Getting a Professional Look — a Recipe
A short, repeatable workflow for turning a snapshot into a professional-looking image using image-editor's tools. It follows the order the pros use (see the research in analysis.md §11): fix the basics first, then tone, then colour, then local work, then finish. Small, deliberate moves beat big ones.
Golden rule: edit in order, and less is more. If a slider looks obvious, back it off. Everything here is non-destructive — undo freely, and Save Project (
.iedit) before a big session so you can always come back.
The 7 steps
1 · Get the basics right (Adjust tab · Whole image)
- White balance — set Temperature (warmer/cooler) and Tint until whites look neutral and skin looks natural. This one step fixes most "amateur" colour.
- Exposure — make the overall brightness correct.
- Highlights down / Shadows up — recover blown skies and open dark areas.
2 · Shape the tone (contrast)
- Add a gentle Contrast, or better, an S-curve in the Curves tab (lift the top, drop the bottom) — this is what gives an image "pop" without looking harsh.
3 · Add dimension (Adjust tab)
- Clarity ≈ +15 to +25 for midtone punch. Texture a touch for fine detail.
- Dehaze only if the shot looks flat or hazy.
- Leave Sharpen for the very end (step 7).
4 · Grade the colour (Color tab)
- Split-tone: cool shadows (hue ≈ 210°) + warm highlights (hue ≈ 45°), amounts around 15–30. This is the single biggest "cinematic" lever.
- HSL: nudge Blue up for skies, ease Orange/Red down if skin is too warm, lift Green for foliage. Keep moves small.
5 · Make the subject pop (Selection only)
- Switch Adjust → Selection only, brush over your subject, and nudge Exposure and Clarity up a little. Keep Border smoothing high so it blends. Toggle Show selection outline off to judge the result, then Apply to selection.
- This is digital dodge & burn — brightening what matters, and (with a second selection and lower exposure) darkening what doesn't.
6 · Retouch (optional)
- Erase distractions (🩹) or a whole person (🧍). Heal small blemishes.
- Reshape (🫳) for subtle body/object tweaks. Paste (📎) to add an element.
7 · Finish
- Vignette ≈ +15 to +25 to gently draw the eye to the centre.
- Sharpen last, modestly. Optionally a little Film grain for a filmic feel.
- Save As at full resolution (JPEG at high quality, or PNG/TIFF for lossless).
Quick presets to try
| Look | Do this |
|---|---|
| Clean & natural | WB neutral · gentle S-curve · Clarity +15 · Vignette +12 · Sharpen +30 |
| Warm portrait | WB slightly warm · Highlights −20 · Split-tone warm highlights (45°, 20) · HSL orange −10 · Clarity +10 |
| Moody cinematic | Contrast up · Split-tone cool shadows (210°, 25) + warm highlights (45°, 20) · Vignette +25 · Saturation −10 |
| Punchy landscape | Dehaze +20 · Clarity +25 · HSL blue +30 / green +15 · Vignette +15 |
| Black & white | Film look → Monochrome (or Acros) · Contrast up · Clarity +20 · Grain +15 |
Common mistakes to avoid
- Over-saturation — prefer Vibrance over Saturation; grade with HSL, not the master saturation slider.
- Halos from too much Clarity/Sharpen — back them off until edges look clean.
- Obvious local edits — keep Border smoothing up and effects subtle; use Show selection outline to check the blend.
- Editing a small JPEG — start from the largest, highest-quality file you have. For the very best quality, do white-balance/exposure on the RAW in a free RAW processor (Darktable / RawTherapee), export a high-quality file, then finish here.
Where image-editor fits in a pro pipeline
image-editor is strongest at tone, colour grading, local work, retouch, reshape, and finishing. For the two steps it doesn't do yet — RAW development and AI denoise / upscaling — pair it with a free RAW tool for now; those are on the roadmap (see plan.md Phase 9, the backend tier).