Photography Editing Techniques: Library, Develop, and Advanced Adjustments

Library

View and organize photos, rate photos, flag photos as Pick/Reject, sort and filter photos, add keywords.

Develop

Edit photographs, adjust brightness, color, contrast, detail, etc.

Exposure

Controls overall brightness; increase for brighter, decrease for darker.

Contrast

Controls difference between light and dark; increase for stronger contrast, decrease for flatter appearance.

Highlights

Controls bright areas; lower to recover bright-area detail, higher to brighten highlights.

Shadows

Controls dark areas; increase to reveal shadow detail, decrease to deepen shadows.

Whites

Controls the brightest tones.

Blacks

Controls the darkest tones.

Temperature

Controls warm vs. cool; blue for cooler, yellow for warmer.

Tint

Controls green vs. magenta.

Texture

Controls fine detail; increase for more texture, decrease for smoother appearance.

Clarity

Controls midtone contrast; increase for more definition, decrease for softer appearance.

Dehaze

Controls atmospheric haze; increase to reduce haze, decrease to increase hazy appearance.

Vibrance

Increases color intensity more selectively.

Saturation

Changes intensity of all colors; too much can make a photo look unnatural.

Tone Curve

Provides more precise control over brightness and contrast.

HSL / Color

H = Hue, S = Saturation, L = Luminance; can adjust individual colors.

Sharpening

Makes details appear more defined.

Noise Reduction

Reduces digital noise/grain; especially useful for high-ISO photos.

Lens Corrections

Corrects problems caused by the camera lens, such as distortion, vignetting, and chromatic aberration.

Heal

Blends corrected area with surrounding image.

Clone

Copies pixels from another area.

Generative Remove

Uses Adobe's generative technology to replace unwanted areas.

Masking

Selective editing that allows you to edit only a specific part of a photo.

Preset

Saved group of editing settings that can quickly create a particular look.

Nondestructive Editing

Original photograph is not permanently changed, allowing for experimentation with edits.

Recommended Editing Order

1. Composition, 2. Overall brightness, 3. Light, 4. Color, 5. Detail, 6. Specific areas, 7. Remove distractions, 8. Final check.