If there’s one thing that always catches my eye when browsing Pinterest, it’s a bright clean photo. Well that and just about any dessert recipe but that’s a whole other topic of discussion. Whether you’ve been taking pictures for years, or are just starting out, there are some easy tricks you can do right now to start producing brighter photos in post production!
Although there are several ways that you can edit your photos, I prefer Adobe Lightroom (I run version 4, but they’re up to 6 now). Note that these tips refer to their editing tools; if you don’t use Lightroom, I highly recommend it for photography!
1. Make the background white. Not the background you shoot on, but the background in either Lightroom or Photoshop (which ever you use to edit your photos). If your background is darker, like grey or black, anything against those colors will automatically appear brighter. A white background will help you gauge how bright your photos are. This also helps you to get a preview of how the images will look on your site if your background is also white.
2. Opt for vibrance, not saturation. If you want to ramp up the color in a natural way, increase the vibrance. A saturation adjustment will certainly give you bolder colors, but they start to look unnatural and overdone.
3. Don’t rely on exposure. While adjusting the exposure will brighten your photos, it can also wash them out if you turn it up too high. Instead, brighten the whites, lighten the shadows, and even play with temperature. The photo above is the final edited version along with the exact changes I made. Notice that I barely adjusted the exposure setting (you’ll increase it less when working with colors, whites might require more of an increase).
So that’s it! Completely do-able tricks, don’t you think? And if you’re looking for even more photo editing tips, be sure to check out my Photo Styling 101 e-course! It covers everything from branding and composition to how to take brighter pictures on your camera from the start!