1. Crop and Clean Up Your Images

*Straighten images: It’s always better to pay attention to be sure your horizon is horizontal when you shoot, but straightening is also an easy first editing step.

*Crop images: It’s best to crop to improve minor compositional details, like distracting elements at the edge of the frame or repositioning your subject slightly.

2. Adjust the White Balance

White balance relates to color levels, not exposure levels. If your image has an overall color tone that you find displeasing or unnatural, you can adjust white balance to fix it. Note that JPG files, because they capture far less digital data than RAW files, offer a minimal amount of white balance adjustment during editing.

3. Adjust Exposure and Contrast

*Adjusting exposure: This is the process of making the photo exactly as bright or dark as you want.

*Adjusting contrast: Contrast is the range of dark to light tones. When it’s extra high, you see a stark image, where all tones, regardless of color, are either very dark or very light. When it’s extra low, you see a flat image where no elements in the frame stand out. Typically, you want a middle contrast that avoids either of those extremes. But if you prefer either of those effects, you can adjust the contrast to achieve that.

4. Adjust Color Vibrancy and Saturation

Once white balance is adjusted, you can further refine colors in your photos with the saturation and vibrancy controls. The distinction between the two is subtle: Increasing vibrancy increases color intensity in neutral color tones and maintains color intensity in the brighter colors. Increasing saturation makes all colors throughout the frame more intense. When bright colors pop, it can give the photo a more dramatic look.

5. Adjust Sharpness

Sharpening an image gives it a crisper, cleaner look.

In addition, finalize and share your photos, after you’ve done all of your editing, set your photos aside. Then come back later and examine them to see if you’re happy with each one. If not, make additional editing adjustments where needed.