In case you want to give your images a final editing touch after Aftershoot’s AI profile, Manual Editing has got you covered.

You can edit an image manually by fine-tuning exposure, adjusting colors, details, and calibration - in other words, take full creative control.

Aftershoot Manual Editing is completely free of charge.

Once you’ve uploaded your album, head over to the Edit tab.

Here, you have the choice to run an AI Edit with a Professional AI Profile, Instant AI Profile, or pre-built AI & Creator Styles first, and then adjust them through Manual Editing. Or you can just use manual editing without involving AI Edits.

To access Manual Editing, you have to enter Loupe View while in the Edit Tab. Do that by pressing the E or Enter keys.

In the right-hand drawer, you can see all the slider categories that you can use to adjust your image manually. Click on the arrow next to the category title to open it. There are several ways to adjust the slider values inside:

Adjust the overall warmth or coolness of your image by adjusting the temperature slider, or fix unwanted colors by tweaking the tint slider.
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You can also choose a White Balance preset by clicking on the right-hand dropdown and selecting one from the list.

Control the exposure and brightness of the image by tweaking highlights, shadows, whites, and blacks.

Make the colors pop without going overboard by adjusting vibrance and saturation.

Adjust every color to perfection by modifying its Hue, Saturation, Luminance, or All of them at the same time.

You can also use the Toggle Hue Picker by clicking on its icon, to the right of the HSL section title.

Select between Hue, Saturation, Luminance, or All and place the picker on the part of the image you want to modify. Then slide it from left to right until you achieve the desired effect. You can switch between the four tabs at will, while the picker is still enabled.

Add an artistic color tint to Shadows, Midtones, and Highlights of your image by playing with the color balance and contrast between tones.

Adjust by moving the Hue, Saturation, and Luminance sliders or by clicking and dragging on the color wheel. Below the wheel, you can control how much the color changes overlap and prioritize tonal ranges by moving the Balance and Blending.

Add some artistic flair to your images by applying effects like Vignette and Grain to your images.

Achieve a smoother image by sharpening or reducing noise – best for images taken in low-light conditions.

Adjust the overall color balance of an image by tweaking the primary colors.

After you make adjustments, you can check the difference for every slider category by clicking on the eye icon to the right of the title.

To switch to the Crop controls, click on the second tab in the upper right-hand corner.

Click on the dropdown next to Aspect Ratio to open the dropdown and select the one that you need by clicking on it.

Adjust the straight angle by dragging the slider ball to the desired position. You can also adjust and straighten the image with your cursor manually, by clicking and dragging on it.
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Select the overlay look by opening the dropdown and choosing the one you like best.

Rotate and flip the image by clicking on the respective controls at the bottom of the drawer.

You can see the extent of your adjustments by using the Before/After toggle by clicking on it in the lower right corner. Or by pressing the backward slash (\) key shortcut.

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Your manual adjustments can be even more accurate through the use of Subject Masks. To access them, click on the third tab in the upper-right corner.

To use Subject Masking in manual editing, you need to run an AI Edit and apply it first.

Find out more about that in our article on Subject Masking in Aftershoot.

Note: Please keep in mind that while manual editing in Aftershoot is completely free, you need an active subscription to run an AI Edit.

Once you’re happy with the results of your edits, you can copy them to another image. Simply press the CMD/CTRL+C combination.

Customize which editing adjustment to sync in the pop-up window that appears, check the boxes next to the slider adjustments you want to sync, and uncheck the ones you don’t. When you’re done, click on the Save button.

Then choose the image to which you want to apply these adjustments and press the CMD/CTRL+V combination.

There is the option to also sync the Crop & Straighten Angle by checking its box. But keep in mind that this will only apply to the images that don’t have retouching adjustments.

You can select multiple images and sync your adjustments across all of them. To select multiple images, hold the CMD/CTRL key and click on the images you want to select in the carousel. Alternatively, you can use the CMD+A/CTRL+A combination to select images. Afterward, simply click the Sync button in the lower right corner of the screen.

Pick and choose which slider adjustments you want to sync, the same way as for a single image, by clicking on the Gear icon next to the Sync button.

You can save the Sync settings you used once for all future cases by checking the Always use these slider settings box. Note the pop-up box won’t appear after every copy and sync action if you do this. To change this setting, simply click on the Gear icon and uncheck the box.

If you want to start from scratch with an image, you don’t have to manually return every slider to its original state. Simply click on the Reset button, next to the Sync button.

You have the options to save all the adjustments you made for one image and create a Preset to use on other shoots. To do so, click on the Select Preset dropdown and choose Create Preset.

In the pop-up window, check the boxes for the adjustments you want to save into a preset and click on the Create Preset button.

Your preset will be saved in the dropdown under Created Presets. Next time, you can just apply it instead of making manual adjustments.

There is also the option to import an existing Lightroom preset by clicking Import Preset in the dropdown. Then browse your system and select the preset you wish to import. It will be saved under Imported Presets.

After applying a preset, you can make adjustments to its edits and save them by creating another preset.

You have the option to apply Color Profiles at any point during the editing process. Just click on the dropdown and select one from the list.

Once you’re done with the finishing touches, you can proceed with exporting your images. Just click on the Export button in the upper right corner of the screen.

Here, you can choose where on your system to export to, how to name conflicting files (i.e., files that have the same name), choose the file format between original, JPEG, and TIFF, as well as image quality and color space.

If you click on the Other Apps tab in the left drawer, you can choose to export your images directly into your editing software of choice. Then, simply click on the Export button in the lower right corner again, and you’re all done!