Lens-Artists,  Philippines,  Photographic techniques,  Themed galleries

Gallery: rescuing the rejects

January 25, 2026 / 42 Comments

The stone the builders rejected has become the cornerstone

Psalm 118

I’m not in the habit of quoting the Bible but there could be no more apt quotation for this topic. How often have you looked at a photo and immediately rejected it? Too bland, too flat, out of focus, poor composition… It may have looked good at the time you took it, but for one reason or another it didn’t turn out as you’d hoped and planned.

However, as that quote reminds us, something that most people would reject can become at least useful and possibly beautiful. Sometimes it’s worth going back to those discarded images to see if any of them have something to offer. Seeing them with a fresh eye, with the benefit of time, may help you to find some potential within them. That’s the challenge this week from Egidio. He reminds us that, ‘A bad photo can sometimes be “rescued” and made more presentable’.

So I decided to go back to the folder of ‘rejects’ from last year’s Philippines trip. I chose that partly out of laziness (they were still on my laptop rather than on a hard drive up in the loft). But I was also conscious that I’d taken many more photos there than I’d had time to edit so I was hopeful of finding a few that might be ‘rescuable’.

Some of those I selected needed quite a bit of work to make them more interesting, while others required only a few tweaks. I don’t always go into any details about my editing processes, but I thought for this exercise it would be of interest to some readers. If that’s not you, feel free to skip!

My feature photo was taken near Banaue. The original was rather dull so I used one of Photoshop Elements‘ ‘fun edits’ to create a triptych effect which I rather like. For comparison, here’s what I started with.

Rice terraces near near Banaue (original)

Lalouette Inn, Sagada

View from the Lalouette Inn, Sagada (original)

This was the view from our hotel in Sagada. I wanted to capture it as a memory but wasn’t satisfied enough with the photo to make use of it. For this exercise I brightened it and increased the contrast and saturation in Photoshop Elements. I then used the Nik Color Efex skylight filter and foliage enhancer, and finally back in Photoshop Elements I cropped it to create the impression of a panorama. This is the result:

View from the Lalouette Inn, Sagada (edited)

City Garden Grand hotel, Manila

The view from the City Garden Grand hotel, Manila (original)

Here is a view from another hotel bedroom, this time in Manila. We stayed here several times in the course of the trip and on this second occasion I was pleased to see that we had a view, as on the first one we’d looked out at a blank concrete wall! But it didn’t make for an especially interesting photo. The lighting was very flat, the window glass distorted the colour, and there was still some concrete! So I cropped that out of the foreground and brightened the shot in Photoshop Elements. I then used the Fine Art Process pre-set in Nik Silver Efex, and fiddled with the contrast and brightness sliders before adding a selenium tone. Again, here is the result:

The view from the City Garden Grand hotel, Manila (edited)

Manila streets

On the streets of Manila (original)

I spent some time at a busy junction near our hotel in Manila, trying to capture the often manic traffic. Some shots worked and I’ve used them in previous posts, e.g. People of the Philippines. Others, like this one, were too confused and lacked a focal point. In Photoshop Elements I used a Nik HDR Efex filter (#28) to increase the contrast and added a graduated neutral density filter to draw attention to the couple bottom right. I used the remove tool to get rid of another vehicle intruding bottom left and tidied it up with the clone tool. Still not happy with it I turned to Luminar Neo (not my favourite editing program but useful sometimes) to add motion blur to the couple on the bike. That gave me the sense of activity and focal point that was missing from the original shot.

On the streets of Manila (edited)

Luna Hotel, Vigan

Lobby of the Luna Hotel, Vigan (original)

I liked this sculpture in the lobby of our hotel in Vigan but it was in an awkward spot for a photo, beneath a staircase. In Photoshop Elements I first straightened it, then removed the background and added a layer with gradient colour. Finally I used Element’s AI ‘insert object’ feature to add a pedestal that I felt suited it better. I hope you agree!

Lobby of the Luna Hotel, Vigan (edited)

Chocolate Hills, Bohol

Near the Chocolate Hills viewpoint, Bohol (original)

I took a lot of photos from the Chocolate Hills viewpoint but this one was grabbed from the car as we were driving towards it. I wanted to show one of the hills rising from the surrounding flatter land. However this image turned out too dull to be used.

In Photoshop Elements I reduced the haze and used the Nik Color Efex global adjustments filter to play with the brightness, contrast and warmth. I then added a graduated neutral density filter to make the sky more interesting (but with a control point to avoid darkening the hill itself). Finally back in Photoshop Elements I cropped out the brightest and flattest area of sky and the half building on the left which I found distracting. It’s still not a great shot but I’m happier with the result:

Near the Chocolate Hills viewpoint, Bohol (edited)

Bohol Beach Club

Dove at the Bohol Beach Club (original)

I liked the way this dove turned to look at me as I stopped to take its photo, but ended up rejecting the shot as the path in the background was ugly and distracting, and it wasn’t completely sharp.. Going back to it for this exercise I found I was able to crop most of it out. I then used Photoshop Elements’ clone tool to spread some grass over the remaining strip of path. In Nik Color Efex I brightened and added contrast to the shots, as well as a slight vignette. I then corrected lack of sharpness in Topaz AI, had here’s the result:

Dove at the Bohol Beach Club (edited)

All of this effort proves one thing. With patience and a few editing tools you can turn a rejected photo into an acceptable image. However this doesn’t necessarily mean that you can create a great one! Few if any of these final results would make my ‘top images’ selection from that trip, but they do add to my range of shots from each destination.

I visited the Philippines in February/March 2025

42 Comments

  • Leya

    January 29, 2026 at 16:11 Reply

    Wonderful, Sarah! Good to follow your editing – and the results shine. My favourite is also the statue – it was really worth your effort!

  • Annie Berger

    January 27, 2026 at 23:08 Reply

    You must spend a huge amount of time editing your photos, Sarah! I applaud you for wanting to take the time and using so many technical effects to arrive at the picture you think is best. My favorite was the one taken from your hotel room in Manila. The edited version was so much clearer, compared to the rather dreary one through the green windows.

    • Sarah Wilkie

      January 28, 2026 at 12:05 Reply

      I spend a lot of time on some photos Annie, but very little on others. I might not have thought to try ‘rescuing’ these were it not for Egidio’s challenge 😃 Glad you liked the Manila shot, thank you.

  • Sofia Alves

    January 27, 2026 at 16:11 Reply

    You’ve done wonderfully with your edits, Sarah and thank you for going through how you’ve done them. I think the sculpture is an obvious winner but the view from Sagada is just as impressive.

    • Sarah Wilkie

      January 27, 2026 at 17:38 Reply

      Thank you very much Sofia 😊 I think most people, myself included, feel the sculpture has benefitted most from the editing. I really liked that Sagada view so was happy I could revisit and strengthen the shot.

  • Tina Schell

    January 26, 2026 at 16:59 Reply

    It’s no surprise to me that you are a wonderful editor and that even the best photographers need to be good editors to maximize their opportunities. After all, as travelers there are many times when we don’t have a second chance at a shot and yet our visit was bad weather, or catching a moment that quickly passed. All of your edits are wonderful but my favorite this week is that beautiful lobby statue which you’ve turned from a throw-away into a top 10 for the year. Terrific examples.

    • Sarah Wilkie

      January 26, 2026 at 17:06 Reply

      Thanks so much Tina 😊 You’re right that as travellers we have to make the most of whatever circumstances we find and take the best shot we can at the time even if it’s not all we’d have liked it to be. I was really pleased that Egidio’s challenge had me revisiting that sculpture shot as I doubt I would otherwise have taken the time to work on it like this!

  • Rose

    January 26, 2026 at 15:48 Reply

    It was neat to see the difference in the original versus the edited versions. Editing certainly brought out elements that seemed to blend into the background. Editing is an art-craft. I tend to like the original photos better, only because they offer ‘real’ views of a place. I’ve been mislead by highly edited photos – thinking they were real when they were artfully created versions. So, I appreciate that you posted both – the original and the edited versions. Thank you. And thank you for taking us to places around the world. 😊

    • Sarah Wilkie

      January 26, 2026 at 16:22 Reply

      Thank you for this thoughtful response Rose 🙂 I do try not to lose the ‘realness’ of a scene when I edit but rather to bring it out, and I would always ‘fess up if I’ve used AI to add elements that weren’t there (which I almost never do). I appreciate the reason why you tend to prefer the originals but as a photographer I’m always striving to create the best image I can for its own sake, not necessarily a 100% accurate record of a scene. If I were a photojournalist it would of course be another matter …!

  • Easymalc

    January 26, 2026 at 05:52 Reply

    Although I keep my editing to a bare minimum, I agree with you 100% that bringing a photo to life that could have been discarded is all part of a photo traveller’s challenge and you’ve passed on some great tips here.

  • Teresa

    January 26, 2026 at 01:22 Reply

    It is wonderful to see and learn about your processes. Love that you featured the Philippines. I particularly liked the sculpture in Luna Hotel and how you cropped it making the image more dynamic.

  • Image Earth Travel

    January 25, 2026 at 22:23 Reply

    A great lesson in post-production with Photoshop Elements, thank you, Sarah. I’m too lazy to do PP unless a photo needs straightening or sharpening.
    Your hotel view in Sagada was lovely. I’m yet to explore the Philippines.

    • Sarah Wilkie

      January 26, 2026 at 08:44 Reply

      Thanks so much Nilla 😊 I enjoy PP almost as much as taking the photos – I love to see the different results that are possible! I highly recommend the Philippines, and Sagada in particular was really fascinating.

  • Wandering Dawgs

    January 25, 2026 at 20:46 Reply

    Sarah, thank you so much for explaining how you did your edits to create these wonderful finished images. The Manila skyline is incredible. I was interested to see that you start with Photoshop Elements. I use an older version of it and really like it. Great post!

    • Sarah Wilkie

      January 26, 2026 at 08:42 Reply

      Thank you very much Beth 😊 I used to use an older version of Elements but when I got a new laptop a year or so ago it wasn’t possible to transfer it so I invested in the latest version and on the whole am happy with it. It has a few more tricks than the old one but still does all the basics well.

  • Egídio

    January 25, 2026 at 17:40 Reply

    Sarah, thanks for explaining your edits. This is an impressive gallery. I really liked the rescued edits you created. I absolutely loved how you changed the Manila skies and street scene shots. That was amazing. Great choices all around.

  • Yvonne Dumsday

    January 25, 2026 at 17:39 Reply

    I fell in love with that magnificent photo of the statue in the hotel in Vigan and am in total awe at your skill in transforming it the way you did.

  • photobyjohnbo

    January 25, 2026 at 17:35 Reply

    Wonderful gallery, Sarah! I really like seeing your workflow and tool set for each image. I admit to underutilizing Nik software, but Silver Efex is my resource for black-and-white. I often use the Fine Art preset in the final black-and-white, but I always make sure to pick that one at least for an initial look before moving on.

Do share your thoughts, I'd love to hear from you! And please include your name in case WP marks you 'anonymous' - thank you