Ditch The Filter: How To Edit Your Own Outdoor Photos

Remember when taking photos took effort? Hauling around a camera whenever you want to capture a sunset, carefully choosing what to take pictures of in order to conserve film and, of course, making trips to get photos developed seems like practices that existed eons ago. And, in terms of how quickly technology has advanced, it doesn’t seem far from the truth.

It’s great that we live in a time where taking a photo is as easy as tapping a button on our phone. We have the ability to carry cameras with us everywhere we go, and the quality of phone cameras just keeps getting better and better each year. 

But, as Spiderman's Uncle Ben once said, with great power comes great responsibility. With a camera so readily accessible, we tend to go for quantity over quality when it comes to our photos, and we get lost in the endless camera roll full of identical photos.

Figuring out how to edit your photos can make it so much easier to hang onto a few photos that speak just as loudly as a hundred photos. Not only will a well-edited photo instantly boost your social feed’s quality, but it will make you start to recognize the conditions and elements that make a good photo to begin with! 

How to edit outdoor photos

Editing photos is easier than you might think! Sure, there’s such a thing as a poorly edited photo, but if you’ve got a decent photo and a basic editing app, then you can do just fine!

There are only two things that you’ll need for a well-edited photo:

• An editing app (this could even be the editing feature on Instagram!)
• A clear photo

That’s it! Yeah, you could go all out with the camera equipment, lighting, tripods and such, but phone cameras are good enough that you can turn any hastily snapped shot and turn it into your next profile pic!

Let’s break it down into a few easy steps:

• Crop your photo
• Adjust highlights and shadows
• Adjust the colors: white balance and saturation
• Adjust contrast

Editing indoor photos and outdoor photos are two different things entirely, and this is mainly because working with indoor lighting can be a little trickier than working with natural light. We’ll cover indoor lighting another time, but let’s go over some basics for editing your outdoor photos!

Crop your photo

It’s important to crop your photo first so that you have a better idea of what the final image will be like as you edit. It’s not always necessary to crop your photo, of course, but if you’re looking to focus on a particular subject or aspect ratio, then it’s a good idea to see where and what you can trim. 

Here are a few things to think about when cropping photos:

• Use the rule of thirds for an aesthetically pleasing composition.
• Cut away unnecessary details that detract from your photo’s story
• Don’t cut out a horizon!

Adjust highlights and shadows

If your photo looks a little dark in places or bright in places, then don’t go straight for the brightness and exposure settings, as those affect the entire photo. Rather, use the highlight and shadow settings to tweak the specific problem areas in your photo. 

The highlight setting will target the brightest areas only, like the sky or water, for example. If your sunset picture looks far too bright, then decreasing the highlight setting can bring in more definition and color to those washed-out areas. 

The shadows setting targets the darkest areas of your photo. If your sunrise photo is casting some super-dark shadows and drowning out the details you’re trying to capture, then the shadows setting can add light to those dark areas.

These settings are great for landscape, architecture and black-and-white photos!

Adjust the colors: white balance and saturation

These settings are where one can quickly go from “that looks better” to “this looks absolutely terrible.” 

The white balance changes the temperature of your photo, which is how warm (yellow) or cold (blue) your image looks. Photos in overcast weather generally tend to have a colder temperature, while bright, sunny days are warmer. If you’re looking to make your snowy photos look less frigid, increasing the white balance can make them look more inviting! 

The saturation setting amplifies or diminishes all the colors in the image, so use this setting sparingly. Add too much color and your photo will look unrealistic and over-edited; take too much away and it will look drained. 

Adjust contrast

Adjusting the contrast is a great way to add rich depth to your photo. 

Basically, changing the contrast is changing the amount that the light and dark colors stand out from each other. For example, a photo of a Dalmatian would have perfect black-and-white polka dots in high contrast, and in low contrast it would look like gray polka dots on a slightly lighter gray. 

If your image looks a little washed out or bland, then adding contrast can bring out the shadows and colors that usually pop out to the naked eye. Be careful with it, though, as adding too much or taking too much away can quickly make the effect seem unnatural. 

Side note: the exposure setting does the opposite of the contrast setting. Toggle that to add more light to the photo, although it will wash it out if you add too much.

To sum it up

The best part about editing photos is that you can do whatever you want and, if you don’t like it, then you can undo it all and try again! There’s no pressure, so don’t be afraid to experiment with different settings and different photos until you achieve an effect you’re happy with.

Making your outdoor photos look Insta-worthy doesn’t mean you have to submit to the closest preset filter at hand. You can edit your photos to bring out the emotion and feeling you want to show others, and it’s as easy as toggling a few settings and messing around with editing tools! 

Using these simple editing tips is a great start to editing your outdoor photos. These principles apply to practically any kind of photos, but outdoor photos with plenty of natural light are good places to start. 

Have fun!

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Featured photo courtesy Unsplash/Alif Ngoylung

All other photos and graphics courtesy Colleen Ford