In this workshop, you’ll be guided through the process of choosing the most appropriate images for each of the different uses and contrasting how one image which is right for one purpose may not be for another. To help you to get to grips with this we’ll be looking at your own images in a group critique. This exercise is highly constructive and really helpful – it is not something to be nervous about.
We’ll then be looking at a selection of images and together choosing which images work best for different uses – website, publication, exhibition and competition – in a practical editing session. You will leave the workshop with much greater insight into how to edit and select your images.
When I started as a photographer no one showed or taught me how to edit my images, yet the editing process is fundamental to every aspect of photography from your portfolio and website to choosing a selection to send to a picture editor for publication. Even if you aren’t professional or don’t intend to sell your photographs, it’s an essential skill needed when selecting images to print or to enter into competitions.
Choosing a picture for a themed competition is very different from sending it to a magazine or website picture editor for publication. When we edit our photographs we usually either choose our favourite ones or we edit with a particular purpose in mind – for example, which picture should I have printed to hang on the wall?
The most common mistake which photographers make is to choose their favourite images, but favourite doesn’t equal best. Your favourites are often the images that have the most or best memories attached to them, yet a picture editor is looking only at the image without those memories.
