When it comes to taking pictures and editing them, I hear a LOT of people say "Oh, I'll just get what I can and fix it in Photoshop." Confession time: that used to be me. But not anymore. When I take a picture, I have a finished image already in mind. I compose my shot the way I want it to be... cropping in-camera and making sure my angles are lined up properly. I also change my camera settings constantly, as the light & color changes from moment to moment, direction to direction, surrounding to surrounding.

Because of this, my editing has gotten a LOT faster. My shots are pretty close to finalized even straight out of the camera. But there are a few things I have in mind as I compose my image that I can't always get in the moment, and so I do still use Photoshop for my final touches. Sometimes I add a light color wash, and sometimes the scene calls for a bright pop of color instead. I use Photoshop to artistically enhance the photo, bringing it close to the what I saw in my head when I originally captured the image. Actions are layered to create the mood I want to evoke (though layers are never used full-force).

So the biggest editing tip I can offer that will save you LOTS of time, headache and heartache: Photoshop is best used for enhancement purposes instead of relied upon to "fix" your images.

A few samples as I played around with a few new actions I recently purchased (images were taken at the Sweetlight Collective Workshop attended in March):

Thoughts, comments, or questions? I'd love to hear your responses and get a conversation going.