Tips for Editing Interior Photos (Part 2)
A few months ago I shared a post about how I take photos using my Google Pixel, and today I’m so excited to finally be sharing part 2, my editing process! I posted an Instagram reel with a very quick example, but the 15 second time limit didn’t allow for much explanation. Here’s a more detailed breakdown of how I take photos that look like this:
and turn them into this:
LIGHTROOM APP
The first thing you’ll need is the Adobe Lightroom app, which you can get for iPhone or Android here. I have a monthly subscription for the full Adobe suite because I use multiple programs on both my phone and computer, but if you’re only planning to use Lightroom and Photoshop, there’s a great bundle for $9.99/month. There is a free version of the Lightroom app, but unfortunately it doesn’t include a lot of the editing features you’ll need.
HONEY PRESET
I use the Honey preset by India Earl as the starting point for all of my photo edits. India is an incredibly talented photographer and has such an eye for warm, golden light. I’ve been a fan of hers for years and was so happy when she announced the release of her own presets. The price is on the higher end, but after buying multiple preset packs and being disappointed with the results, I can say this one is totally worth it. It also includes way more than a standard preset pack, with nine modifiers, two custom brushes, and seven hours of tutorial videos, which were incredibly helpful when I was learning how to use it.
GEOMETRY
The next thing I do after applying the Honey preset is set the geometry to auto. Lightroom is pretty intelligent and detects the horizon line in your photo, as well as any other lines. The geometry tool corrects the perspective, which is really helpful if your photo is a little crooked or taken from slightly too high or too low of an angle. You can adjust the geometry further with the slider bars, but most of the time the auto setting works for me. I don’t always use the geometry tool, especially for closeups or if the photo is purposely taken at an angle, since that usually confuses Lightroom and can cause some weird photo rotations.
CROP
After adjusting the geometry, I crop my photos to a 4x5 ratio for Instagram. Depending on how I framed the original photo, I usually take an even amount off the top and bottom. In this case, I cropped entirely from the top edge to keep more of the Moroccan pouf in the bottom of the photo.
LIGHT
Now this is where things really start to vary from one photo to the next, which is why I like to individually edit my photos instead of applying the same edits across everything. Depending on how bright or dark my original photo was, my exposure adjustments can range from 0 to 0.75 for an especially dark photo. For the most part, though, I try not to go above 0.25 because it can start making the brightness of the photo look unrealistic.
The rest of the sliders I use sparingly and only if I think my photo really needs it. Pressing your finger on the screen shows the original photo, so I go back and forth seeing how my edited version looks by comparison. If it looks like the Honey preset added too much contrast, I’ll slide that down a bit. Same goes for highlights and shadows. The Honey preset does a nice job of getting rid of any blown out highlights, but if my photo looks a little too dark in the shadows or too dull in the highlights, I’ll brighten those up a small amount, careful not to go overboard.
COLOR
Like with light, my color adjustments vary a lot depending on the colors in my original photo. I have a lot of orange tones in my house, which the Honey preset punches up and makes more saturated. The white balance isn’t where I adjust for that though, and usually I won’t even touch that slider. If my photo is overall looking too blue or orange, or too green or pink, I’ll adjust the white balance very slightly (talking like -5 to 5 max).
The real magic comes from color mix, which you can find by clicking the mix button. Here you can adjust the hue, saturation, and luminance of each color individually. I do the same thing as before, pressing my finger on the screen to compare the original colors to my edited ones, and toning down anything that stands out too much or looks unrealistic. There’s a lot of room to play around with color here, so I encourage you to try out different mixes and find what works for you!
CHECKLIST
My mental checklist every time I edit a photo goes a little something like:
Apply Honey preset
Geometry to auto (sometimes)
Crop to 4x5 ratio
Adjust light
Adjust color
Hope this helps you with your photo edits! If you ever have any questions, don’t hesitate to DM me or leave a comment below :)