• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer

DIGITAL PHOTO MENTOR

Photography tips, tutorials and guides for Beginner and Intermediate Photographers.

  • Start Here
  • Photography Basics
    • Beginner Photography Tutorials
    • Free Photography Basics for Beginners Course
  • Photography Articles
    • Beginner Photography Tutorials
    • Intermediate Photography
    • Photography Challenges
    • Photography Tips
      • Portrait Photography
        • Flash Photography
      • Night Photography
      • Street Photography
      • Travel Photography
      • Photo Editing
      • Landscape Photography
      • Macro Photography
      • Photoshop Tutorials
      • Photography Equipment
  • Online Courses
    • Luminar Neo Course
    • Lightroom for Photographers: The Complete Course
    • Photoshop For Photographers: The Complete Course
    • Beginner Photography Course
    • Portrait Photography Fundamentals Course
  • Private Tutoring
  • Store
    • Online Courses
    • Bokeh Overlays
    • Photography Classes
    • Sky Replacements
    • Texture Overlays
    • Lightroom Presets
    • Private Tutoring
    • Cart
  • Login
  • Photography Basics
    • Beginner Photography Tutorials
    • Free Photography Basics for Beginners Course
  • Photography Challenges
    • Photography Challenges E-Book
    • 5-Day Photo Editing Challenge
    • All Our Photography Challenges
  • Photography Tips
    • Portrait Photography
      • Free Portrait Photography Key Concepts Course
      • Flash Photography
    • Night Photography
    • Street Photography
    • Travel Photography
    • Landscape Photography
    • Macro Photography
    • Photography Equipment
  • Photo Editing
    • Luminar
    • Learn How to Use Lightroom Online
    • Photoshop Tutorials
  • Gallery
  • Resources
    • Free Basics for Beginners Course
    • Free Portrait Photography for Beginners Course
    • Lightroom Presets
    • Texture Pack for Photoshop, Luminar
    • Webinars
    • YouTube Channel
Home » Photography Challenges » Get Editing Your Photos – August Photography Challenge
Get Editing Your Photos – August Photography Challenge

Get Editing Your Photos – August Photography Challenge

by Darlene Hildebrandt | Last Updated: May 14, 2019

Share46
Tweet6
Pin8
WhatsApp
Email

Photography is one part technical and one part artistic. Many people may argue that once you have an image in the camera, that is where photography ends. Others prefer to use photo editing techniques to enhance the camera image and make it match their vision more closely – their artistic rendering.

Original straight from camera before presets were applied

After lit using a combination of flash and natural light at 1/30th of a second.

So which is right – to edit or not to edit?

That question is up for debate, but the topic for this month’s challenge is to get editing some images.

Try some things and experiment. If you’ve never edited photos before, now is a good time to try it and see if you like it.

You can always go back to not processing later. Or if you are a regular image processor, it’s also a good time to check out some new ideas, techniques, and methods you would never use on your own images.

Yes, that’s right I’m going to give you FIVE of my own images (JPG and DNG files) to play with!

You will get these four images, plus the one above to choose from for this challenge.
You will get these four images, plus the one above to choose from for this challenge.

Winner of last month’s challenge – simplify

There was a boat load of entries and comments on last month’s challenge to simplify. I read all the comments and looked at all the images. Here are a few things I heard you learning:

  • I love intimate landscapes and usually use telephoto. I was surprised to discover I could make a minimalist image at 24mm. – Barbara F Smith
  • Darlene, Your challenge was perfectly timed. Our local club, The Southern Colorado Photography Society, held their annual outing downtown Pueblo (snip). Having photographed the area many times, your challenge gave me a new perspective, so to speak, and shaped my entire shooting experience for the day. One of the things about your challenge is it got me focusing on elements of design. So on the photo walk, I was looking for tonal ranges, shapes, leading lines, etc. – David Hayden
  • This challenge was a great one as it gave me an opportunity to look closer and more critically at what I choose to photograph. By this I mean to focus more on what I see, and in so doing, look at different ways to capture it. I’m sometimes too “trigger happy” and just want to take the shot without really looking at how else the scene can be captured. A great lesson learned. – Folake Abass
  • I learned from this lesson, it’s not all about the gear, it’s what you see before you and how you capture it. – P James
  • I went to shoot Waterton lakes at sunset with my brother, but we didn’t have the amazing colors we were hoping for, and I was disappointed until I remembered this challenge and decided to focus on “simplify”. The view was amazing and almost overwhelming of mountains and lakes, so I got some decent shots of the whole view, but the ones I really like, are the ones where I focused on one element. – Rebecca Cullimore

    Rebecca’s image

  • “I always tend to put too much in a picture in order to share the emotion of the subject. Thank you for reminding me that often, less tells more! – Solange Paquette
  • When I was reviewing the images, I realized that even a simple picture can tell a larger story. Looking at the bike hub, you can see the dirt and grease that tells you this bike is not a showpiece. It’s *used*. The bolt has a little rust on it, which can tell you that it was left outside a few times, or at least it got a little wet. But you can also see that the spokes, frame, and paint are in good condition, so it does get *some* care. That also reminded me that you can sometimes tell a better story if you leave details out. – Wayne Werner

And the winner of the Simplify challenge is . . .

Each month we randomly select one winner from all the eligible entries and this month it was:

Lynne – who took this fabulous “simple” image of a New Zealand Koru fern. She will be getting five of her images reviewed privately by me. Congratulations!

Image by Lynne

Details of this month’s challenge – Get Editing

First of all you need to download the images to participate in this challenge. You can download either the full raw files (as DNGs) or full JPGs (unedited straight from the raw files). If you are using free software or an online one, use the JPGs. If you are familiar with processing raw files grab the DNGs.

Download them by clicking on the one you want, then clicking the down arrow at the top of the screen to save it to your computer. Please DO NOT upload your finished files to these folders this is for downloading only!

  • Grab the JPG files here.
  • Grab the DNG files here.
download
Click the down arrow to grab the file you want.

They are large files – so they may take a while to download. If you have trouble let me know.

There are many ways and many tools with which to process images. My tools of choice are mostly Lightroom and Photoshop, with a few plugins on the side. If you have Lightroom or Photoshop you can check out some of these for tips:

Lightroom articles:

  • Using the Basic Sliders in Lightroom and Photoshop; a Comprehensive Tutorial
  • Correct Your Images in Under 2 Minutes Using Lightroom 5
  • Clarity Versus Contrast and How to Use Them to Make Your Photos Pop

Photoshop articles:

  • How to Create a Neat Text Effect in Photoshop
  • Making Art With Your Photography
  • How to Give Your Pictures an Authentic Vintage Appearance

If you don’t have or use either of those you could try out some of the free options available such as:

  • GIMP
  • Darktable
  • Picmonkey
  • Paint.net
  • Snapseed (it’s not free but it’s only a few bucks and works on your tablet or mobile devices only – get the Android version here – or for iOS devices here.

Examples

So if you want to see what I did with the images provided here are a few versions I’ve used different places:

Black and white version
Black and white version
Color version
Color version
Basic version
Basic version
Textured and an edge frame applied using a plugin by Macphun.
Textured and an edge frame applied using a plugin by Macphun.
B/W version
B/W version
Color version.
Color version.

To be eligible to win the prize:

In order to participate in this challenge and be eligible for this prize you need to:

  1. Upload your processed version of one of the images provided to the comments section below
  2. Tell us how you processing it (what software or online tools, what things did you try and apply).
  3. Tell us about your experience and what you learned by doing this challenge? Is this your first time processing images? How did it feel? Did you enjoy it? Was it fun? Did you feel creative? If you’re not new to processing – did you try a new technique? Tell us about that.
  4. Upload your photo, processing info and what you learned by the cut-off date of August 31st, 2016 (11:59 pm EST or UTC-5). NOTE: please do NOT save your images as TIF (they will be too big to add in the comments, must be under 2mg) and please do NOT email your images to me for critique. I cannot give personal critiques by email, leave your images below and I will comment there..
  5. Indicate whether you use a Mac or a PC (this will dictate eligibility for prizes, see bel0w)
Please note: if you do NOT fulfill all the steps above your entry will not be valid. Just adding the photo will NOT be counted as an entry. I want to hear about it too please. The point of these challenges is to help you learn something new – tell me about that.

You may post more than one finished photo, and do this as many times as you like over the month (you can comment as many times as you like, and share as many processed versions of the photos provided as you want – but it will be counted as one entry per person). The more you practice the better you’ll get at it, like anything – so share away. I also encourage you to share the link to this challenge with a friend so you can do it together!

DPM-processing-challenge-750px-06
Edited version
DPM-processing-challenge-750px-07
Processed to taste in a grunge sort of look.

The Prize

This month’s winner (selected randomly) will receive a set of our Lightroom Presets (value $29).

And Skylum has graciously added a copy of their Creative Kit software, a $179 software package for Macintosh computers, for a second winner ( mac only).

Macphun Creative Kit

6 powerful photography apps and over 500 creative tools inside a single, easy-to-use pack. Creative Kit elevates your photo editing experience and helps achieve fantastic results faster than ever before.

View the Prize

I’ll choose 2 winners, one mac and one PC. Mac user will win the Creative Kit for Mac users and the PC user will win my Lightroom presets.

Now get processing and let’s see what you come up with!

Cheers,
Darlene-1-250x130.png

Share46
Tweet6
Pin8
WhatsApp
Email

About Darlene Hildebrandt

Darlene is an educator who teaches aspiring amateurs and hobbyists how to improve their skills through her articles here on Digital Photo Mentor, her beginner photography course, and private tutoring lessons. To help you at whatever level you're at she has two email mini-courses. Sign up for her free beginner OR portrait photography email mini-course. Or get both, no charge!

Digital Photo Mentor is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to products on Amazon. As an Amazon Associate Digital Photo Mentor earns from qualifying purchases.

Lightroom Course

Lightroom Course banner

Enroll in My Lightroom Course covering everything from A to Z and always up to date.

Top Beginner Articles

  • Avoid these 9 beginner photography mistakes
  • 7 Tips for Beginner Photographers
  • Top 15 Photography Accessories under $25
  • How to choose the best digital camera for you
  • 5 Photography Ideas for When There's Nothing Interesting to Shoot
  • 5 mistakes beginner photographers make while using a wide angle lens and how to avoid them
  • 9 Tripod Mistakes Ruining Your Images and Putting Your Camera at Risk
  • Long Exposure Photography

Top Intermediate Articles

  • 10 Camera Settings and Equipment Tips for Portrait Photography
  • Best Photo Editing Software Reviewed
  • Lightroom Alternative: Is Luminar the answer?
  • Top 15 Photography Accessories under $25
  • How to Use a Gray Card for Custom White Balance and Metering
  • Night Photography Settings – Guide to Getting the Best Exposure

Learn Photography Basics

Yes, you can learn to take better photos! It’s my passion to help you learn the photography basics and take better pictures. It’s also the same reason I teach workshops, do photo travel tours, and have online photography courses available.

Enroll in our free photography basics for beginners course, or 12-part portrait photography course, also free.

Recent Photography Articles

  • 3 Ways to Improve the Overall Quality of Your Images
  • The Upside-Down Trick – a Photography Hack to Help You Make Better Images
  • 5 Fun Inspirational Photography Ideas To Get You Motivated
  • Wabi-Sabi Photography Challenge – How to Embrace the Art of Imperfection
  • Dramatic Landscape Photography of the Lofoten Islands – Tips and Inspiration

Useful Links

  • Beginner Photography
  • Intermediate Photography
  • Photography Challenges
  • Photography Tips
  • Photo Editing
  • Resources
  • Recommended Amazon Products
  • Course Login
  • Workshops
  • Webinars
  • Contact
  • Write for Us

Copyright © 2022 Digital Photo Mentor · Privacy Policy · Cookie Policy · Disclaimer