Welcome to the 21st century, where developing a solid visual content strategy is not a nice-to-have, but a need-to-have.
Whether you’re a content creator, social media manager, blogger, or digital marketer, your target audience expects to see high-quality, beautiful visual content when they visit your website or engage with your brand on social media.
In fact, 32% of marketers say visual images are the most important form of content for their business — more important than blogging (27%) and videos (26%).
But, creating high-quality visual content can be a major challenge for many online creators and marketers. Not only do you need to have the right tools and resources to create beautiful images, but you also need to have the right skills to create images that will help grow your brand.
One of the most important skills you can learn as a content creator is image editing. In this post, we’ll cover nine image editing best practices that every online creator should know.
1. Use the Rule of Thirds to align your subject
The Rule of Thirds is a simple and effective way to guide the composition of your images, and it’s a great tool to use when you’re editing images.
Imagine your image is divided into nine equal segments by two vertical and two horizontal lines. The Rule of Thirds says that you should position the most important elements in your scene along these lines, or at the points where they meet.
This simple technique will help you create more balanced and interesting compositions. Most photo editing apps will have a grid overlay feature that you can use to help you align your subject using the Rule of Thirds.
2. Use color theory to evoke emotions
Color theory is a fundamental concept in the world of design and photography, and it’s a powerful tool to help you create more impactful visuals.
Different colors can evoke a wide range of emotions and associations. For example, blue is often associated with trust, stability, and calm, while red is associated with passion, energy, and urgency.
When you’re editing your images, think about what emotions you want to evoke in your audience and use color theory to guide your editing decisions. You can do this by adjusting the colors in your image with a photo editing tool, or by adding colored overlays or filters.
For example, if you want to create a sense of calm and tranquility in your image, you might use cool, muted colors like blues and greens. On the other hand, if you want to create a sense of urgency and excitement, you might use bold, bright colors like reds and oranges.
3. Create a consistent look and feel
Consistency is key to building a strong visual brand. When your photos and videos look cohesive, it helps your audience recognize your content and builds trust.
One easy way to create a consistent look and feel in your content is to use the same editing settings for all of your images and videos.
In Lightroom, you can do this by creating your own preset. Once you find an editing style that you love, you can save your settings as a preset and apply it to all of your content with just one click. This is a huge time-saver and makes it easy to ensure that all of your content looks cohesive.
You can also save your editing settings in Photoshop, and even copy and paste your settings in apps like VSCO and A Color Story.
4. Remove distractions from your photos
As you’re taking photos, it’s easy to miss small details in the background that can be distracting. Thankfully, you can remove these distractions in post-production.
In the photo on the left, there is a small piece of trash on the ground that is a little distracting. I used the spot removal tool in Adobe Lightroom to remove the piece of trash and create a cleaner photo.
You can also use this tool to remove larger distractions in your photos, like a person walking in the background.
5. Add a watermark to protect your photos
If you’re a photographer or you frequently share high-quality images online, you may want to consider adding a watermark to protect your photos from being used without your permission.
A watermark is a semi-transparent logo or text placed over top of an image that identifies the creator. You can use a simple logo or your business name as a watermark, and you can place it anywhere in the photo.
Watermarking your photos is a great way to subtly promote your brand and protect your work. While it won’t prevent people from using your photos without permission, it will make it very clear who the original creator is.
6. Crop your photos for better composition
Cropping is a simple image editing technique that can help you improve the composition of your photos. It’s also a great tool to use if you want to change the aspect ratio of your image.
When you crop your image, you can remove any distracting elements in the background, or you can zoom in on your subject to create a more dynamic composition. You can also use cropping to change the aspect ratio of your image to better fit the platform you’re posting on. For example, if you’re posting to Instagram, you might want to crop your image into a square.
7. Use photo editing software to enhance your images
While it’s always best to start with a high-quality image, sometimes you need to enhance your photo to get the best results. This could be as simple as adjusting the brightness or contrast, or you could get more creative with your edits.
There are a number of photo editing software options available, from free apps to professional software. Some of the best photo editing software options for beginners include Adobe Lightroom, Snapseed, and VSCO.
These apps offer a wide range of editing tools, from simple adjustments to more advanced filters and effects. You can use them to enhance your images and give them a more professional look.
You can also use AI for photo editing instead of using more traditional softwares.
8. Add text to your photos
Text is a great way to add context to your photos and make them more engaging. If you’re a content creator, you can use text to add a caption, quote, or call to action to your images.
You can also use text to create beautiful graphics for your blog, social media, or email marketing. Adding text to your photos is a simple way to elevate your visual content and make it more shareable and engaging.
Pro tip: When adding text to your photos, be sure to use a font that is easy to read. You should also make sure that the text is large enough to be seen on small screens.
9. Add a call-to-action to your images
Finally, don’t forget to add a call-to-action (CTA) to your images. Just like the rest of your content, your images should have a purpose. Whether that’s to drive traffic to your website, encourage people to share your content, or to get people to sign up for your email list, make sure you’re telling your audience what you want them to do.
You can easily add a CTA to your images using a photo editing tool. Just make sure it’s clear and easy to read, and that it stands out from the rest of your image.
Conclusion
Image editing is an essential part of content creation. Whether you’re creating a blog post, an infographic, or a social media post, you need to include visuals. But it’s not enough to just include them; they need to be high-quality, professional-looking images.
