Photo Editing vs Photo Manipulation
People tend to assume that photo editors are also proficient in photo manipulation.. and no, more often than not, they’re not. So, we’re here to talk about the main differences between these two techniques and which service do you actually need.
Photo Editing
A photo editor’s main role is to improve an image by making adjustments to any of its many attributes such as brightness, contrast, shadow, spot, hue, tint, color balance, and the like. There’s little to no alteration to any elements in the photo. Take this image below as an example:
I used an Canon EOS RP with a Meke RF 50mm f/1.2 lens and it was my first time trying out HDR (I was testing it out during an Interior Photography session). Few issues I had in this image are:
The colours aren’t the best, especially due to the blue spill coming from the sunlight that’s coming through the tinted windows they had.
The wall lamp on the top left has lost it’s details but not really a biggie.
The wall textures are a characteristics of the home but it feels a little too harsh for me.
Some details in the corridor area are lost too.
With Lightroom, I was able to fix all these mainly by using Curves and Selective Colour.
As you can see, the integrity of the photo is still very much intact. The edits made were meant to enhance the photo by making the colours more accurate to what it was like in real life and also, by bringing back lost details in the highlights and shadows and also, by cropping it a little bit to take away unnecessary components. All in all, there are changed but the elements in the photo are still where they originally were— and that’s mainly what Photo Editors do. If you expect more working than this, then you’re looking at a different type of skill altogether.
Photo Manipulation
Up until now, I’m not entirely sure what the job scope is actually called but from what I hear, people who does photo manipulation for a living are called DI Artists (at least in Singapore), Retouchers or Compositors. Unfortunately, there are people who assume that all photo editors are also skilled in doing this kind of work but no, it takes time and practice in able to do a great job in such a detail-oriented task.
Using the “After” example as the one you see above, let me show you what how different the process is like for this photo manipulation (aka “Photoshop”, y’know how people use it as a verb now, “Eh can photoshop my nose smaller or not?”):
So that’s a simple example of what I meant that elements within the image get altered. This kind of editing is highly useful for moments like when you want to remove all the background people in your holiday photos so you’ve give the ultimate Main Character energy to commercial photoshoots where you need a good clean up of a product’s reflection. You get the idea; it’s like photo editing but on steroids.
I hope that moving forward, people would be more aware that whilst photo editing is a skill that most people are able to conquer, not everyone can do photo manipulation because it requires a lot of patience and attention to detail. You need to understand how lighting works, especially for projects that require you to add in shadows (it is more than just blurring a black solid shape lol) or to put different photos together. You also need to know how compositing works too and Photoshop’s Path Tool will have to become your best friend. I’m not saying I’m great at it but it helps that I’ve been exposed to Adobe’s shit since I was a young kid… although, they’re become your typical greedy corporate fellas so I might be jumping to Affinity— but that’s a different conversation for another time.
Anyway, my photo editing & manipulation skills are one of the services I offer so feel free to contact me through the Contact Form or just drop me a Whatsapp (+65 8719 0057)! Thanks all.
My next post should be about my newly bought Canon R6 MKII! I’m holding a free photoshoot giveaway so check our my IG: jein.eriza to find out more!