8 Common Photo Editing Mistakes

In the last few years, image editing has certainly taken a huge leap. With the integration of AI technology, it has become easier than ever to change the overall appearance of our images. Though, there are times when we end up making several photo editing mistakes.

What's more, it doesn't matter if you are a beginner or a pro, you should get to know about these common mistakes that editors make and try avoiding them.

Part 1: Photo Editing 101: Things to Know

Photo editing comprises a series of steps that are taken on an original image to make it look more appealing or change its overall visual look, based on our requirements. Let's say a photo has been taken by you and it is stored in the RAW format. Now, you can take the assistance of any photo editor (like Photoshop) to change its properties, apply filters, add text, and do so much more.

Therefore, it is often associated with practices like image editing, image manipulation, or photo enhancement. Ideally, any minor or major change that is made on an original photo can be classified as editing.

Part 2: Common Photo Editing Mistakes and How to Avoid Them

While there are plenty of photo editing mistakes that we can make, the following are some of the most prominent errors that you should avoid.

Mistake 1: Sharpening the Image Too Much

Well, we all like to keep our photos sharped and almost every image editor lets us adjust the sharpness of the image. Sadly, there are times when we increase the sharpness of the image too much that it takes away the natural appeal of the photo.

If you are editing a portrait shot for instance, then overly sharpening it can be too much for the audience. Therefore, when you adjust the sharpness of your image, make sure you decrease the level by 10% in the end to retain its authenticity.

Mistake 2: Over Fuzziness in the Image

Consider fuzziness as the opposite of sharpness as it makes a part of your image (like its background) blur. Ideally, your focus should be to conceal the background to an extent and concentrate on the primary object.

Sadly, there are times when we all make the overall image too much fuzzy – making it harder for anyone to understand the background or the layout of the image.

Mistake 3: Making Every Image Monochromatic

This is one of the most common photo editing mistakes that a lot of beginners make. While monochromatic images can be classy and have their charm, there should be a limit to using them.

There is no harm in playing with monochromatic shades every once in a while, but try not to overly rely on them. You can use more natural hues and tones to make your photos look more appealing and relatable.

Mistake 4: Having too much Noise in your Photos

While editing your photos, if you have added too many elements, overlays, or filters, then they can bring unwanted noise to the image. Besides that, even while clicking the image, you can have too much noise in this.

Therefore, to avoid these common photo editing mistakes, you should consider editing HD images (as low-quality images can easily suffer from noise). Furthermore, try not to have too many elements and only do basic edits to keep your image clean.

Mistake 5: Cropping the Image Too Much

Ideally, cropping is one of the first steps in photo editing that can make or break the end results. There are times when image editors solely focus on the main object of the photo and crop it too much. As a result, it can also remove some of the important elements from the background of the image that you might wish to keep.

If you want to avoid this mistake, then follow a basic rule of thumb. You can use the inbuilt scales of the image editor to divide your photos into 9 parts and place the main object in the middle. Now, there should be enough space in all the surrounding segments so that all the vital parts of the image would be retained.

Mistake 6: Bad Background Editing

This is another one of the most common photo editing mistakes that are made by pros and novices alike. In the process of focusing on the primary object of your image, you might ignore the background altogether. For instance, your background should neither be too dull nor too strong.

If it is too strong, then the focus would not be laid on the primary object of your image. This can be resolved by simply saturating the background a little. Though, you should not saturate it too much and make sure it would still add value to your photo.

Mistake 7: Having too Much High Dynamic Range (HDR)

HDR, which stands for High Dynamic Range, is an image enhancement option that focuses on the overall shadows and highlights in an image. Ideally, the HDR feature is used to highlight some vital parts of the photo and make it more real.

Though, if you have increased the HDR level of your photos a lot, then it can make them look unnatural. That's why to avoid some of these common photo editing mistakes, you should manually restrict the overall HDR level of the image editor.

Mistake 8: Not Customizing a Preset

If you are a seasoned photo editor, then you might already know there are all kinds of presets available for popular applications like Photoshop, Lightroom, GIMP, and so on. A lot of newbies only apply an existing preset without customizing it for their photos.

Remember, the preset could be based on an entirely different image and its results might be different for your photo. To avoid these photo editing mistakes, you should not blindly implement a preset just for the sake of it. Once the preset is applied, you can use the existing features of the editor to get customized results.

By implementing these suggestions, you can easily avoid making these common photo editing mistakes and get better results with your images.

Part 3: Tips for Image Editors [Recommended by Experts]

As you can see, there can be so many photo editing mistakes that editors can do. Apart from avoiding them, you can also consider these suggestions to manage your photos.

Less is More

Just because you have so many resources for photo editing, it doesn't mean you need to use them all. Remember, sometimes it is okay to only modify your images slightly as they should maintain their natural appeal without looking too enhanced.

Use a Reliable Editor

When it comes to image photo editors, the sky is the limit. Therefore, you can consider exploring a few major editors like Photoshop, Lightroom, Pixlr, GIMP, Luminar, Paintshop, and so on. Most of the editors offer a free version, so that you can pick a reliable option without any hassle.

Always Maintain a Backup

It is highly recommended not to edit the original copy of your photos as it can corrupt your data or drastically change the image. Therefore, you should first create a second copy of your image and make the needed edits on it instead, like Google Drive, Ubackit or Dropbox.

How to Repair a Corrupt or Damaged Image?

At times, while editing or processing your photos, they can get damaged. In this case, you can consider using a professional photo repairing application like Wondershare Repairit.

To repair your photos, you can just launch Repairit, and load the photos that you wish to fix. The application is extremely easy to use, and anyone can take its assistance to repair multiple photos at the same time by following a simple clickthrough process.

The application can repair multiple photos at the same time and features two dedicated repairing modes – Quick and Advanced. While the Quick Repair can fix most of the minor issues with your photos, the Advanced Repair can fix all kinds of critical errors (but will take more time).

The tool can fix numerous issues like the image not loading, corrupt header, pixelated photo, gray areas and so on without any issue. It salso supports all the leading image formats like JPG, PNG, TIFF, BMP, GIF, and so on.

If you want, you can get a preview of the repaired photos on its native interface before exporting your files. This will let you check the results of the image repairing process in advance.

Here is A Viedeo Guide for You:

Time to Conclude

I'm sure that the guide would have helped you identify and avoid all kinds of common photo editing mistakes. While most of these mistakes are made by beginners, there are times when even experienced editors fall for some of these issues.

Ideally, you should keep practicing the art of image editing and be updated with the ongoing trends so that you can get effective results with every edit.