It always feels daunting to try editing software, especially if you’re a beginner. You feel worried about not getting a proper handle on using it because the process was too complicated for you. What if, instead of enhancing your photos, you end up making them horrible?

It’s an understandable concern. But don’t worry because this article here is aimed to help you become familiar with the basics of photo editing. This is perfect for beginners who haven’t ever tried using a photo editor before. Check out the rest of the article for the instructions.

The Basic Photo Fixers

Let’s start with the simplest photo fixing. Most, if not all, photo editors have these features. You will usually find them in the Edits tab on the app or software you use. Click the different menus you see to find out where these features are and try the following directions.

1. Crop

The easiest way to improve a photo is by cropping it. This allows you to remove any distracting items around the picture’s focal point. You can also use it to zoom in on the subject of your photo. Moreover, cropping can change the entire picture’s composition. Do this by clicking the Crop tool to cut the image to specific dimensions and scale.

2. Straighten

Sometimes, the camera inverts the image, or you took it with the angle a little skewed. You can quickly fix this using the rotate handle seen at the top of the photo. Some photo editors also have a Straighten slider, allowing you to make minor adjustments. You can give the picture a total flip by clicking the arrows to reverse the inverted image.

3. Saturation

Saturation is what controls the color intensity of the photo. This feature lets you edit your pics to have vivid and bright colors or make them look subtle, almost washed out. It’s a quick color enhancement method. In most editing tools, you can change the saturation when you adjust the Saturation slider in the Colors tab.

4. Color Balance

Sometimes, you will find the photo you edited casts a strange color. This often happens when you increase their saturation. A typical example of this is the blue and yellow hues in the photos due to indoor lighting. Just increase the blues when there’s too much yellow and vice versa. That should fix the color balance.

5. Exposure

Exposure lets you fix an underexposed or overexposed picture. Different ways you can do this involve various features – Brightness, Highlights, Shadows, and Contrast.

• Brightness – This feature lets you adjust the picture’s overall exposure. You can increase or decrease the image’s brightness by dragging the Brightness  By doing so, the scene in the photo looks like it’s radiating more light.
• Contrast – This feature alters the difference between the light and dark tones in the photo. You can change the contrast by dragging the Contrast slider to the contrast level you want.
• Highlights – This feature is responsible for making the image’s bright tones even brighter or darker. You can adjust this by dragging the Highlights slider to reach the darker or brighter tone level you like.
• Shadows – This feature is the opposite of the Highlights, making the darker tones of a photo brighter or darker. Do this by, again, adjusting the Shadows slider to your ideal tone level.

6. Sharpen

Sharpening is all about enhancing the little details in the picture to make them more prominent. There isn’t a single button to do this, but some practices sharpen the image’s line definition. The most common way to adjust an image’s sharpness is by dragging the Sharpness slider, which sharpens or softens it.

Or, you can alter the Strength and Clarity sliders to reach your ideal sharpness. A tip here is to zoom the picture at least 100 percent. This will give you a better look at the image when you adjust its sharpness, which helps you avoid over-sharpening it. Because of the effects of sharpening, it’s best to leave this editing for last.

Removing and Changing Background

Removing and changing an image’s background is easy, especially when there are specific editors you can use for this. For instance, you can easily remove the background of an image using Clickmajic.com or Remove.bg. Here are some quick steps to use these online tools:

1. Go to the link à https://clickmajic.com/or https://www.remove.bg/
2. Click the Upload image button or drag the image into the box.
3. Select the picture you want to remove the background of, then click ‘open’ to upload.
4. The tool works automatically to remove the background of the image.
5. Download the image by clicking You can also choose from available resolutions.

The problem is removing the background doesn’t always leave the best picture. In that case, you can add the newly stripped image into a new background. You can do this in Canva, where there are many editing features and templates you can use for backgrounds. You will have to register first, though.

Last Touches

Most photo editors also have a Touch-Up tab, tools you can use to enhance the photo. But before using this, keep in mind not to do it too much, or the image will look more like a clown. Just adjust the sliders lightly for each tool to re-touch the picture with a more natural look.

Some of the touch-up tools available in most photo editors include:

• Blemish Fix
• Smoothing Tool
• Wrinkle Remover
• Red Eye Remover
• Blush Tool
• Whitening Teeth
• Eye Shadow Tool, and more

Apply Some Effects and Others to Make it Pop

Many photo editors have an incredible selection of effects that make your images look more creative. There are also features like Add Text, Add Frame, etc. Try to explore the menus on the editor to see what you can use. These are incredible editing tools that give your picture an entirely new feel.

It looks complicated, but it should be easier if you start at the basics. Just don’t be afraid to try out your software’s editing tools, re-touch them, add text and frames, or use effects. If you need to remove the background, you can use the Clickmajic tool. It’s an excellent background removal tool online that not only works but 50% cheaper too.