Pick and choose

Once you've shot your photographs, you'll want to look through them to decide which ones you want to keep. Here we're using Apple's Aperture software to compare various similar shots. The technique we describe is relevant to all photo software, including iPhoto, Bridge and Adobe Lightroom (which we cover in the next tip).

Start by importing all your shots into your photo software and picking the photographs you like. The shots you choose will obviously depend on the brief from your client. In our case, we're shooting for an imaginary magazine called Fashion. It's looking for a quirky, unusual shot for the front cover.

Here we're comparing a series of similar shots, and we're also checking the detail on a shot we like. For most shots, a crisp focus on the eyes is absolutely essential, so you should check this first.

Arrange your photographs on the screen and compare shots side by side. You can now make adjustments to the colour balance of your shots and remove digital artefacts such as moire and colour fringing.

Most photo software works best if you've shot your material in raw format. This preserves as much basic pixel data from the original shot as possible. Only digital SLRs (and some high-end superzooms such as the Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ50) use this format -- compact cameras use the basic, compressed JPEG format.