PhotoExplain Team
9 minutes read
It is the bane of every creative person: you create something but are never satisfied with the outcome because there’s always something you can improve about it. If you’re a photographer, then you know the problem all too well. This is why you’re likely to swear by editing in post-production for getting the most out of your captured images.
Thus, there’s always a need to hire a professional photo editor to add many effects and make corrections to your photos, but did you know a virtual assistant could do all of that? You may have heard about virtual assistants being recruited to run tasks associated with eCommerce business management or supporting busy C-level executives. But they are capable of so much more, including giving you exemplary photos with their photo editing skills.
If you’re unsure about how a virtual assistant can up your photo editing game, then this blog is for you. Read on to learn about the different photo editing tasks they can do for you, along with other benefits that you can experience with that hiring.
The Functions a Photo Editing Virtual Assistant Can Perform
Virtual assistants may be known for their multitasking abilities, but they can be specifically trained to excel at a particular field of operation too. If you hire a virtual assistant for photo editing, in particular, then they can do the below-mentioned tasks to meet your photo editing/enhancement needs, and all of them remotely too.
Background Alteration / Elimination
Backgrounds are hit-and-miss in photography. Sometimes they add a particular charm to the image that enhances its value by making the subject look better. In other instances, they do the opposite, taking away a charm that would otherwise have existed in a photograph.
For the latter cases, it’s best to remove the background altogether, or at least alter it such that it isn’t intrusive enough to ruin the look of the photo. This is easier said than done since it needs expert photo editing skills to not inadvertently affect the subject.
This is where a VA specializing in photo editing can help. You can send over the images whose backgrounds you want to be eliminated or altered along with the applicable criteria, and the VA will edit the photos accordingly.
They can induce effects like Bokeh to blur out the background, replace the incumbent background with another suitable one, alter its color, etc. Once done, you’ll have photos with no backgrounds or with backgrounds that add to their value instead of the contrary.
Perspective Correction
When someone says things don’t always go straight in photography, they could mean it literally. Due to various reasons, photos may be captured with an unintended tilt, requiring editing to set them straight. A photo editing virtual assistant can deliver on this challenge too without problems.
The VA will examine the degree of tilt and consider the original angles required for the photograph. They will then use their expert photo editing skills to change the tilt angle of the image’s content until the desired angle is reached. They can do this for the entire image or individual objects in them.
They are also capable of altering curved lines and dynamically altering perspectives within images that don’t follow a straight path. This helps maintain symmetry or asymmetry in the photo as needed, removing the unwanted distortions causing the problems.
Brightness and Contrast Change
Brightness and contrast are two aspects of photography that always give photographers a hard time. They are both dependent on the lighting in the scene of photo capture, which tends to always be off the desired mark. While there are plenty of adjustments that can be made to correct for insufficient or excessive light during image capture, it’s in the editing stage that real corrections to brightness and contrast occur.
A VA will closely examine an image to determine the brightness and contrast levels present in it, usually with histograms. They’ll use their experience and gauge the best values to set the brightness and contrast levels for that image so that its objectives are fulfilled.
For example, if the goal is to highlight a product for eCommerce purposes, then the photo editing virtual assistant will dull out the background while brightening the product in the photo. They may even increase the overall brightness of the image so that it has the “punch” that can capture the viewer’s attention, an important aspect in creating awareness and desirability for a product.
Light and shadow balancing also form a part of this editing process. The VA may add or remove shadows from certain parts of the image so that there is enhancement/diminishing of those regions in terms of standing out. They can remove excess light in some portions and also brighten selective regions of the image. With this, you can get them to give you a variety of lighting effects in an image.
Panorama Stitching
Panorama is a great photo technique that helps to capture a lot of content in a single image instead of capturing it all in pieces in individual photos. But there is always the risk of that panoramic photo being distorted due to incorrect movement of the camera while filming or some other reason.
Clipped, distorted panoramic photos do not add any value as it may be hard to discern what has been captured in them. Photo editing VAs use advanced photo editing techniques via exclusive software to set right the broken state of a bad panoramic shot by realigning out-of-line sections. They may also use interpolation to add some portions of the photo to maintain its continuity. You can even have the fish-eye effect that comes with panoramic photos removed to gain a flat, proportionately-even image.
Color Correction and Balancing
Color photography gained quick favor because it brought realism to photos. But not all photos fulfill that requirement as many factors can lead them to have incorrect color hues, saturation, and brightness.
This could happen during photo capture itself due to exterior conditions, technical problems (common with film cameras), or due to the aging of physical copies. The editing prowess of a dedicated virtual assistant can rectify these color issues.
The VA can change the color values of different regions and objects in an image to bring out the realism that is otherwise missing in them. They can even exceed normal saturation limits whenever there’s a need to make certain colors in the image “pop” and appear more lively. They can bring down the tone so that oversaturated images stop seeming unrealistic.
eCommerce, especially the fashion niche, can benefit immensely from having a virtual assistant for photo editing to manage the colors of product images. There won’t be a need to reshoot for every color variant. Instead, the VA can simply change the color of the product digitally and produce separate images for each variant using just one photo as the foundation.
They can balance the color variations in an image so that it is even throughout, or they can highlight certain regions over others. Another application of their color management skills is with photo restoration, where they can recolor old photos whose colors have gotten washed out.
HDR Photo Editing
A highly sophisticated technique, High Dynamic Range photo editing, adds contrast levels and details like nothing else. It involves taking multiple shots of a subject with varying light intensity levels and combining them all during editing to create a stunning photograph. Perhaps the biggest beneficiary of this technique is real estate photography, where the exterior of the property can be highlighted against any background spectacularly. As mentioned, editing is an invariable part of HDR, meaning you should have a VA for it.
Noise Reduction
Visual noise, like graining, is an inevitable part of photography, but it needn’t become an inevitable part of your images. If it does, then your pictures will lose clarity and appeal, rendering them having no value. Let a photo editing virtual assistant work on it and your grainy images will end up without that texture.
The VA will examine the pixels that have experienced distortion from low light or another cause. They’ll then clear up those pixels using sharpening features in the photo editing software. This helps preserve the original content of the image while also improving its overall quality.
Basic Editing Services
You don’t always need sophisticated editing to be applied to your images. Simple tasks like resizing, format changing, clipping path, etc., are the norm for most photos. Your hired VA for photo editing can perform these without breaking a sweat since they’ll be familiar with the process for these routine requirements.
They can even add ghost mannequins and portrait photo editing for professional or personal requirements. Getting one or more of these done in bulk isn’t a problem either since the VA’s experience makes them quick at achieving results.
Conclusion
The world of photography is being swiftly changed by technology, which is changing the way the world creates and interacts with images. Whether a photo comes from a mobile phone, a dedicated digital camera, or a film one, it will need good photo editing to realize its true potential, regardless of its purpose. When you go with a virtual assistant for photo editing, you get expert eyes and hands to work on your images, turning them into works of art at manageable cost and time considerations. They’ll make your imperfect images into valuable assets for your business or ones that get cherished for lifetimes.
