Photo Editing Terms You Need to Know

In this tutorial, I explain several common photo editing terms and what they mean in terms of processing your photos.

If you missed my earlier article and video you can see that here: How to do Noise Reduction – Software Comparison and Recommendations.

I decided to go back to the basics for those of you who are fairly new to photography or editing photos. Common photo editing terms can be confusing and they are not often explained in tutorials by other instructors. It’s often assumed you know what they mean.

Photo editing terms explained

Some of the following terms are often misunderstood. Are you 100% clear on all of these? If you’re more experienced, this may be more of a review for you so use it to give yourself a little test and see how you make out.

Click on the image below to open it full size in a new window and follow along with the video.

Watch the video now and see if you can pick up anything new.

So, did you get them all right? Which ones did you miss? Share your results in the comment area below. Tell me what you learned!

Learn how to use Lightroom Classic in my Lightroom for Photographers: The Complete Course, or Learn how to use Luminar Neo, or check out my Photoshop for Photographers course to round out your education.

Links referenced in the video

I made reference to several other articles and resources in the video. Here is a list for you to check those out as well:

• Why shoot in RAW format…
• White balance what is it, how to use it?
• How to Resize Photos for Facebook, Email, and Social Media
• Using the Basic Sliders in Lightroom and Photoshop – a Comprehensive Tutorial
• Why is the snow gray in my winter photos?
• How to do Noise Reduction – Software Comparison and Recommendations
• Luminar AI – Overview of Templates and the New Interface

Learn more about photography terms

If these photo editing terms, descriptions and definitions were valuable, check out my basic photography terms list which covers at least 49 photography definitions and photography slang.

Images used

If you want to get a copy of the color wheel I used in the demonstration click on the image below.

To download a copy of the greyscale image I created and used click on the image below.

Monitor calibration device

One of the other things I mentioned was the monitor calibration device. You cannot properly calibrate your monitor without one. This is the one I use:

If you want to keep your costs down a little but still want to do monitor calibration, you’d be fine with a model down from mine – the i1 Display Studio which will run you about $169.00 USD.

Other miscellaneous links

Here are a few other things you might want to check out.

Luminar AI – if you don’t already have it. Stay tuned I’m going to be doing a full 5-day challenge and tutorial on that software this month as well.

Topaz also makes some great products. Topaz DeNoise AI and Topaz Sharpen AI, both of which I reviewed recently.

You can also check out my list of recommended other miscellaneous computer bits on my Amazon page as well and learn my Upside-Down Trick – a Photography Hack to Help You Make Better Images

Conclusion

Now you should be all set for the rest of the month. Ready to get editing those photos?

Hope to see you there.

Cheers,