Teaching Philosophy
The Craft of Post Processing
Learn the skills; Then the tools.
Photography software changes constantly. New applications appear, interfaces are redesigned, features are renamed, and increasingly sophisticated tools—including artificial intelligence—automate tasks that once required considerable technical effort.
The fundamental skills of post-processing change much more slowly.
Tone and color still shape how we see a photograph. Selections and masks determine where adjustments are applied.
Layers allow changes to be isolated and combined. Dodging and burning shape light and guide the viewer through an image.
In my classes, I focus on the skills and understanding the basics rather than on application specific recipes.
Start With the Photograph
Post-processing isn't about demonstrating how much you know about Photoshop, Lightroom, Affinity, or any other application. It is about making decisions that help create the photograph you envisioned.
Before choosing a tool, there is a more important question:
What does this photograph need?
Perhaps the foreground needs more separation. A bright area near the edge of the frame may be drawing too much attention. The shadows may need additional detail. A color may be competing with the primary subject. Or the photograph may simply need stronger tonal relationships.
Recognizing those problems—and deciding what to do about them—is a photographic skill.
The software comes next.
Understand the Skill
Many software tutorials begin with instructions:
Choose this tool.
Click this button.
Enter this value.
Create this type of mask.
Those instructions can be useful, but knowing the steps doesn't necessarily mean understanding what is happening.
Consider masking.
A photographer can learn which button creates a mask in Lightroom or Photoshop in a few minutes. Understanding masking is a much broader skill.
What should the mask include? What should be excluded? How precise does the mask need to be? Should its edges be hard or soft? How strongly should the adjustment be applied? How does the mask interact with other adjustments in the photograph?
Once you understand those concepts, learning how a particular application implements masking becomes much easier.
The same principle applies to layers, curves, selections, color adjustments, sharpening, dodging and burning, and most other areas of post-processing.
Skills Transfer
Software applications use different terminology and different approaches to accomplish many of the same tasks.
A Curves adjustment may look slightly different from one application to another, but the underlying relationship between input and output values remains the same.
A layer mask in Photoshop and a layer mask in Affinity may be created differently, but the fundamental idea of using a grayscale mask to control where an adjustment appears remains the same.
Lightroom approaches local editing differently from a pixel editor, but understanding selections, masks, tone, and color remains valuable.
Learning the underlying skill means you don't have to start over every time you change applications.
You learn the concept once and then learn how your chosen software implements it.
Tools Still Matter
Putting skills first doesn't mean the software is unimportant.
The tools available to photographers are remarkably capable, and using them efficiently matters. Different applications solve problems in different ways, and some suit particular workflows better than others.
That's why I offer application-specific instruction in Photoshop, Lightroom, Affinity, and other tools.
The difference is where we start.
Rather than the software defining what you learn, I focus on photographic skill and then explore the tools available to apply it.
Skill → Application → Photograph
The objective isn't simply to become better at Photoshop or Lightroom.
The objective is to become a better photo editor.
Understanding Creates Choices
There is rarely only one way to process a photograph.
You can increase contrast with Levels, Curves, a contrast control, local adjustments, blending techniques, or some combination of them. You can make a selection manually, derive it from luminosity or color, or allow an AI tool to identify the subject.
Understanding the underlying principles gives you choices.
Instead of asking: "Which tool am I supposed to use?"
you can begin asking: "What am I trying to accomplish?"
and then choose the tool that best accomplishes it.
That transition—from following instructions to making informed decisions—is one of the most important steps in becoming a more capable photo editor.
Technology Changes. The Craft Remains.
Artificial intelligence will continue to change photographic software. Tasks that once took several minutes may soon take seconds. Selections will become more accurate. Retouching will become easier. New tools will automate increasingly complex operations.
That doesn't eliminate the need to understand post-processing.
It changes where the photographer's skill matters.
When the software can create a technically perfect selection almost instantly, knowing what to select and what to do with that selection becomes more important than knowing how to draw it manually.
The technology may perform the operation.
The photographer still makes the decision.
Learn. Apply. Create.
Solstice Photo is organized around that progression.
Learn the principles and skills behind photographic post-processing.
Apply those skills using the software you choose.
Create photographs that reflect your own decisions, priorities, and vision.
My goal isn't to teach you a collection of commands.
It's to give you a foundation you can continue to use as your photography—and the tools available to you—evolve.