When you’re creating save-the-dates and wall art using your engagement photos, you want to make sure that they come out exactly how you envisioned them. That means if there are things you don’t like about the photo, you can fix them with Photoshop or another editing program before printing and displaying them! Here are some great tips for editing your engagement photos in order to make sure they look perfect for your save-the-dates and wall art.
Bring out your color tones in the editing
Choose a color theme for your save-the-date cards and edit them with that tone in mind. Don’t use too many filters to the point where you can’t tell what the picture is. Make sure to pay attention to photo proportion, it’s easy to crop something incorrectly if you’re not used to editing a lot of photos and people usually want at least some part of their faces in the picture so don’t crop everything off.
Be mindful of cropping images as well, because if you crop out one person from a group shot there may be weird space on either side of the picture which will create more work for you later on. A good rule of thumb is to take a few pictures when you are together and then pick the best one or two pictures (don’t delete the others) when you go through them later.
They should have similar tones and compositions for a cohesive look. If you have backdrops set up at home, try to frame the couple in front of those backdrops instead of just having the wall behind them. Remember: always show emotion.
Smiles are great but sometimes they can seem forced or unnatural so make sure to capture natural expressions like laughing, looking lovingly into each other’s eyes, etc. Another tip is to pose your subjects in a way that shows how much love they have for each other, whether that means holding hands or putting an arm around someone else.
Another pro tip: find different backgrounds depending on who your subject is. You might have somebody who has incredible eye contact skills and another person who doesn’t even know how to smile in photos; thus, the latter would do better with soft backgrounds while the former could get away with busy background scenes.
Add brightness
To edit your save-the-date postcards to make them stand out, add a brightness and vibrancy effect in the settings. This should be done sparingly as you don’t want to have an overdone or too fake look to your photos. To maintain this touch of editing, try turning the saturation down to 50-75%.
This will help keep your images bright but not overbearing. In addition, avoid using any sharpening filter as it can often ruin the photo quality by adding too much clarity and detail to it. Sharpening filters are better suited for professionally taken photos that are going on large print formats such as posters or billboards where they are needed more than digital photos that will be viewed on phones and computers.
Another popular tool is to convert your color photos into black and white which can give off a vintage vibe that looks great when used correctly. Again, be careful with how many edits you do because if overdone, the difference between what’s real and what’s been edited becomes clear and blurry.
When it comes to black and white, be mindful of the amount of contrast you use. You may think that the most contrast adds depth to your image, but all those details will become lost in the dark areas when printed larger. If a lot of these tricks seem too complicated or time-consuming, don’t worry. Just save your photo as soon as possible without applying any edits before moving on to another task so that there is no chance of anything being accidentally changed later.
Use Vignette
The look that Vignette provides is dark and edgy. It will give your photos a dynamic contrast. Though black and white are the most popular colors for editing, there are plenty of other options to choose from on Photoshop like teal, red, lavender, etc.
This tool will work well with photos that have a little bit of movement to them as well because it brings out their subtle qualities much more effectively than some other tools. If you want a really vintage feel, try using Old West which has the coolest old film filter effects.
Be sure to go over all of your edits after adding these filters or else they can overwhelm your photo’s true color. When you’re done, be sure to save them in high-quality jpeg files so they don’t lose any of their detail. One thing to note about jpegs is that they do not maintain their sharpness when zoomed in too closely, but if you are printing your images at a large size then this shouldn’t matter too much.
A second tip for good wall art is to always keep the original photo file intact before making edits because even though it might be tempting to make a lot of changes, you may regret those decisions later down the line. Make copies of your edited versions so that you’ll still have access to those photos if needed.
Photoshop is by far one of my favorite programs and I use it on a daily basis. It’s so versatile that you can do just about anything with photos if you know what you’re doing. If you want to learn more about photo editing in Photoshop, then I highly recommend checking out YouTube for tutorials from people who are true professionals at what they do. There are also some great books like Photoshop Creative that are loaded with helpful information.
Blur backgrounds to focus on your lovebirds
It’s time to start thinking about the photos for your save the dates and save the walls. There are a few things you should keep in mind when selecting which ones to use and how you want them edited. You’ll want to consider their size (can they be printed in larger formats?) and what colors and styles most represent you and your partner’s personality.
When it comes to editing, don’t be afraid of color – embrace it! Bright colors can make the photo pop and reflect your mood. But if you’re going for something more classic, then stick with black-and-white or sepia tones.
In addition to blur backgrounds, look into removing glare on glasses or water bottles. If someone is smoking in one of your photos, try removing it digitally. Finally, if there are any unwanted people lurking in the background that may make viewing awkward, later on, crop them out of frame so that only those two adoring faces remain.
Once you have all these tips in mind, ask yourself How do I want my memories to look? Who am I celebrating with? What type of environment am I picturing us in? With this information, it will be easier to select the perfect save-the-date photos for your upcoming celebration.
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