Photo Editing Challenge Day 1 – Street Photography

This 7-day photo editing challenge will help you get started if you’re new to this process, or get unstuck if you’re in a rut.

You will learn different processing techniques and terms in the video tutorials I share each day. But the goal and my mission for this challenge are to get you trying new things!

This is all about asking yourself, “What if?” and then going for it! You’ve got nothing to lose here, you can’t mess anything up because you get to use MY images! 

Over 3.5 hours of photo editing training videos are provided, delivered in easily consumable snippets so you can practice along on my own files as well as your own.

When we initially launched this challenge, over 1400 people took part. Here’s what some of them had to say once completing all 7 days:

• My first attempt at photo editing (never done this before)….using the trial of Luminar 4…had so much fun and learned a lot from your videos. Thanks Darlene – Bing D.
• Anyway, it’s been a great week and I’ve learned so much. I feel 100%+ more comfortable with post-processing as a result. There are a few LR features I miss in Luminar, but the ease with which this software works makes up for that. Thanks so much, Darlene; it’s been a great learning experience! I can’t wait to put it to use with my own images. – Martha S.
• Thanks Darlene for these fabulous tutorials. I have learned a lot and gained confidence in editing my images. – Diane H.

Photography Challenge Themes for the Week

Over the course of the next 7 days, we’ll be working with these photography themes and practice these editing techniques:

1. Street photography – learn about basic edits like contrast and color adjustments and how to apply a Look or preset.
2. Portrait and people photography – learn how to do skin retouching and facial enhancements the easy way, and keep it looking natural.
3. Black and white conversion – see how to do it the right and wrong way, and how to take your b/w images to another creative level with split toning.
4. Details and masking – you’ll learn how to do local edits that apply to just part of the image, and how to enhance sharpness and detail in those targeted areas. 
5. Landscape photography – take your nature photos up a notch, bring out details in highlight and shadows areas, and see how to replace the sky (not everyone’s cup of tea but you’ll see how easy it is with Luminar 4).
6. Texture overlay – learn how to give your images a fine art style with a texture overlay (you’ll even get a few of mine to play with and try out)
7. Night photography – learn how to apply many of the techniques you already learned and bring it all together to enhance and bring out details in a stunning night photo I took in Japan.

Here’s more of what photography challenge participants had to say:

• Thanks Darlene for an excellent series of educational tutorials, I enjoyed the challenge immensely. – Aidan Lawlor
• Your videos are great, easy to follow, clear, & full of learning. – Magdelena B.
• This week has been an amazing experience and such fun to be able to learn so much. Thanks a million Darlene. – Marie-Christine G.

Step 1 – Sign-up and Download the RAW image

Step 2 – Photo Editing Software

You’ll need some form of photo editing software in order to follow along with this challenge.

I’m using Lightroom and Luminar 4 Software by Skylum (#aff) in the example videos for the challenge. If you’re already using some sort of photo editing software to process your images, you will be able to do this just fine.

If you’d like to do the challenge using the same software I’m using, you can download a free trial of Luminar 4 for Mac or PC (#aff) and try it out for 7 days.

I’m a Skylum Ambassador, as well as an affiliate partner with them. If you choose to purchase the software after the trial expires, I earn a small commission. There is no extra charge to you. I reviewed over 10 editors recently, and I concluded that Luminar was one of the best photo editing programs for beginners. I recommend it because I’m confident you’ll come to love it.

Use this discount code to save $10 USD off the regular purchase price (must be entered exactly, no spaces): DIGITALPHOTOMENTOR.

7-Day Trial: Luminar 4 (#aff)

To Download the trial, use the pull-down menu at the top of the page and choose “Download trial” like seen in this image below.

Step 3 – watch the video tutorial

Next, watch the video below and follow along if you want. Feel free to pause if you need to, or rewind and watch any parts again. If you have any questions just leave a comment at the bottom of this page.

Step 4 – Process the image

Now it’s your turn!

Open the image in Luminar 4 or your software of choice and give it a go. Have some fun with it, but remember to not go overboard.

Experiment and play around with different filters and sliders, and try some of the built-in Looks that come with Luminar 4. Here are two more variations I made of this image. 

Feel free to get as creative as you like with this. Just remember we have a dedicated black and white day coming up so you might want to save that for later. 

Step 5 – Share your finished image

Lastly, we want to see what you’ve created – your final finished version (or a few of them).

Use the commenting system on the bottom of this page to share your image, how you did it, and any experiences you had while doing the challenge. You can also share on social media using the hashtag #DPM-7DayChallenge

FAQ’s About Luminar 4 and Windows 10

The image provided for this photography challenge was taken on our Cuba photo vacation, held each year in January.

Conclusion

There are 7 days of practical action taking steps in this photo editing challenge.

Join and follow along and you’ll find you get more confident each and every day. By spending some time each and every day practicing editing your photos, you’ll find your friends and family starting to say “WOW, that’s a great photo!”

Cheers,