Let's Talk Editing

I wanted to share part of my process that I haven't really covered yet: EDITING! Whether you're an amateur photographer, a blogger, or you pretty much only use your iPhone camera to take a pic of your dog every time it does something remotely cute (me), here are some useful basic tips!
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1. Adjust the exposure. I have to increase the exposure on 100% of my images. Even if your camera settings are totally spot on when you shoot, chances are you need to fiddle with the exposure post production.
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2. Balance your whites! Basic phone editing apps have this tool and it helps eliminate any rogue tones going on in your picture that you might not immediately notice.
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3. ALWAYS up the contrast a bit! It helps give the image depth.
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4. Cropping can make or break a shot, so use the tool wisely. I like to use the rule of THIRDS to create balance within my compositions. SWIPE to see the before and the image with the grid so you can see how I fit into the "thirds." You can also crop your image so that your subject is ON one of the lines (rather than BETWEEN the lines like in this shot). I will typically do that if I'm trying to create an ASYMMETRICAL composition.
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5. Other easy tweaks you can play with are the saturation, highlights / shadows, and brightness!

The image on the left is unprocessed. You can see I cropped out the ground as it was rather distracting! The image on the right shows the rule of thirds. The grids are useful in creating a balanced composition.

My go-to iPhone editing apps are Snapseed and Lightroom. I typically do not edit my matches on my iPhone because I prefer to use Photoshop on my computer! That being said, I rarely have to do extreme editing with my matches. 9/10 require the minimal tweaks I list above but then there's that ONE tricky fella that requires removing vehicles, superimposing a different angle of a painting because of a heinous glare in the glass, etc. etc. etc.!

This mural is located in Napa, CA and was painted by Felipe Pantone.