Given we going to work straight from the camera for the next competition, let’s think about how processing images actually helps to enhance an image.

Lets start with the most obvious – fix the exposure and adjust the tone curves and the light. This is what Mark talks about in his demystifying the numbers essay, and is shown in a different way in this Petapixel article by Dylan Kim

So the image is now correctly exposed, but there are some areas that aren’t needed. Cropping has been used by print photographers for a very long time, and the digital world hasn’t change that – we just have different tools. This article in the Phoblographer discusses using cropping – his tool of choice is Capture One, but Lightroom has a similar mask when you enter crop mode,

Here is an image of mine with the crop mask over it and the choices of crop mask in Lightroom. Choose your crop mask and see if you can improve those images. Oh, and if you are lucky enough, your camera may have a mask built into the viewfinder – try that too.

Could the image be sharper? Maybe not the whole image needs it. Sharpening important parts of an image can help improve it. Levi Sim published this article in PhotoFocus about using selective sharpening in Lightroom to enhance an image.

Finally, how about some photo essays? One is about photographer Jay Maisel who take full advantage of colour contrasts. See what you think

The other is about other photographers re-interpretation of Max Dupain’s famous Sun Baker photograph. Now that’s a way to learn new tricks!