Why you should edit incorrectly

*People who keep to traditional editing values would find a lot of problems with this image!*

We are often taught that we should create the perfect edit

Our histograms should be perfect: reaching both ends of the scale but without underexposing the shadows or overexposing the highlights. We should make sure that there is appropriate detail in all areas of the image. We should make sure that we have added the appropriate lens corrections. And we should adjust the temperature and colour curves so everything looks as natural as possible.

This risks ending up with bland images.

Correct editing often ends up being the equivalent of middle of the road music. It conforms to all the rules of normality. It is safe. You may end up with images that just do not stand out from the crowd. They do not push any boundaries. At worst, they just end up being the equivalent of an insipid covers band.

Editing is more exciting when it breaks the rules

When we try new things and move away from what you are often told to do, we end up being more expressive. We create images that are truer to ourselves. Ultimately, our creative practice becomes more fulfilling.

I believe that there is a large group of us that are trying to be more creative in what we do. But often we are held back by the constant culture of many in the photographic community that we have to be technically perfect.

Here are two examples of breaking the rules

Both were taken at Brompton Cemetery in London. And both edits are the result of playing around and trying new things in Lightroom. But I could have achieved the same end result in pretty much any editing software.

The first image of an angel has a histogram that would be frowned on by many! There are no highlights in the image. The whites have been deliberately pulled back to create a more subdued, melancholy feel. The shadows are all blocked out to a pure black. This image definitely does not conform to the Ansel Adams zone system!

However, adopting this approach has created an image that is moody and sad and dark. If there was greater exposure of the whites and more detail in the shadows the image would be closer to what I saw. But I wanted to create my interpretation of what I had made with my camera. To my mind, it conveys more feeling than if it was “technically correct”.

The second image is a single ICM frame of a cross. In its original form I do not think that it is particularly interesting. And the subject was not particularly well defined. So I pushed my dehaze slider completely over to the right. And then I messed with the colour curves with a preset in Lightroom. This isolated the different elements of the image. More importantly, the colour evokes a particular feeling. I will leave to you to decide how you would like to interpret it. The image is not for everyone. But, out of many experimental edits, I keep coming back to this one. A print will be available soon!

In adopting this editing approach, I haven’t tried to please the average viewer. Instead I have produced images that I feel are far more true to myself and convey what I feel and how I see. And that is far more satisfying than receiving masses of social media likes.

Try breaking the rules yourself

Here are three simple things you can play with that most people haven’t dared try before (they can be achieved in any editing software):

· Adjust the colour temperature and saturation. What happens to your image when you start pushing colour this way

· Play around with clarity/texture/ambience/structure. You can create some very different feelings in images by changing these settings. They don’t have to be big adjustments to create a very different feeling

· Push the highlight and shadow sliders hard left and hard right. See how it changes the image

What happens if you don’t like the results?

It doesn’t matter! After all, we are just playing with copies of digital images. We can all try things, realise that are not for us and just move on. However, every now and again we will hit on a new effect that reflects how we feel or what we want to say. We would find these new looks with messing around.

Enjoy experimentation and play!

It doesn’t matter what the “experts” say. We don’t have to play within the “rules”. It is fun to try new things and come up with some very different results. After all, do you want middle of the road images? Or do you want to create something that is more true to you?

PS If you want to develop the way you create images, my live online course Editing With Vision will help. Find out more here.