Introduction to Editing

This is the introduction to the Editing unit of Explorer University! I’m going to give you an overview of the tutorials to come. 

Prefer to watch this in video format?😏

Welcome to the Editing Unit!

In this portion of the course, I’m going to cover the entire editing process from start to finish. Whether you’ve never edited a photo in your life or you’re a Photoshop pro, I can guarantee you’ll learn something new.

Let’s dive in to a brief overview!

How is the Editing Unit Organized?

The Editing unit contains 40 tutorials, each marked by (2) in front of a (.) followed by a (#). This tutorial, for example, is labeled (2.1). The next tutorial, Philosophy, is labeled (2.2). And so on and so forth.

This indicates the order in which to follow the tutorials if you’re starting from scratch. If you’re already well versed in certain subjects, feel free to jump around!

Please note that unlike the Photography unit, most of the Editing tutorials are only in video format because Lightroom and/or Photoshop are needed to demonstrate the concept.

What Am I Going to Learn?

Starting off, I’m going to give you an overview of my editing Philosophy, so you can understand how I approach every single editing situation.

From there, I’m going to start by walking you through my organization process, including the Hardware/Software I use, how I Import the Files to My Computer, then Import to Lightroom, Cull the Photos, and finally Prepare The Images for Photoshop.

Next, I’m going to show you how to Import Your Images to Photoshop, and guide you through the basics of Photoshop, including Layers, Masks, Selections, and Adjustments. From there we’re going to start moving into mid-level Photoshop techniques, such as Healing, Frequency Separation, the Brush Tool, the History Tool, Smart Objects, and Filters. Then I’m going to introduce you to blending- AKA how to do Focus Stacks, Time Blends, Focal Blends, and Sky Blends.

Finally, I’m going to run through five complete edits from start to finish, so you can see exactly how my editing process works.

By the end of this unit, you’re going to know everything there is to know about editing in Lightroom and Photoshop.

Now Let’s Get Started!

If you want to follow the unit in order from start to finish, simply select the first tutorial on the bottom right, titled “The Three Principles of Editing.” The link to the next tutorial will always be located at the bottom right of the page, which will allow you to follow the course in sequence.

If you’d rather hop around to different topics, click here to go back to the Learn page, which is the home page for Explorer University. On this page you’ll see the Table of Contents, where you can select specific tutorials.

Have fun!