There are so many creative directions to choose for photos that it’s easy to get lost in a sea of possibilities. But whatever you go on to do with your images, there is a set of basic image fixes that are an ideal starting point, whether or not you go on to do anything else.
There is a difference between creative styles and enhancements, and things that clearly just need fixing. This article is about those basic fixes, why they matter and how to do them. They centre on exposure, contrast and tones, colour (though that can also be a creative choice), geometry, such as image straightening and converging verticals, and clearing up any sensor spots, flaws or unwanted objects. You don’t need to do all of these things to every image, and you might not need to do any of them but they are a handy little checklist to go through. Rather than adopting a strict image-fixing workflow, you might want to try a ‘worst-things-first’ approach instead.
The other advantage
