How to edit Diwali photos on your phone for better lighting and colour

Diwali photos usually mean many nighttime shots and intense light sources. Here are some ways to make the most of your phone camera to get studio-quality shots

You can use your phone settings as well as free third-party apps to enhance your Diwali photos [File] | Photo Credit: REUTERS

After returning from a wild Diwali party, a festive family get-together, or an evening spent bursting firecrackers, your phone will likely hold dozens or even hundreds of new photos. Diwali photoshoots can be challenging for many phone cameras, as they are forced to capture intense, moving light sources in near or total darkness.

Some resulting side effects can include too much AI post-processing, noisy and grainy backgrounds, muddy blacks and blues, overly warm tones, light flares, shaky subjects, distorted colours, or overly-sharpened elements that ruin the dreamy atmosphere of your picture.

However, you don’t have to be a professional DSLR wielding photographer to get frame-worthy night shots. Here are some tricks and tips you can use to fix your photos, in order to replicate that magical moment you first captured with your eyes.

Apps such as Adobe Lightroom allow you to carry out more precise edits than your phone’s pre-installed photo editing controls | Photo Credit: Images shot by Sahana Venugopal; edited on Adobe Lightroom and compiled on Canva

Quick ways to fix your photos

Most phone camera settings have a one-step photo enhancement tool that will brighten up dark images, improve contrasts, and make basic colour edits for you. This is an easy way to upgrade your images within seconds, and can be taught easily to even those who are not comfortable with technology. Select the photo you wish to edit, and look for a wand-shaped icon or a spark-shaped icon to proceed

If you need to expand an image or increase its dimensions and you don’t mind using AI tools, several platforms offer generative AI-powered image filling tools that let you upload a picture and then naturally expand the background. Canva and Adobe both offer this feature on a paid basis, but you can try to wrangle a free trial. There are also free apps offering this feature, but check all security credentials before downloading from any app store, and never upload private or intimate images to such platforms

For the most precise edits, avoid using the default photo-editing tools in your smartphone and instead opt for a dedicated media editing platform/app such as Adobe Lightroom, which is free on mobile. Here you can use both automated and manual options to edit your images

Lighting and colour tips

Decide whether you want your image to look “warm” (favouring red/yellow/orange) or “cool” (favouring green/violet/blue). Sticking largely to one “temperature,” so to speak, will bring more harmony to your image. On other occasions, you may need to adjust the temperature to achieve a more neutral set of colours

If your photos have people in them, focus primarily on the colour of their skin when editing the image, to ensure they do not end up looking red or over-saturated

Night shots can look surreal and overly edited if they are too bright. Try to retain deep rich blacks and shadows that do not obscure key details, in order to preserve the feel of your photo

Fading your image is one way to smooth out flaws and mistakes, making the details more subtle whilst achieving an old world atmosphere

Published - November 01, 2024 11:57 am IST