5 Tips For Choosing Good Photos To Edit

for most photographers, the act of shooting is the easy part and the editing tends to be the struggle.  if you are like me, you take way too many photos and when it comes time to narrow down and select which ones to edit, it can be an overwhelming process.  last fall season, while pregnant and utterly exhausted, i photographed 74 families which meant…tons of editing behind the scenes.  and while the actual task of editing was easy for me, choosing the photos to edit was more difficult.  it became more important than ever for me to become very efficient at quickly choosing the best photos to edit, if only for the sake of time.

through a busy workload, i learned how to not only quickly choose the photos to edit, but to edit them quickly.  which, if you think about it, gave myself a pay raise because i found a way to do more in less time.  if you find that you are spending too much time editing, check out these 5 tips for choosing good photos to edit to help you spend less time editing and more time photographing.

need some help learning how to edit in lightroom?  be sure you read my post How To Learn Lightroom + Photoshop.

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5 Tips For Choosing Good Photos To Edit

1.  Don’t Look At Your Photos For 24 Hours

when i get home from a session or when i finish taking personal photos, i always import them into lightroom right away because i am excited to see how i did.  but once i import the photos and take a quick look, i wait 24 hours before actually choosing what photos to edit.  why?  because it is helpful to step away from the photos and take a break from them.  it helps clear my mind so that, when i do look at the photos again, i am looking at them with a fresh pair of eyes.  sometimes i am overly critical of myself, especially if the photo session was stressful or if photographing something was harder than i thought.  giving myself some time between photographing and editing can really help me look at my photos with a fresh perspective if i allow myself a day or two.  when i give myself at least 24 hours away from the photos, i always look at them in a new way when i return to my desk because i am giving myself some time to recharge.  maybe it is that old saying, “absence makes the heart grow fonder”?

2.  Choose The Photo That Tells The Story Best

photos are all about storytelling.  you are communicating through your images.  when you are trying to decide what photos to edit, choose the photo that tells the story the best.  maybe it is the dramatic light or the emotion conveyed within the photograph, but whatever it is make sure you choose the photo that really achieves the art of storytelling.

while preparing our nursery for our baby, i noticed that our puppy liked to spend time sleeping in her nursery.  every time i walked past the nursery, there he was fast asleep in the empty room.  when i brought my camera out to photograph the moment, i photographed him from a variety of angles because each angle told a different story.  while the close up portrait of him on the right is darling, it was the doorway photograph on the left that told my story the best.  think through what story you are trying to tell with your photograph and choose the photo that achieves your story the best.  that is the one you will want to edit.

3.  Just Choose the Best One!

i know this sounds obvious, but just choose the best one.  sounds easy, right!?  choose the photo that requires the least amount of editing, or the one that you nailed the best straight out of camera.  discard the overexposed, underexposed or blurry images and focus on the ones that show your best camera work.  of course, most photos require a little editing and that’s okay.  but if you are stuck between two images, choose the one that you achieved the best in camera because it will require the least amount of editing, which means the final photo will be better since you aren’t messing with pixels too much.

are you shooting in manual mode?  did you know that taking control of your camera settings allows you to create the best photographs?  if you are struggling with manual mode, check out my post Manual Mode Confused Me, Until I Read This to learn how i finally conquered manual mode and immediately began taking better images.

4.  Use Color Coding In Lightroom

color coding in lightroom was a game changer for me, when it came to culling my images.  you can color code your photos in the develop module of lightroom.  when i begin looking through my images, i start by going through my lightroom catalog and color coding every image that i like red.  after i have made it through all of the images, i immediately delete everything that i didn’t flag red.  after that, i go through one more time and down select my images by color coding my very favorite images purple.  again, anything that isn’t purple is deleted.  from there, i edit the purple images.  color coding is a great way of quickly picking your favorites to focus on, while deleting the rest so they don’t distract you.  i am a big believer in deleting images that i don’t edit.  i don’t keep any unedited images.  what’s the point?

5.  Choose Quickly

here is the thing.  i have been known to sit at my computer and compare two images that are practically the same for an embarrassing amount of time.  as artists, we are very critical of both ourselves and our work.  while one person may see two images that are exactly the same, they are totally different to us and we struggle with choosing the best one to edit.  here is where you need to trust yourself and put a time limit on culling.

once i open my lightroom catalog, i give myself 60 minutes to choose my best images from a session.  literally, 60 minutes.  putting a time limit on myself prevents me from overthinking the process.  it allows me to trust my gut instinct so that i don’t spent too much time comparing and overanalyzing photos.  i go through my images very quickly, tagging my favorites using color coding.  the quicker i go through the images, the better my editing output becomes because i am placing trust in my creative eye.  your eye knows the best.  your eye is naturally going to be drawn to the best image because what truly makes a good image is the way it attracts the viewer’s eye.  don’t overthink it!  go with your gut and trust your artistic eye.

choosing the best images to edit can be a little stressful because it’s personal!  as artists, we are emotionally attached to our images and have a hard time deleting them.  but, delete!  choose your best images, and don’t look back on the ones that didn’t make the cut.  whether they didn’t initially catch your eye or your camera skill prevented them from being the best, say goodbye to them and move on.  trust me, developing a quick editing routine will not only save you time but it will make you a better photographer as you learn how to critique your images quickly and learn from your technical mistakes.

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