When you hire a photographer, you get access to better equipment, experience, and photo editing ability. When you edit your photos, even a little bit, you kick them up to the next level. Or, you save a photo that would've been tossed and you make it into something interesting. Even photo editing on a cell phone can make a big difference in your photo. And that leads me to THIS photo:

Most people would look at this and sarcastically think, "Nice shot of the sun" and chuck it like a recently destuffed stuffed animal. However, if you happened to shoot the image in RAW format (a "lossless" image file - more on that in a future post) and you used a fairly decent camera, you might be able to save it. But only if you edit your photos. 

I tell people that about 60% of the image is finished when I take the shot. The rest happens after I edit the image - in my case, using Adobe Lightroom. If you've done all of the things I've mentioned, you could edit the image into something that looks like this:

You wind up with 2 different interpretations of the same shot. I thought this looked modern and kind of cool. I took out the annoying dandelion stalk in the front, brought out Gatzby's details and added some blue to the sky. Another photographer might edit it completely different. But this shot is something you are taught never to do as a new photographer - you never shoot INTO the sun (because, see image #1). BUT...it's fun to buck the system. Shooting into the sun on a cloudless day can give you a very unique look. And that is what photographers do. They give you options on images you would never be able to pull off using your cell phone camera. 

The point of all this is, if you want to kick your images up a notch, you HAVE to edit them. Nothing dramatic, you can use a simple program that came with your camera or an app on your cell phone to sharpen, crop and bring out details in your images that otherwise would have gone unnoticed. And possibly save a image you otherwise would've thrown away. 

More on photo editing in future posts. Questions are always welcomed! :)

Steve