Don't overdo it!

Learning goal

You will be able to notice when a photo "smells of filters" and say why. You will recognize the traces left when saturation, clarity and sharpening, heavy shadow opening and ready-made filters are overdone, use the difference between saturation and vibrance, explain why your eye is fooled while editing, keep a check on yourself with methods such as a before-and-after comparison and taking a break, make skin in every tone the final checkpoint, and complete your Level 1 portfolio with its before and after versions.

The question

Scrolling through social media, you stop at a photo. The sky is neon blue, the grass fluorescent green, people's faces orange, and there is a thin white glow along the edges of the buildings. Everything is very bright, very sharp, very colorful; but something is wrong. The photo looks less like a place and more like a screen saver.

How do photos that "smell of filters" happen? Usually not out of bad intent or ignorance, but out of good intent: every time a slider is pushed a little to the right, the photo looks better for a moment, and the hand pushes one more click. In this lesson we will talk about how overdoing looks in which adjustments, why your eye misleads you, and where to stop the slider.

Context

In this module you saw why editing is necessary, then went through the crop, light and color steps. In each lesson you learned to use one adjustment in moderation. This last lesson is the final step of the workflow: stepping back to look at the whole photo and asking whether you have overdone it. The question from Lesson 7.1 is useful again here: was it like this at that moment?

Banning overdoing isn't the aim of this lesson. Some photographers deliberately build a style with intense color, hard contrast or a dreamlike look; this is a choice. The problem is overdoing that happens not knowingly but without noticing. A strong style is applied with the same awareness in every photo and serves what the photo tells. Overdoing done without awareness, on the other hand, smothers the photo's subject: the viewer sees the editing first, not the moment.

Simple explanation

Why is the eye fooled while editing?

While you edit, your eye constantly adapts. When you push a slider a little, the photo looks livelier compared with its previous state; a few seconds later the eye gets used to this new state and it becomes "normal". The next push again looks better than the one before. As these steps add up, each step looks reasonable on its own while the total result has long been overdone. It is a trap similar to the eye getting used to yellowness in color correction.

A small screen also misleads. On a phone's bright, small screen the details of a photo get lost, and overdone sharpness or saturation looks attractive at first glance. When the same frame grows on a desktop monitor or on paper, the glows at the edges, the blotchy colors and the crawling shadows come out. The brightness of the screen matters too: a photo edited at night in the dark on the brightest screen can look dark and murky on another screen during the day. That is why, if possible, edit on a screen at medium brightness and, when you finish, look on another screen as well.

Which adjustments are overdone most easily?

Saturation increases the intensity of all colors together. Increasing it a little gives life to a pale photo; increasing it a lot turns the sky neon blue, the grass fluorescent green and faces orange. Many apps also have a second adjustment next to saturation called vibrance. Vibrance usually touches colors that are already strong and skin tones less, and increases pale colors more. That is why, when you want to add color, starting with vibrance instead of saturation often gives a more natural result.

Adjustments such as clarity, structure or sharpness strengthen the contrast in the midtones and the edges. Used in moderation they bring out texture; overdone, a thin, bright line appears around a tree, a building or a person. This is called a halo. Pushing shadows and highlights too hard at the same time also turns a photo into a gray, flat image that is oddly evenly lit everywhere; this is known as the overdone HDR look. Vignetting that leaves a dark frame at the edges, and ready-made filters stacked on top of each other, are on the same list.

How is skin affected by overdoing?

Saturation and clarity are the adjustments that affect skin first, because skin is already made of warm colors and has a fine texture. When saturation rises, dark skin slides toward red or orange, and light skin toward a blotchy pink and red; redness on the cheeks and under the eyes is exaggerated. When clarity rises, the pores, lines and small flaws on a face harden; dark skin can look rough and ashy, and light skin coarse and tired.

In the other direction, skin smoothing and beauty filters flatten skin like plastic and, as Lesson 7.1 warned, can lighten its color. That is why, as the last step of editing, zoom in on the faces and look at each one separately. If the skin has slid toward orange, red or gray, or looks too sharp or too flat, pull back the slider that is the source of the problem. In a frame with people of different skins, one person's skin looking natural while another's is spoiled is usually a sign that an overall adjustment has been overused.

Where do you stop the slider?

The fastest way to check yourself is a before-and-after comparison: in most apps, pressing and holding a button or tapping the screen shows the original. Seeing the edit side by side with the original brings back the sense of measure lost step by step. After bringing the slider to where you think it is right, pulling it back halfway also works; the first instinct is usually too much.

Taking a break works too. After editing a photo, look at it again a few hours later, a day later if possible; when your eye has rested, overdoing is noticed at once. Finally, ask the question from Lesson 7.1: was it like this at that moment? Does the photo look like the scene you remember, or like a filter's scene? Even if you have chosen a deliberate style, asking this question makes sure the choice is really yours.

Visual evidence

Imagine editing the stall of a man selling spices in a bazaar. On the stall there are sacks of red chili flakes, yellow turmeric, green mint and brown cinnamon; the vendor smiles behind the sacks. First you push every slider a little more, and a little more. The chili flakes turn fluorescent red, the turmeric neon yellow. The vendor's dark wheat-colored skin has slid to a reddish orange, the lines on his face are hard and rough because of clarity, and there is a thin white halo around his head. The bazaar wall in the background is gray and flat; the shadows have been forced open.

You press and hold the before-and-after button and see the original; only then do you notice how big the difference has grown. You return saturation to zero and raise vibrance a little instead; the spices are still lively but in their real colors. You pull clarity back by half; the halo disappears, and the vendor's face stands in its own texture. You take back the shadows a little, and the dimness of the bazaar returns. Then you zoom in on the face and look: the skin is warm and natural, neither orange nor gray. The next day you look at the same photo once more, and it still looks like that bazaar.

Common mistakes

Summary

Photos that smell of filters usually form through the eye getting used to every small step: saturation turns colors neon, clarity turns edges into halos, too much shadow opening turns the photo gray, and skin is the first place to be spoiled. Preferring vibrance to saturation, looking at the original often with a before-and-after comparison, pulling the slider back a little from where you think it is right, taking a break and looking again on another screen, and making skin in every tone the final checkpoint gives a natural and deliberate result.

Mini assignment

This assignment is the project of both the module and Level 1: the Level 1 portfolio.

1. From the photos you have worked on in this module, choose your best six.
2. Edit each one in the workflow order: crop and straighten, light and contrast, color and temperature; at the end, compare with the original using the before-and-after button and pull back the overdone sliders.
3. Leave the photos for a day, look again on another screen, and check the skin by zooming in on the faces.
4. Put the before and after versions of the six photos side by side, save them in the "Portfolio" folder under the name "01-Level-1", and under each pair write in one sentence the most important change you made.

Check yourself

• Do the after versions look like the scene you remember, or like a filter?
• Is there any halo, neon color or gray, flat look left in any photo?
• Does the skin on every face stand in its own color and texture?

Glossary

Mini quiz

1. Why does overdoing form unnoticed during editing?

• A) Because apps raise the adjustments on their own
• B) Because the eye gets used to every small step and the steps add up
• C) Because the photo was taken vertically
• D) Because the screen is too dark

2. When you want to add color, which adjustment often gives a more natural result to start with?

• A) Saturation
• B) Clarity
• C) Vibrance
• D) Vignetting

3. A thin, bright line appearing at the edge of a building is a sign of what?

• A) A halo caused by too much clarity or sharpening
• B) Wrong white balance
• C) A tilted horizon
• D) Low resolution

4. What can happen to dark skin when saturation is raised too much?

• A) The skin turns gray and fades
• B) Nothing changes
• C) The skin shifts toward blue
• D) The skin shifts toward red or orange

Answers

1. B — Each step looks better than the one before and the eye gets used to the new state; as the steps add up, the total result has long been overdone.
2. C — Vibrance touches strong colors and skin less; it raises pale colors without turning faces orange.
3. A — Clarity and sharpening increase edge contrast; when pushed too far, a bright halo forms around objects.
4. D — Skin is already made of warm colors; when saturation rises, dark skin slides toward red and orange and loses its natural color.

Summary card

• The eye gets used to every small step; that is how overdoing builds up.
• For color, vibrance first; use saturation in moderation.
• Halos, neon color and gray flatness are traces of overdoing.
• Press the before-and-after button, pull the slider back a little, take a break.
• The final check is always the skin: not orange, not gray, not plastic.

Bridge to the next lesson

Level 1 ends here: now you can look at a photo, read light, build a frame and edit without overdoing it. Level 2 begins with taking control of the camera. The first question is why a photo you take with your phone or camera sometimes comes out pure white and sometimes pitch black. The answer is hidden in exposure, that is, in the amount of light reaching the sensor.