Photo Editing Tips for Photographers with Dawn Charles

Photographers will learn how to fix common skin tone and color problems in Lightroom using the HSL panel, and how to study photos you love to figure out your own editing style. Dawn Charles also explains why she thinks new photographers should start with presets right away rather than editing from scratch.

Dawn walks through her entire post-shoot workflow, from backing up cards in four places to culling in Narrative Select, building a base preset from the easiest photo to edit, and then applying it in batches with small tweaks. She also shares specific fixes for orange or washed out skin, tricky blue hour and golden hour lighting, and how she keeps her eyes calibrated during long editing sessions.

About Dawn Charles

Dawn Charles is a photographer and educator known for her intimate wedding and couples work and her popular Lightroom preset packs. She studied photography formally in college, built her own preset line after discontinuing her first pack, which she had launched in 2016, and now runs Rise Photo Academy, a membership based education platform for photographers.

Key takeaways

1. Start with presets, then learn why they work

Dawn believes new photographers should invest in presets right away because editing from scratch without any foundation is slow and overwhelming. She recommends clicking through options, noticing which ones you are drawn to, and figuring out why, for example noticing one has warmer shadows and another has higher saturation.

2. Build a base preset for each session

After culling in Narrative Select, pick the easiest photo to edit, often one in shade or on a cloudy day where both subjects' skin tones are visible. Apply your most recent preset pack, tweak it for that day's lighting and colors, then save it as a new preset named for the client before applying it across the gallery.

3. Fix orange or intense skin tones in small steps

Dawn starts by checking white balance and lowering contrast, since bold shadows often carry orange tones. She also lowers saturation while raising vibrance, since vibrance is more forgiving on skin, then fine tunes the orange and red sliders in HSL before using the dropper tool if needed.

4. Protect your eyes from editing fatigue

Editing for hours can trick your eyes into misjudging color, especially under artificial light. Dawn edits during daylight when possible, takes breaks, and keeps the original image open side by side with her edit so she can check that skin tones and colors have not drifted too far.

5. Balance blue hour and golden hour without losing realism

In blue hour, skin can look dead if it pulls too much blue, so Dawn boosts warmth on faces while keeping the sky's blue tone using selective brushing. In golden hour, she avoids letting the whole image turn one warm tone by still protecting skin tones and outfit colors with HSL adjustments.

6. Study photos to find your own editing style

Dawn spent hours studying film photography and other photographers' work to understand what made tones and colors feel a certain way. She suggests asking whether you prefer warmer tones, what the highlights and shadows look like, and whether you want true to life color or more artistic liberties.

7. Think of your portfolio or feed as a cohesive puzzle

Dawn lays out her Instagram grid with an app like Later, thinking about how the eye moves across nine or twelve photos at once. She varies distance, color, and composition but leaves negative space so the photos feel calm rather than cluttered.

Favourite moments

"It is a huge like balancing act, for sure, because one thing will affect another, and you don't know if you've gone too far with one"

Dawn Charles

"I try not to edit in artificial lighting, so a lot of times I'm just editing during daylight"

Dawn Charles

Listen to the full episode

Watch the episode above, or listen to Photo Editing Tips for Photographers with Dawn Charles on Apple Podcasts, YouTube or wherever you get your podcasts.

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Frequently asked questions

When should new photographers start using presets?

Dawn says right away, because editing without any prior knowledge makes it hard to recreate nuanced tones and colors. She recommends using presets as a starting point, then tweaking them and noticing which settings you prefer so you learn what is actually happening in Lightroom.

How do you fix orange skin tones in Lightroom?

Dawn starts by checking white balance and lowering overall contrast, since bold shadows often carry orange. She then lowers saturation while raising vibrance, and fine tunes the orange and red sliders in HSL, using the dropper tool on the skin if she still cannot get it right.

How do you find your own photo editing style?

Dawn suggests studying photos and film you love and asking specific questions, like whether the tones are warm, what the highlights and shadows look like, and whether the look is true to life or more artistic. Over years of trial and error she used this process to build her own preset packs.

How should you edit golden hour and blue hour photos?

For blue hour, Dawn focuses on keeping skin tones warm enough that subjects do not look lifeless while still playing up the blue in the sky, often using selective brushing. For golden hour, she avoids letting the whole image turn one warm tone by protecting skin tones and outfit colors with HSL adjustments.

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