Video Tip: Quick and Easy Photo-editing

All this week, we’ve been looking at photos I asked our new staff members to create without giving them any instruction on how to set up their cameras or get a good photo.
They made a lot of mistakes, of course.  But with a few easy camera adjustments and a little work with photo-editing software like Adobe Lightroom, you’ll quickly see that their otherwise unsaleable shots can be transformed into photos they can be proud of.
If you’re a beginner, it’s important that you get your camera set up correctly.
You should know how to turn your flash on and off (and understand that whenever you use the flash that’s built into your camera, you automatically affect the saleability of your photo).
And you should know how to change the focus settings on your camera.  In order to create a saleable photograph, the subject of your photo needs to be in sharp focus.  If your photo is of a person, their eyes should be in sharp focus.  If your photo is of a clock tower, the clock should be in sharp focus.
Today, professional photographer Rich Wagner walks us though proper exposure and how to set your camera to be sure you’re getting the right amount of light into your picture.
To display the pictures, he’s using a photo-editing program called Adobe Lightroom, so you’ll also see how quickly he can edit these photos and correct some of their problems.
Take a look and see what you think:
And if you’re intimidated, don’t be.  It takes just 15 to 20 minutes to get your camera set up correctly for saleable photos, and we go over all this step-by-step in our live workshops in less than an hour.
Do it once, and then head outside this weekend to practice getting your focus and exposure right.  Tomorrow, we’ll talk about composition, and you’ll be well prepared to take saleable photographs in no time.
Here’s yesterday’s video on focus:
— Lori
Lori Allen
Director, Great Escape Publishing
[Editor’s Note: Learn more about how you can turn your pictures into cash in our free online newsletter The Right Way to Travel.  Sign up here today and we’ll send you a new report, Selling Photos for Cash: A Quick-Start Guide, completely FREE.]