Crop. One of the things photographers do to their photos is to ‘crop’ them. This is a fancy name for cutting the edges off your photo: it’s sort of like ‘zooming in’ on a part of the photo you like. You can improve the composition of a photo, too, by cropping it in a way so the photo looks better. This is also your opportunity to straighten the horizon in your shots or get in closer to the action.
Contrast. Photos coming out of your camera often look great, but they will look better by increasing the contrast a little bit. No matter how you do your editing, there will be a ‘contrast’ setting – usually in the form of a slider. Try upping it by about 20% and see what happens – amazing, eh? If, by some wild exception, your photo doesn’t look better with higher contrast, just put the slider back where you found it. At least you had a look.
Color. Whole books have been written about white balance and the aesthetics of colour, but let’s keep it simple: Find the ‘saturation’ slider in your image editing package. Try moving it up or down: Some photos look better with really well-saturated colours, others look better with very low saturation, or even in black and white. Experiment with both, find what works best for your particular photo, and be amazed by how much prettier your photos look!
One thing to keep in mind is that it’s easy to go over-board with your editing. Crop in too close, use too much contrast or saturate the photo too much, and they will never look good. Do experiment with the extremes, as they’ll give you a feel for the effects you’re working with, but don’t forget to dial it back until your photos have the impact you are looking for.
Upload your freshly edited masterpieces to Ovi Share or flickr, then sit back and enjoy the praise from your fellow photographers!