Hello Reader!

Here in Ohio we’ve been stuck with below-freezing temperatures for weeks now and over a foot of snow for more than two weeks! I saw something online that this is the most severe winter, temperature-wise we’ve had since 1977 or so! Supposedly by the time you are reading this the temperatures will be back above freezing for a few days, I bet it will feel absolutely balmy!

Anyway, on to this week’s newsletter.

Editing vs Evaluation: The Step We Skip Most Often

As I was preparing for a free webinar I am doing next week (be sure to read to the end to see the details on the Zoom webinar), my mind was running and I started thinking about evaluation versus editing. We often hear about the editing process, but not as often about the evaluation of an image.

There are countless videos and articles about editing. And that’s largely because editing an image has a “doing something” feel to it. We have sliders, it is easy to say open this image, do this, move this slider, choose this setting, and so on. Editing gets a lot of attention.

But as I’ve been practicing landscape photography longer, I’ve learned that there is a key step before the editing even starts. And you could even say this key step starts before you even take the picture. That earlier step - whether in the field or when you review your images is evaluation.

What is evaluation? It is the step of choosing which image you are going to edit. This can happen as we have Lightroom open and a whole series of images in front of us. Some of similar angles or compositions of a scene or all together different scenes that we are selecting from.

At this stage, we can improve our editing by evaluating and choosing images that are technically captured well, so we are doing less “saving” of the images in post-processing. We can carefully select the stronger compositions of a scene so we start our editing from a well-composed image. And evaluating includes thinking about where we want the image to go before we start moving sliders. Careful evaluation helps set our editing up for success.

As I mentioned, this evaluation step actually begins while we are out in the field with our camera. It is us studying the scene in front of us and doing our best to compose it in a deliberate way. Think about the photo you are taking, what draws your attention to this scene, how do you show that through a picture, and then take that picture. This evaluative process from start to finish will help you have stronger finished photos in the end.

I’ve found that being more purposeful and evaluative in my entire process has helped me walk away with stronger images. From that evaluation in the field of why am I taking a picture of this to that same evaluative process applied to my selection of what I want to edit. I think it is the unspoken or glossed-over step that can help you improve your landscape photography.

And now, what sparked all of this reflection to begin with!

Live Editing Webinar: How I Think Through an Edit

I’m hosting a free live webinar next week where I’ll do a start-to-finish edit of one of my landscape images using the Rethink Toolkit.

This won’t be a step-by-step tutorial. Instead, I’ll talk through how I evaluate an image, what I’m looking for at each stage, and why I make certain decisions as the edit develops. You’ll see the process, the pauses, and the judgment calls in real time.

📅 Thursday, February 19 · 7:30 PM Eastern

2026 Workshops

2026 Workshop registrations are open and we’re visiting lots of great place this year to practice your landscape photography! There is only ONE spot left for the spring Smokies workshop that I am co-leading with Michael Rung. Also - we have the room blocks sorted out for the Fall Smokies trip that I am also co-leading with Michael Rung. And it is never too early to start making plans for that Death Valley workshop in December!

All of that information, plus info on my Hocking Hills and West Virginia workshops are here:

Until the next newsletter!

Oh, If you enjoy these newsletters and want a little more behind-the-scenes, I also share additional content over on Patreon. There’s a free tier if you just want to follow along: https://www.patreon.com/c/JeffreyTadlockPhotography​

Know someone who might enjoy this? Please feel free to share this email with them.

~Jeffrey