Beginner Is there a 'wrong' way to edit my raw files, if I am happy with the results?

conanthewarrior

conanthewarrior

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133
Name
Conan
Edit My Images
Yes
Hello everyone, I hope you are all OK.

Still really am enjoying getting to grips with my camera, and also the editing that comes with digital photography.

This may well be a silly question, so please forgive me in advance if it is, but say for example I had a Jpeg I thought was OK, and then edited the raw file to my own taste, even if it is quite extreme, this is not wrong is it? (I am shooting in raw+Jpeg for now so I can easily quickly share the Jpeg, and edit the raw file if I wish).
I've always been the type to second guess myself and what I am doing, so gather this is just another example of this.

Also, I am getting to grips more with Nikons NX-D software. I have also installed darktable as I thought I may as well learn something a little more in depth? Not sure if this is counter productive either though and I should just stick to one. My other hobby is music production, and I have used Logic for around 12 years after a brief stint with other DAW's. I just preferred the workflow, plus logic as a whole is fantastic for my needs.

I am thinking of Lightroom as this seems to be industry standard, plus tutorials are everywhere for this.

Thank you all for your help, Conan.
 
If you’re shooting for yourself then edit away, they’re your photographs so edit them any way you like. That might not fit in with other people’s ideas but this world would be a boring place if we were all the same :)

If you’re anything like me your editing will change as you go anyway, either through little tweaks or massive shifts and may even come back to the photographs you’re taking now and re-editing them.

As for software, I’ve only ever really used Lightroom which is great, and really good for consistency between shots. I appreciate that it can get a little expensive when you’re paying each month for it. I’m not sure if they do a standalone version now, which may be the way to go if you didn’t want a subscription :)
 
If you take a sunny joyful image and you apply a desaturated grungy preset - you've completely changed the message of the image. It has probably turned what you thought was a happy image into something sinister.

Whilst you might be focused on how cool and different it looks now, if you think about it a bit more you may realise that it's at odds with the message you really wanted to put across.

Just something to keep in mind.
 
If you still have the raw, then not really. You may look back at them in a few month/years time and reconsider your style but if your happy then so what!
 
shooting for yourself is about having fun, it's a hobby right? That's entirely different to shooting for clients, i'm a professional photographer and the edit is half the job really- make an overcast day look sunny, turn day into night- it's not really about what looks good to my eyes it's about solving a problem, or getting to a certain final result through photography and retouching/editing- I never really shoot as a hobby/for fun if I dont have a brief to get me started

2 things that people seem to like that are just objectively bad or too played out are making a single colour pop while the rest of the image is black and white, and overcooked HDR
 
You can get RAW files and JPG to your heart's content. The only thing I'd suggest is having a systematic way of approaching each photo. I've found youtube videos to be helpful with teaching Lightroom functions and approaching each photo in the same way so you consider everything. Some photos may need lots of processing, others may need minimal. It very much depends on what you're trying to achieve as the outcome.
 
Thank you all for your replies.

It is true, I am doing this for myself currently and as a hobby, I just do question myself a lot about everything. I am having fun though so far, I've taken my camera out each time I have left the house!

I will see if I can afford a subscription for Lightroom, I may be able to squeeze it in just about.
 
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