guang findet sich auf der Seite der New York Times. → ansehen

• Paris brennt? Bei den Protesten in Frankreich wurde dieses Bild häufig in den Nachrichten gezeigt. Dass es jedoch nur aufgrund der Perspektive so dramatisch wirkt, zeigt PetaPixel. → ansehen

• Der Dokumentarfilm „Mapplethorpe. Look at the Pictures“ wurde auf der Berlinale gefeiert. Das Monopol Magazin hat ein Interview mit den Regisseuren Fenton Bailey und Randy Barbato. → ansehen

• Fotografieren ohne zu diskriminieren: Ein wichtiger Artikel von Verdi über diskriminierende Aufnahmen in der Stock- und Werbefotografie. → ansehen

• Männer, die mit Katzen schmusen: Drei Jahre lang hat die italienische Fotografin Sabrina Boem an einem Fotoprojekt über streunende Katzen gearbeitet. Und dabei festgestellt, dass in Tierheimen überraschend viele Männer ehrenamtlich arbeiten. Mit überraschend viel Hingabe. → ansehen

• Nachdem Tumblr keine Aktaufnahmen mehr duldet, suchen viele Menschen nach einer Alternative. Hier werden einige Plattformen empfohlen, die unzensierte Aktaufnahmen akzeptieren. → ansehen

• Annie Wang hat über 17 Jahre hinweg Portraits von sich und ihrem Sohn aufgenommen. Mit einer cleveren Idee ist daraus eine ganz besondere Fotoserie entstanden. → ansehen

• Instagram-Stars und die, die es gern wären, veröffentlichen vermehrt gefälschte gesponserte Inhalte, um wichtig zu wirken. Ein Problem, das auch die Firmen selbst wahrnehmen, weil es ihrem Image schadet. → ansehen

Buchempfehlungen

„Zen – der Weg des Fotografen“ : Das neue Buch vom dpunkt.verlag verspricht, zu einer achtsamen, authentischen Wahrnehmung der Welt wie auch Eures Inneren zu finden und so besser fotografieren zu lernen. Es hilft in sechs Lektionen, Kreativität und fotografischen Ausdruck sowie Thema und Stil zu entwickeln und kostet 29,90 €.

„Advanced Photoshop“ : In diesem Buch wurden Photoshop- und Bildbearbeitungsfachartikel aus dem Magazin digit! neu arrangiert und handlich in Buchform zusammengestellt. Die Themen reichen vom Umgang mit dem Grafiktablett über die Raw-Entwicklung, Farbkorrekturen, Retuschetricks, Looks und Styles bis hin zu Multishot-Techniken. Das Buch ist im dpunkt.verlag erschienen und kostet 34,90 €.

Ausstellungen

Bryan Adams
Zeit: 8. Dezember 2018 – 9. Februar 2019
Ort: Camera Work, Kantstraße 149, 10623 Berlin

Recommended Olympus Fellowship
Zeit: 1. Dezember 2018 – 10. Februar 2019
Ort: FFF Fotografie Forum Frankfurt, Braubachstr. 30–32, 60311 Frankfurt (Main)

The Island of the Colorblind
Zeit: 1. Dezember 2018 – 18. Januar 2019
Ort: Soiz Galerie, Schustergasse 19, 94032 Passau

Anja Bohnhof | India
Zeit: 6. Dezember 2018 – 3. Februar 2019
Ort: vhs-photogalerie, Rotebühlplatz 28, 70173 Stuttgart

Drüben auf Instagram

@julianimkephotography – Ihr habt Lust auf einen Road Trip? Julia Nimke nimmt Euch mit auf Abenteuer in beeindruckende Landschaften.

Videos

Kai W. testet das pinkte 40 mm f/0.85 von Kipon.

Nachdem Ex-NASA-Ingenieur Mark Rober ein Paket vor der Haustür gestohlen wurde, konstruiert er sechs Monate lang eine Glitzerfalle, um sich zu rächen. Etwas über den Tellerrand, aber die Falle filmt die Diebe und es ist sehr lustig.

Das Titelbild stammt von Charley Pangus. Vielen Dank dafür!

Sourced by Time Trap Photography sharing the best photography tips, news and tricks throughout the industry. Time Trap Photography is dedicated to freezing those special moments in life that can be revisited and admired for generations to come. - Shannon Bourque
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The past two decades were rough times for publishers. Many traditional media outlets have gone the way of the dinosaur with newsrooms being particularly hard hit.

Image via Marek from Pexels.com.

The future of journalism looked pretty bad. In fact, it wasn’t until recently that many old-line publications began making money again. Naturally, the success or failure of many is linked to a transition to “online” from print, but that’s only part of the story. Gutting the staff that produced high-quality journalism in the past was also a huge component of this turnaround strategy.

One job that was among the first to go were the photojournalists and well-paid freelance photographers. Now big names are looking wherever they can for the cheapest product available, some even turning to online social media outlets for sources.

Tara Mortensen and Peter Gade looked into just this issue with their research “Does Photojournalism Matter? News Image Content and Presentation in the Middletown (NY) Times Herald-Record Before and After Layoffs of the Photojournalism Staff.”

Shockingly, they found that getting rid of professional photographers leads to poorer quality photos and media in publications. The researchers graded the photos taken by “non-professionals” and compared those with the grades photos by professionals received. Tellingly, photos by non-professionals scored very poorly in the “intimacy” ranking, a measure of “private connection with the viewer” – whatever that means.

PetaPixel quotes the research, writing: “Following the layoff, the paper published fewer images, and presented less prominently…Professional images captured significantly more elements of photojournalism than non-professionals, including emotion, action, conflict, and graphic appeal. Professional images were presented larger and more prominently. …Results of this case study provide evidence that—despite clear differences in image content—photojournalists are struggling to assert their professional legitimacy in the digital age.”

What do you think? Obvious conclusion or a call for bringing back professional photojournalists? Or both? Let us know in the comments.

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Sourced by Time Trap Photography sharing the best photography tips, news and tricks throughout the industry. Time Trap Photography is dedicated to freezing those special moments in life that can be revisited and admired for generations to come. - Shannon Bourque
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Das Bild des Tages von: Daniel Book

Sourced by Time Trap Photography sharing the best photography tips, news and tricks throughout the industry. Time Trap Photography is dedicated to freezing those special moments in life that can be revisited and admired for generations to come. - Shannon Bourque
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Storing high-quality pics is a constant pain for any photographer. Relying upon “free accounts” with any web-based service is also prone to future problems. That said, it never stops us from trying to find the next good deal in photo storage – “free” being the price most of us want.

Just as Flickr shrinks its library sizes for free users, Google steps into the fray with an expansion of Google Photos that doubles the number of pics you can hold in a live album.

Image via Pixabay from Pexels.com.

Google Photos hasn’t really taken off quite like the company had hoped and the latest attempt at relevance is a feature called Live Albums. I’ve tried it out and I agree with FStoppers that it is way better than Apple’s iCloud photo storage but I’m not quite sold that I like it better than Dropbox. I never quite understood what I was doing in iCloud (nor where my photos were going) and Dropbox is great for storing video. Google Photos, however, is making a serious play for my collection and they've got my attention so far.

The original limit for Live Albums was 10,000 photos but that is now doubled to 20,000 photos for free account holders.

Live Albums is pretty cool in that, like Apple’s software, it groups pics by date, location, and occasion. It’s definitely worth checking out. And now that it offers so much free space, why not?

Of course, as part of Google’s suite of services Google Photos is integrated with their various gadgets like Chromecast. If you’re an Android user you’re probably already familiar with a lot of this but for those of us who have kept our photos out of the Google ecosystem it seems like now is as good a time as any to start it up.

Do you use Google Photos to store your pictures? If so, let us know what you think about the service in the comments.

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As a portrait photographer in the digital era, you are expected to be very knowledgeable about Photoshop and Lightroom. This means that besides using basic edits you need to learn how to take your portraiture to a whole new level with more advanced editing tricks. There are many editing tools and procedures that take time to understand and use creatively, but they are definitely worth the effort because they can wow your clients.

The following list of 7 advanced techniques will help you get the most out of your portraits!

1. Use the healing brush properly

The healing brush can be more useful and more precise tool than the spot healing brush because it allows you to pick your own source points. It’s a great tool for fixing various skin issues – for instance, you can use the healing brush to remove pimples or other inconsistencies on the skin, such as wrinkles or redness.

You can use this brush to get rid of various distractions on backgrounds too, which is truly useful in portrait photography.

Photo by Allef Viniciusa on Unsplash

2. Know how to dodge and burn

There are many ways to use dodge and burn, but if you want to use them properly, you have to find the least destructive way to play with these tools. You should always create new layers for this kind of edits and name them properly so that you can easily find them later on, in your final round of editing.

Dodge and burn are quite powerful and versatile tools – they can be set to affect the shadows, midtones, or highlights. You can also create a sense of depth by having an interesting transition from dark to light in some of your images where you played with these tools.

Photo by Sorin Sirbu on Unsplash

3. Play with layer masks

Layer masks are another important tool that every advanced portraitist should use. When you are toning or editing the portrait you often don't want the effects to be global. You can tone and edit only the selected parts of the image if you know how to use layer masks.

In portraiture, it can be very useful to use layer masks with the hue/saturation adjustment layer. Body parts such as hands, ears and legs often have different colors and layer masks will allow you to balance these colors so that you can get the flawless skin color in your final image.

Photo by Nick Karvounis on Unsplash

4. Try out different blending modes

Layer blending modes are commonly overlooked in Photoshop, which makes them a true hidden gem. When we pick a blending mode, we’re asking Photoshop to blend our selected layer with the layer below based on the selected mode. This means that the pixels from the top layer are going to alter the color and luminosity of those on underlying layers.

There are 26 different blending modes – you should try them out and get creative!

Photo by Lydz Leow on Unsplash

5. Use the selective color tool to fix awkward color casts

You can use the selective color adjustment tool to edit specific tones and fix various color casts in your portraits. This amazing tool can help you achieve anything from darkening lip colors to fixing uneven skin tones.

This tool also allows you to add blue hues to your shadows, gold tones to your highlights, and introduce similar small changes that can make your portraits pop. The dialog for selective color can be found in adjustment panels within Photoshop and it’s best to use it with a layer mask.

Photo by Sorin Sirbu on Unsplash

6. Play with gradients

The gradient tool should be use sparingly because it tends to look quite overwhelming and it can change the entire atmosphere of the portrait. However, you shoud give it a try because it can add a spark of vibrant colors to your portraits, especially those that lack visual interest.

When used right, gradients can look quite refreshing and memorable. You should always change the layer opacity (of gradients) to around 20% – 30% for a subtle yet magical effect.

Photo by Kevin Laminton Unsplash

7. Use presets to speed up your editing

Using a quality preset can save you a lot of time. When installed, presets add an array of different colors, tones, and other adjustments you may need. You can adjust any preset according to your needs, which makes them very versatile and user friendly.

Lightroom presets give you a great starting point and allow you to do one-click edits. They are also really helpful when it comes to repetitive tasks, such as editing a group of photos that are in the same time frame or have similar exposures.

Photo by Christopher Campbell on Unsplash

These seven photo editing tips will surely help your improve your portrait editing routine. Of course, there are many, many more tips and tricks when it comes to editing portraits, so feel free to check out the following links:

Further Resources:

1. 1. Bite Size Tips: Do Your Editing Skills Need A Little Tweak?
   2. Bite Size Tips: Fundamental Lightroom Editing Skills
   3. 7 Common Photo Editing Mistakes
   4. How To Achieve Better Photos By Editing Before Shooting
   5. Bite Size Tips: 3 Free Ebooks That Will Bring Your Portraiture Up To Scratch

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