Whenever I start editing an image, there are 3 key things I look at first:

1. Straight Lines

There is no worse flaw in an architectural image than crooked or tilted walls – we can’t have that. So this is really the first thing I look at when I open an image.

I always shoot on a tripod and my camera has a built-in level that I check every time I take a photo. But even with those tools sometimes there is a slight tilt in the image: the lens might not have been perfectly parallel to the wall in front of it or there might be a slight vertical tilt. Luckily these are easily corrected in Lightroom to make sure the lines are perfectly straight.

2. Distracting Elements

Not everyone agrees with me, but I don’t like seeing electrical outlets or canned lights – I find them distracting. So I usually remove them from my images. I feel that removing them makes the photo look much cleaner and allows us to immediately focus on other elements of the image.

3. Annoying Color Casts

Allow me to be a photo nerd for a minute here: every light source has a different color. Daylight is actually blue (shocking, I know!), tungsten lights have that characteristic warm yellow/orange glow, and fluorescent lights are green. Our eyes and our brains usually don’t see these colors as clearly, but the camera is not so forgiving.  And sometimes that beautiful daylight coming through the window will make your gorgeous wood floors have a bluish tone. Or the greenery from the landscaping outside the window will cast a green glow on a white wall. That’s what we call a color cast. I don’t like them so I try to remove them whenever possible to create an image with accurate color.