Photo editing - some/always/never

johnnyguitar

johnnyguitar

Messages
136
Name
John
Edit My Images
Yes
Hi guys
I know there is a forum specifically for editing, but this is more of a general question.
Do you pretty much always edit your photos and if so what do you do? I only ask because a lot of the photographs I see have had some post processing - which I'm not for a second trying to suggest is a bad thing, but just wondered why this was so.

I am pretty much a beginner when it comes to taking a photo and the whole editing and post processing thing baffles me.
My mrs is a designer although she doesn't use much photoshop but it does mean I have access to CS3 (and I think an upgrade to 4 ready to go).

Maybe I don't really get it, but what everybody do before they had digital cameras and the facility to edit/process your photos?
 
maybe because it makes photos look ever so slightly better, or gives them different effects or because they want a specific look. loads of reasons
 
I'm not disputing any of that, I'm just wondering what's wrong with what comes out of the camera in the first place - if that makes sense.

The other thing I am interested to know if what can photoshop (and other editing software) do for me that I don't yet know about and is there a good book I should read.

(Mods feel free to move this to the editing forum if the topic heads that way).
 
I'm a total beginner so I don't know what can be done to inject a bit of life into a photo.
I found a good tutorial on how to use a camera, but not much on editing suites.

Any recommendations at what I should look at or what small project I could start with to get a better understanding of how these things work?
 
Just look at the examples that people post. If I was showing a pic, I would want it to look perfect. Manipulation can make the ordinary extraordinary.

Of course you may be happy with what comes out of the camera and more power to you. It should really be a final touch rather than the start of a picture.

If you feel your photography is the equivalent of some of the shots on here, then I understand why you may question doing any more.

Graham
 
I don't feel that at all Graham, in comparison to most of the stuff on here, most of the photographs I take appear to have been taken with Fisher Price's my first DSLR and I'm keen to learn. I just wonder sometimes if more emphasis is put on post processing than getting a good result first time - if that makes sense?
 
I dont think it matters where the emphasis is put, some people put too much emphasis on getting it 'right inside the camera' when, at the end of the day it doesnt matter, it's art.

There is certainly nothing wrong with deciding you want to create a processed composition first and then deciding what to take a picture of. There isnt a right or wrong way, only people who feel one way or another is best for them (then you get in psycology of why people feel that way......and the discussions go on and on and on !)

If you want to try some things to find out for yourself, without getting into fancy processing i would suggest the curves on photoshop for a start, just little tweaks to begin with and see how it looks too you (the 'too you' bit being the important bit).

BTW if you havnt used curves, it is really easy to get some dynamic results by selecting 3 equally spaced points on the curves diagonal line and moving each a little bit up or down.

heres an image from http://www.cambridgeincolour.com

tut_curves_overview.png
 
johnnyguitar said:
I don't feel that at all Graham, in comparison to most of the stuff on here, most of the photographs I take appear to have been taken with Fisher Price's my first DSLR and I'm keen to learn. I just wonder sometimes if more emphasis is put on post processing than getting a good result first time - if that makes sense?
Click to expand...

Not sure that came across as I intended :)

Getting it perfect in the camera is the holy grail. Photoshop is for the rest of us :D

Personally, I can work with a so-so image and make something of it in PS. Getting everything right at the time requires experience and dedication, not to mention an investment in glass.

Both are valid if the results speak for themselves.

Graham
 
johnnyguitar said:
Hi guys
I know there is a forum specifically for editing, but this is more of a general question.
Do you pretty much always edit your photos and if so what do you do? I only ask because a lot of the photographs I see have had some post processing - which I'm not for a second trying to suggest is a bad thing, but just wondered why this was so.

I am pretty much a beginner when it comes to taking a photo and the whole editing and post processing thing baffles me.
My mrs is a designer although she doesn't use much photoshop but it does mean I have access to CS3 (and I think an upgrade to 4 ready to go).

Maybe I don't really get it, but what everybody do before they had digital cameras and the facility to edit/process your photos?
Click to expand...

A lot of techniques used in photoshop were previously used (and still are) in the darkroom. Even the names are the same, eg dodge and burn, crop etc...
 
One thing to remember is that digital is not film.

Take sharpening, most digital cameras have an anti-aliasing filter (don't worry about it yet :) ) and this softens the picture slightly.
If you have your camera on one of the scene modes it decides how much sharpening is required and applies it, you have no choice.
If you have your camera on P,S,A or M then you can change the camera from Auto sharpen and increase, or decrease the sharpening, alternatively you can apply minimal sharpening in camera and then sharpen the picture on the computer when you can see what you are doing. If you over sharpen you just go back and try again.

Your camera also automatically applies Saturation, Tone Compensation, Hue adjustment etc. depending on its assessment of the picture. For example you can set Saturation to Normal, Moderate or Enhanced.
As your camera's assessment may not be what you want you can change all of these with the camera menus if you are in P,S,A or M, alternatively you can change them later on the computer when you can see the results and alter them until you get the effect you want.
 
Suvv said:
One thing to remember is that digital is not film.

Take sharpening, most digital cameras have an anti-aliasing filter (don't worry about it yet :) ) and this softens the picture slightly.
If you have your camera on one of the scene modes it decides how much sharpening is required and applies it, you have no choice.
If you have your camera on P,S,A or M then you can change the camera from Auto sharpen and increase, or decrease the sharpening, alternatively you can apply minimal sharpening in camera and then sharpen the picture on the computer when you can see what you are doing. If you over sharpen you just go back and try again.

Your camera also automatically applies Saturation, Tone Compensation, Hue adjustment etc. depending on its assessment of the picture. For example you can set Saturation to Normal, Moderate or Enhanced.
As your camera's assessment may not be what you want you can change all of these with the camera menus if you are in P,S,A or M, alternatively you can change them later on the computer when you can see the results and alter them until you get the effect you want.
Click to expand...

That applies to jpg. For raw which most photographers here prefer, it is irrelevant.

Graham
 
blue max said:
That applies to jpg. For raw which most photographers here prefer, it is irrelevant.

Graham
Click to expand...

As the OP has asked a basic question about processing I assumed that he was shooting JPEG. My answer was to his question and it was not aimed at anyone else on this site.
It was also correct for the OP's D40, I know that some other cameras do not have scene modes etc etc.
 
Suvv said:
As the OP has asked a basic question about processing I assumed that he was shooting JPEG. My answer was to his question and it was not aimed at anyone else on this site.
It was also correct for the OP's D40, I know that some other cameras do not have scene modes etc etc.
Click to expand...

I'm not sure he was suggesting how to accomplish it. He seemed to be asking a general question about why.

Graham
 
blue max said:
I'm not sure he was suggesting how to accomplish it. He seemed to be asking a general question about why.

Graham
Click to expand...

I agree, my reply compares what happens in camera and what you can do in PP.
i.e. let the camera do the saturation or do it later yourself. Surely that is a reason why PP can be used?
I don't think I tried to explain how to accomplish anything.
 
Thanks guys for the info and to Huujuu for the suggestions.
Just to clear things up, I am currently taking pictures in jpg format, but may switch to raw as and when I get a better understanding of what I can accomplish with editing.

The point about it being art is one that I'd not previously considered - I don't know why - but with this in mind, I guess it doesn't matter what you do as long as you like it.
 
Generally I try and get it right in the camera, but sometimes you need to adjust.

An obvious example is with my 10-22mm lens. At 10mm the perspective on verticals tends to make them lean in towards the top, so you have to adjust perspective.

Other times, it might just be a crop, or a slight lighten, perhaps a convert to black and white.

So I suppose the answer is - try to get it right in the camera, but don't discount processing as a tool (but maybe not everytime).
 
Our eyes + brain work in a funny way. If you're doing landscape photos, often the feeling of being there is hard to capture onto a small piece of coloured paper. (E.g. the moon can look quite large in the sky, but when in a photo it normally comes out tiny unless you're using a monster lens. And we can see a massive range of brightness and think we're doing it at the same time, which is impossible to show on paper).

Personally I prefer it if not every shot is pumped up to wacky day-glo unreal colours (my eyes! my eyes! hdr I'm looking at you ;) ) but I think mucking about a bit can be justified to make seeing the photo feel like being there.

I think there are some good on-line articles about this but apart from the "luminous landscape" web site I'm not sure where to suggest you look.

Hope this helps.
 
For me it's to add more depth and colour. Without perfect lighting and exposure it's very hard, certainly for me, to get a perfect photo straight from the camera.


Photoshop is a tool just as much as the camera. Don't limit yourself to just a screwdriver when a spanner could help too.



BTW - I have no idea what job would require both a screwdriver and a spanner but you get the idea. ;)
 
I'm just learning the whole photo editing malark. TBH I practice and over edit things then close without saving, just for the sake of practicing. Made my niece look like a chav china doll earlier - yuk! I personally am not really a fan of photo editing, but since getting to shoot RAW I've been editing more - even if it's just brightness or whatever.
 
For me I usually apply somekind of sharpening.
I try to get the exposure right in the camera, but that's not always possible so I fix it in CS or LR.
Curves (et al) are sometimes used.
Dodging and burning (eyes/teeth) to make some images pop.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top