#I do a little bit of touching up but its mostly taking down overexposure from the scanner with my laptop's built in editor

[janemerkin]

hey! can i ask which programm do you use for your #journal posts? they all look great <3

[inikavulpixelreviews]

Let’s Talk About Pokemon - The Ralts Family

280: Ralts

Perhaps after my reviews of Charizard and Pikachu complaining about the overexposure dropping them down for a bit for me, you might be expecting me to drag this line to hell and back. Well, yes, but mostly no, actually.

But that's for later. Ralts here is an innocent enough Psychic type, being a cute, child-like critter with a big bowl cut hiding the thing's eyes. It certainly gets the point across that this a shy Pokemon that doesn't like confrontation, and it certainly just “looks” like something that would be able to sense emotions of people doesn't it? An overall gentle design that certainly looks the part of something that’s sensitive to what other people feel. Same here, Ralts. Same.

Personal Score: 7/10

Plenty cute.

281: Kirlia

Kirlia turns the line into more of a dancing, dressy theme. And with it standing on its tip-toes, it's most obviously meant to resemble a ballerina, at least by stance. The Kirlia itself is quite a nice middle-stage, while it does leave off the really “lonely” aspect of Ralts, it turns Kirlia into something more social looking. And I do like the little “skirt” and hair. Is that hair? I've always seen it as hair. ...Not that that’s anything new. Most people have seen it as hair. But what if it’s chitin or something? What then... It does keep the emotion-reading aspect to it, which will stay a thing for the final stage too.

Personal Score: 7.5/10

A pretty nice 'mon.

But buckle down, friends. For coming up is one of the longest reviews I’ve done yet. If not the longest.

282: Gardevoir

Oh boy, there IT is. The Pokemon most notorious for making Google searches for a Pokemon's name actually among one of the most unsafe things to do. We might as well get that point out of the way right? It’s hard to talk about Gardevoir without bringing up its fandom. There's folks that don't even like Pokemon, they just want have certain fantasies with paper ghoul because it kinda looks like a woman. Or, you know, waifuization. (Which side note, it becomes irritating when said waifuization is such a majority that it actually intrudes on the Pokemon’s canon design quite a bit.)

Yes indeed, if somehow you didn’t know, Gardevoir’s become an unfortunate victim of the internet collectively going gaga over something all because Gardevoir is a super feminine design. To a point where referring to Gardevoir is just “she” now for some people. A number of things Gardevoir’s been subjected to as a Pokemon is kind of insane. Between the fantasies, the fetishization, and people talking about how much they wish they could marry their Gardevoir.

Which, whatever. If that's your thing, I won't judge (too much). I’ve definitely witnessed fandoms do worse things. What I will judge people for is that apathy for keeping this Pokemon safe for kids. Which it certainly has not been. Seriously, please keep your Sexy Times and Monkey Fun in a place where kids will be hard-pressed to see it. This is still a kids franchise. Gosh knows I probably lucked out as someone that liked Gardevoir a lot as a kid. Either that or I was so sheltered about that kind of thing I saw it but it went right over my head. I can’t be sure and that’s what worries me about any child that likes Gardevoir for completely innocent reasons.  It’s just an unfortunate fandom phenomenon where the adults will greedily take over something and be absolutely careless to how the things they engage in affects other people. Let alone kids. The intended demographic.

PSA aside, none of this is really Gardevoir's fault. Really, people will take anything that's even slightly feminine-looking and try to normalize that sort of thing.

But we really should talk about Gardevoir itself shouldn't we? I actually do like Gardevoir quite a lot. It's a pleasantly elegant design, without too many extraneous details to break it up. Nice color scheme all around. I'd be nitpicking to find much wrong with Gardevoir. Like, maybe I would've moved the red thing in its chest to be a couple horns on its head like on Kirlia. Would've made a cute bow out of it, or something.

Also, I've got mixed feelings about it having legs. It does tie in with Kirlia. Which, very obviously had legs, but I kinda liked the imagery I had of it as a kid where it was legless, and just floated just off the ground enough for its flesh “dress” to flow. The legs are by no means a deal breaker, I just remember my reaction to it having legs being a very mild disappointment. At least they’re very simplified legs, so it doesn’t break the design any. Just a nitpick.

And, I'll admit it. I'm jealous of Gardevoir's hair. That is a very cute 'do. And Gardevoir as a whole is quite cute, especially when drawn by the right hand.

And to go off the emotion thing, Gardevoir's whole thing is that it has an undying emotional devotion to its trainer, and would be willing to sacrifice itself for their trainer's safety. Never have I been so heart warmed while also thinking “isn't that a bit much” at a Pokedex entry at the same time. That ‘dex entry is the Pokemon equivalent of that “Kids, could you lighten up a little?” quote from the Simpsons that goes around a lot.

It's mildly surprising this is a Pokemon that got away with a 50/50 gender ratio, too. But of course, Gardevoir having the subfandom it does, it’s almost unanimously treated as female. Even some people not within the confines of that subfandom say “why isn’t it just 100% female?” To which I’d just reply, why does a Pokemon have to conform to gender norms? Heck, there’s plenty of Pokemon that do conform to gender norms by having an unnecessarily weighted Gender ratio, or that they only come in one gender. They’re frickin fictional animals. Who needs them to abide by that stuff? I’ve seen it get to such levels of petty that I’ve had friends be harassed because they referred to “feminine” Pokemon as “he” or male in any other way.

But that’s getting back into that debate. Fandom’s just a difficult subject to avoid with Gardevoir, I’m sorry. In any case, I think Gardevoir’s easily a highlight of Gen 3 Pokemon with or without its fans. And I think it says a lot that I can put all this aside and still like Gardevoir quite a lot. It’s a humanoid Pokemon that’s just the right levels of weird and alien looking to not be all uncanny valley. And it is really pretty looking. I’m sure as hell not gonna deny that.

Personal Score: 10/10

It's just a shame Gardevoir has the fandom it wound up getting. I'd love to draw, or even just actively appreciate Gardevoir more, but at least from personal experience doing so just attracts... an unfavorable crowd.

Mega Gardevoir:

Jeez, I just wrote an essay on Gardevoir and we've not even covered its Mega form yet. Okay, I'll keep this short and simple.

When Gamefreak came out and said Mega Evolutions were partly decided by which Pokemon are fan-favorites, it's no wonder Gardevoir wound up getting one of them. It goes from the slimmer, “evening gown” sort of look to a full-white ballroom dress. I've got no real complaints with this one either, it's just about as solid as regular Gardevoir is. I do like the “gloves” it has. That's a neat touch.

My one complaint would be that it's notably slimmer. Maybe it's to give more emphasis to the poofiness of the dress. At least, I hope that's why it's thinner. It’s a bit much, because it does kind of look like its waist would snap right in half haha.

Personal Score: 9.5/10

Not that much worse than normal Gardevoir, they're pretty much on par with each other.

Overall:

That was a mouthful and a half. Yeah, it's unfortunate a lot of Gardevoir's appreciation is in the form of Rule 34. But just taking in Gardevoir solely as Gardevoir, it's a very nice Pokemon.

[Archive]

[mealha]

Edit gorgeous photos right on your phone

To get that sunset 'Gram-ready, you'll need more than a filter. ( Cyriac Jannel / Unsplash/)

Smartphones have a serious advantage over DSLRs and other dedicated cameras—not only can you shoot great photos, but you can edit and share them too.

For a lot of people, editing images with their phone just consists of slapping a filter on and posting the pic to social media. And while that was your only option about a decade ago, there are now some seriously powerful tools that equal anything you can use on your computer.

The difference between photography and “phone-ography” has become meaningless. As you might have already imagined, shooting with a DSLR and editing on your computer works like a charm—but so does using your smartphone through the whole process.

The problem with filters

Filters can be awesome, but they’re easy to get wrong. They tend to be the first (and oftentimes, only) stop in most people’s editing process, but they actually work best at the end. The big problem is filters are a blunt tool—they’re sold as a one-stop shop to beautify any kind of image, but they don’t take into account your photo, the subject, or what you’re trying to achieve.

Instagram’s Juno filter, for example, ups the contrast and vividness of your pics regardless of whether they need it or not. If you put it on an already contrasty shot, your shadows are going to get super dark. If you want to get great results from a filter like Juno, you first need to reduce the contrast of the original photo so it doesn’t push the shadows and highlights over the edge.

Get the right tools

Being proficient with a single app, rather than jumping between a few different ones, will make editing photos on your phone much easier. I recommend you play around with a few, find the one you like best, and learn how to use it properly.

There are so many great photo-editing apps available that it’s hard to give a single recommendation. They all do the same kinds of things and you can get good-looking photos with any one of them.

Adobe Lightroom CC

If you already subscribe to Adobe’s Creative Cloud, Lightroom CC is a great option. It’s a powerful editor and you can easily sync photos between your computer and smartphone. If you’re not subscribed to a Creative Cloud plan, it’s still free to use—though some features are locked. Lightroom is available for Android and iOS.

Snapseed

Google’s Snapseed is one of the best ways to make small or local adjustments to your photos thanks to its intuitive U Point technology. If you’re not keen on editing everything by hand, though, I find it a bit rougher than some of the other options. The app is available for Android and iOS .

VSCO

This is the best filter app right now, in my opinion. VSCO originally made Lightroom presets based on classic film stocks, but it now has a huge range of well-thought out filters and the editing tools are easy to use, too. The only downside is that you’ll need a full subscription of $19.99 a year to access all the filters. VSCO is available for Android and iOS.

And that’s just a smattering of the good apps available. Pixelmator, Afterlight, and even your smartphone’s built-in editing tools are all capable of producing great results. Instagram’s tools are also more than sufficient—if you dig deep enough.

Fix the problems

After you’ve chosen your tools, it’s time to look at the actual photo editing. The big secret is that, for the most part, it’s not about trying to make something look cool—it’s about identifying and fixing the problems that detract from your image.

And when I say “problems” I’m not talking about objective issues like blurriness or overexposure—photos like that are mostly unsalvageable—but any small thing you perceive as a mistake that could potentially be fixed. Skewed horizons, the nose of a car jutting into your foreground, or a giant pimple right on your nose, are all examples of problematic, but fixable mistakes.

More subtle problems that are equally important and fixable include:

Shadows that are too dark (they pull down the entire image)

Dull highlights (they make everything look flat)

A weird color cast (it makes the photo look too blue or too yellow)

Someone wearing a glaringly bright garment in the background (takes focus away from the subject)

Take these two images.

These pictures are different, but they have one thing in common: they can be vastly improved by some minor tweaks. (Harry Guinness/)

There are several problems with the first one—the nose of that car is in the shot, the guys and their horse are too dark, and the edge of the building is weirdly close to the edge of the frame.

In the second picture, there are also several issues—the shadowy trees draw too much attention, the horizon is skewed, and my dog is dead-center, which isn’t very interesting.

These are exactly the kinds of problems you can fix in a few moments using the tools in your photo editor of choice.

The better you become at assessing what’s wrong with your own images and fixing them, the better you’ll get as a photographer—you’ll be capable of identifying your mistakes even before you press the shutter, which will result in even less time editing your photos.

Balance exposure and color

These are the same photos after some brightness and contrast tweaks. See how you can now easily distinguish the details on the guys with the horse (on the left), and how my dog now contrasts a lot more against the sand (on the right). (Harry Guinness/)

Depending on the circumstances, your smartphone camera will automatically tend to take pictures that are either a little too dark or a little too bright, so exposure is something you’ll regularly need to adjust. Similarly, you’ll generally need to slightly tweak the contrast between the shadows and highlights.

In most editing apps, you can adjust these two settings with the same tool, which is often named “Brightness/Contrast.” Move the sliders as much as you need for the image to look natural. Just be careful not to go overboard—extreme contrast or brightness adjustments in either direction never look good.

Finally, you’ll also need to look at the colors in the image. Are they saturated enough? Too saturated? Is there a color cast? Feel free to play around with any saturation, vibrance, and white or color balance sliders in your app of choice until you get something that looks good. You’ll usually find these tools under “Hue/Saturation” or “White Balance.”

Enhance the emotion

Contrary to what you might think, filters are the finishing touch to an already edited and improved photo. (Harry Guinness/)

Once you’ve fixed any problems with your images and balanced out the brightness and colors, it’s time for the fun part—enhancing the emotion. This is the time to add filters, get creative with different options, throw on a vignette, and make the photo yours.

The trick to successfully enhance the emotion of an image is to do things with a purpose—think about what you want from the final photo, and work towards that. If you want a really sunny, vibrant holiday photo, go right ahead and slap on a big, bold filter. But if you’re going for a moodier street shot, your approach needs to be more low key.

By first balancing out the exposure and colors, you’ll be much less likely to accidentally add contrast to an already contrasty image, and you’ll get much better results from filters, presets, and other creative tools.

Consider the whole—and share

Once you’re done editing, step back and consider the whole image again. Have you actually achieved what you wanted to? It’s easy to go the wrong direction with powerful editing tools. Sometimes you’ll miss completely and have to go back and start again. (It still happens to me all the time.)

But once you’ve got a shot you’re happy with, it’s time to share it. Send it to your friends, post it on Instagram, and let the likes pour in.

from Popular Photography | RSS https://ift.tt/2EQDOGC

[kristablogs]

Edit gorgeous photos right on your phone

To get that sunset 'Gram-ready, you'll need more than a filter. ( Cyriac Jannel / Unsplash/)

Smartphones have a serious advantage over DSLRs and other dedicated cameras—not only can you shoot great photos, but you can edit and share them too.

For a lot of people, editing images with their phone just consists of slapping a filter on and posting the pic to social media. And while that was your only option about a decade ago, there are now some seriously powerful tools that equal anything you can use on your computer.

The difference between photography and “phone-ography” has become meaningless. As you might have already imagined, shooting with a DSLR and editing on your computer works like a charm—but so does using your smartphone through the whole process.

The problem with filters

Filters can be awesome, but they’re easy to get wrong. They tend to be the first (and oftentimes, only) stop in most people’s editing process, but they actually work best at the end. The big problem is filters are a blunt tool—they’re sold as a one-stop shop to beautify any kind of image, but they don’t take into account your photo, the subject, or what you’re trying to achieve.

Instagram’s Juno filter, for example, ups the contrast and vividness of your pics regardless of whether they need it or not. If you put it on an already contrasty shot, your shadows are going to get super dark. If you want to get great results from a filter like Juno, you first need to reduce the contrast of the original photo so it doesn’t push the shadows and highlights over the edge.

Get the right tools

Being proficient with a single app, rather than jumping between a few different ones, will make editing photos on your phone much easier. I recommend you play around with a few, find the one you like best, and learn how to use it properly.

There are so many great photo-editing apps available that it’s hard to give a single recommendation. They all do the same kinds of things and you can get good-looking photos with any one of them.

Adobe Lightroom CC

If you already subscribe to Adobe’s Creative Cloud, Lightroom CC is a great option. It’s a powerful editor and you can easily sync photos between your computer and smartphone. If you’re not subscribed to a Creative Cloud plan, it’s still free to use—though some features are locked. Lightroom is available for Android and iOS.

Snapseed

Google’s Snapseed is one of the best ways to make small or local adjustments to your photos thanks to its intuitive U Point technology. If you’re not keen on editing everything by hand, though, I find it a bit rougher than some of the other options. The app is available for Android and iOS .

VSCO

This is the best filter app right now, in my opinion. VSCO originally made Lightroom presets based on classic film stocks, but it now has a huge range of well-thought out filters and the editing tools are easy to use, too. The only downside is that you’ll need a full subscription of $19.99 a year to access all the filters. VSCO is available for Android and iOS.

And that’s just a smattering of the good apps available. Pixelmator, Afterlight, and even your smartphone’s built-in editing tools are all capable of producing great results. Instagram’s tools are also more than sufficient—if you dig deep enough.

Fix the problems

After you’ve chosen your tools, it’s time to look at the actual photo editing. The big secret is that, for the most part, it’s not about trying to make something look cool—it’s about identifying and fixing the problems that detract from your image.

And when I say “problems” I’m not talking about objective issues like blurriness or overexposure—photos like that are mostly unsalvageable—but any small thing you perceive as a mistake that could potentially be fixed. Skewed horizons, the nose of a car jutting into your foreground, or a giant pimple right on your nose, are all examples of problematic, but fixable mistakes.

More subtle problems that are equally important and fixable include:

Shadows that are too dark (they pull down the entire image)

Dull highlights (they make everything look flat)

A weird color cast (it makes the photo look too blue or too yellow)

Someone wearing a glaringly bright garment in the background (takes focus away from the subject)

Take these two images.

These pictures are different, but they have one thing in common: they can be vastly improved by some minor tweaks. (Harry Guinness/)

There are several problems with the first one—the nose of that car is in the shot, the guys and their horse are too dark, and the edge of the building is weirdly close to the edge of the frame.

In the second picture, there are also several issues—the shadowy trees draw too much attention, the horizon is skewed, and my dog is dead-center, which isn’t very interesting.

These are exactly the kinds of problems you can fix in a few moments using the tools in your photo editor of choice.

The better you become at assessing what’s wrong with your own images and fixing them, the better you’ll get as a photographer—you’ll be capable of identifying your mistakes even before you press the shutter, which will result in even less time editing your photos.

Balance exposure and color

These are the same photos after some brightness and contrast tweaks. See how you can now easily distinguish the details on the guys with the horse (on the left), and how my dog now contrasts a lot more against the sand (on the right). (Harry Guinness/)

Depending on the circumstances, your smartphone camera will automatically tend to take pictures that are either a little too dark or a little too bright, so exposure is something you’ll regularly need to adjust. Similarly, you’ll generally need to slightly tweak the contrast between the shadows and highlights.

In most editing apps, you can adjust these two settings with the same tool, which is often named “Brightness/Contrast.” Move the sliders as much as you need for the image to look natural. Just be careful not to go overboard—extreme contrast or brightness adjustments in either direction never look good.

Finally, you’ll also need to look at the colors in the image. Are they saturated enough? Too saturated? Is there a color cast? Feel free to play around with any saturation, vibrance, and white or color balance sliders in your app of choice until you get something that looks good. You’ll usually find these tools under “Hue/Saturation” or “White Balance.”

Enhance the emotion

Contrary to what you might think, filters are the finishing touch to an already edited and improved photo. (Harry Guinness/)

Once you’ve fixed any problems with your images and balanced out the brightness and colors, it’s time for the fun part—enhancing the emotion. This is the time to add filters, get creative with different options, throw on a vignette, and make the photo yours.

The trick to successfully enhance the emotion of an image is to do things with a purpose—think about what you want from the final photo, and work towards that. If you want a really sunny, vibrant holiday photo, go right ahead and slap on a big, bold filter. But if you’re going for a moodier street shot, your approach needs to be more low key.

By first balancing out the exposure and colors, you’ll be much less likely to accidentally add contrast to an already contrasty image, and you’ll get much better results from filters, presets, and other creative tools.

Consider the whole—and share

Once you’re done editing, step back and consider the whole image again. Have you actually achieved what you wanted to? It’s easy to go the wrong direction with powerful editing tools. Sometimes you’ll miss completely and have to go back and start again. (It still happens to me all the time.)

But once you’ve got a shot you’re happy with, it’s time to share it. Send it to your friends, post it on Instagram, and let the likes pour in.

[scootoaster]

Edit gorgeous photos right on your phone

To get that sunset 'Gram-ready, you'll need more than a filter. ( Cyriac Jannel / Unsplash/)

Smartphones have a serious advantage over DSLRs and other dedicated cameras—not only can you shoot great photos, but you can edit and share them too.

For a lot of people, editing images with their phone just consists of slapping a filter on and posting the pic to social media. And while that was your only option about a decade ago, there are now some seriously powerful tools that equal anything you can use on your computer.

The difference between photography and “phone-ography” has become meaningless. As you might have already imagined, shooting with a DSLR and editing on your computer works like a charm—but so does using your smartphone through the whole process.

The problem with filters

Filters can be awesome, but they’re easy to get wrong. They tend to be the first (and oftentimes, only) stop in most people’s editing process, but they actually work best at the end. The big problem is filters are a blunt tool—they’re sold as a one-stop shop to beautify any kind of image, but they don’t take into account your photo, the subject, or what you’re trying to achieve.

Instagram’s Juno filter, for example, ups the contrast and vividness of your pics regardless of whether they need it or not. If you put it on an already contrasty shot, your shadows are going to get super dark. If you want to get great results from a filter like Juno, you first need to reduce the contrast of the original photo so it doesn’t push the shadows and highlights over the edge.

Get the right tools

Being proficient with a single app, rather than jumping between a few different ones, will make editing photos on your phone much easier. I recommend you play around with a few, find the one you like best, and learn how to use it properly.

There are so many great photo-editing apps available that it’s hard to give a single recommendation. They all do the same kinds of things and you can get good-looking photos with any one of them.

Adobe Lightroom CC

If you already subscribe to Adobe’s Creative Cloud, Lightroom CC is a great option. It’s a powerful editor and you can easily sync photos between your computer and smartphone. If you’re not subscribed to a Creative Cloud plan, it’s still free to use—though some features are locked. Lightroom is available for Android and iOS.

Snapseed

Google’s Snapseed is one of the best ways to make small or local adjustments to your photos thanks to its intuitive U Point technology. If you’re not keen on editing everything by hand, though, I find it a bit rougher than some of the other options. The app is available for Android and iOS .

VSCO

This is the best filter app right now, in my opinion. VSCO originally made Lightroom presets based on classic film stocks, but it now has a huge range of well-thought out filters and the editing tools are easy to use, too. The only downside is that you’ll need a full subscription of $19.99 a year to access all the filters. VSCO is available for Android and iOS.

And that’s just a smattering of the good apps available. Pixelmator, Afterlight, and even your smartphone’s built-in editing tools are all capable of producing great results. Instagram’s tools are also more than sufficient—if you dig deep enough.

Fix the problems

After you’ve chosen your tools, it’s time to look at the actual photo editing. The big secret is that, for the most part, it’s not about trying to make something look cool—it’s about identifying and fixing the problems that detract from your image.

And when I say “problems” I’m not talking about objective issues like blurriness or overexposure—photos like that are mostly unsalvageable—but any small thing you perceive as a mistake that could potentially be fixed. Skewed horizons, the nose of a car jutting into your foreground, or a giant pimple right on your nose, are all examples of problematic, but fixable mistakes.

More subtle problems that are equally important and fixable include:

Shadows that are too dark (they pull down the entire image)

Dull highlights (they make everything look flat)

A weird color cast (it makes the photo look too blue or too yellow)

Someone wearing a glaringly bright garment in the background (takes focus away from the subject)

Take these two images.

These pictures are different, but they have one thing in common: they can be vastly improved by some minor tweaks. (Harry Guinness/)

There are several problems with the first one—the nose of that car is in the shot, the guys and their horse are too dark, and the edge of the building is weirdly close to the edge of the frame.

In the second picture, there are also several issues—the shadowy trees draw too much attention, the horizon is skewed, and my dog is dead-center, which isn’t very interesting.

These are exactly the kinds of problems you can fix in a few moments using the tools in your photo editor of choice.

The better you become at assessing what’s wrong with your own images and fixing them, the better you’ll get as a photographer—you’ll be capable of identifying your mistakes even before you press the shutter, which will result in even less time editing your photos.

Balance exposure and color

These are the same photos after some brightness and contrast tweaks. See how you can now easily distinguish the details on the guys with the horse (on the left), and how my dog now contrasts a lot more against the sand (on the right). (Harry Guinness/)

Depending on the circumstances, your smartphone camera will automatically tend to take pictures that are either a little too dark or a little too bright, so exposure is something you’ll regularly need to adjust. Similarly, you’ll generally need to slightly tweak the contrast between the shadows and highlights.

In most editing apps, you can adjust these two settings with the same tool, which is often named “Brightness/Contrast.” Move the sliders as much as you need for the image to look natural. Just be careful not to go overboard—extreme contrast or brightness adjustments in either direction never look good.

Finally, you’ll also need to look at the colors in the image. Are they saturated enough? Too saturated? Is there a color cast? Feel free to play around with any saturation, vibrance, and white or color balance sliders in your app of choice until you get something that looks good. You’ll usually find these tools under “Hue/Saturation” or “White Balance.”

Enhance the emotion

Contrary to what you might think, filters are the finishing touch to an already edited and improved photo. (Harry Guinness/)

Once you’ve fixed any problems with your images and balanced out the brightness and colors, it’s time for the fun part—enhancing the emotion. This is the time to add filters, get creative with different options, throw on a vignette, and make the photo yours.

The trick to successfully enhance the emotion of an image is to do things with a purpose—think about what you want from the final photo, and work towards that. If you want a really sunny, vibrant holiday photo, go right ahead and slap on a big, bold filter. But if you’re going for a moodier street shot, your approach needs to be more low key.

By first balancing out the exposure and colors, you’ll be much less likely to accidentally add contrast to an already contrasty image, and you’ll get much better results from filters, presets, and other creative tools.

Consider the whole—and share

Once you’re done editing, step back and consider the whole image again. Have you actually achieved what you wanted to? It’s easy to go the wrong direction with powerful editing tools. Sometimes you’ll miss completely and have to go back and start again. (It still happens to me all the time.)

But once you’ve got a shot you’re happy with, it’s time to share it. Send it to your friends, post it on Instagram, and let the likes pour in.