Landscape photographer and YouTuber Nigel Danson recently asked his fellow photographers to try their hand at editing some of his own images.
The Brit was interested in seeing how different people would tackle the same task as each person went about showing off their unique editing styles through his work.
After offering up three of his own RAW images for the editing challenge, more than 1,000 photographers responded with efforts revealing a remarkable range of approaches as well as some incredible talent.
Some of those who took part in the exercise made only subtle edits involving a few basic tweaks, while others clearly spent a considerable amount of time at the Photoshop controls — other editing software is available — subjecting the originals to a dramatic transformation. Check out Kev Bell’s striking alteration of the woodland scene at the 15:15 mark in the video (below) to get an idea of what we’re talking about, while Andy Gray’s stunning image at 15:58 pushes things to a whole new level of creativity.
“Photography is an art, it’s an expression, it’s about emotion, it’s about how you want to portray a feeling,” Danson says in the video as he talks about some of his favorites. Noting how the lack of an emotional attachment can make it difficult to edit a photo that’s been taken by someone else, he said he wanted the photographers to edit one of the images in a way that expressed how it made them feel when they looked at it.
Danson is keen to point out how there’s no right or wrong when it comes to editing an image, as everyone will have their own personal idea on what looks best.
The fascinating video highlights the myriad of changes that we can make to a photo at the editing stage, and should offer some inspiration and ideas for newbie photographers looking to improve their skills.
“When you start to develop a style, and you start to edit things in the same way, they tend to gel together really nicely, and it can be a really satisfying thing to do,” Danson says, noting how developing your own style “can really elevate your photography as you go forward.”
At the end of the video, the photographer also showed how he chose to edit his three photos. “They’re definitely not as good as some of your efforts,” he quipped.
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