You dont take a perfect picture...

dmcaloney

dmcaloney

Messages
289
Name
Dave
Edit My Images
Yes
you make a perfect picture.

This was a quote I heard in one of the endless online videos / tutorials I have been digesting recently, and I just wondered if this was true?

I am still getting to grips with the basics of photography but have immersed myself into learning Photoshop too as I think there may be some truth in this.

Just wondered what the general opinion was?

Do the people in the know agree? Is it all about a decent pic being enhanced or is the skill all in the shooting?

My noob eyes can never tell if photos posted on here are direct shots or enhanced versions of these?
 
Sounds like a bit of nonsense to me.

Sometimes you take a picture, mostly probably, other times you create it - still life, a portrait perhaps - a subject that wouldn't exist otherwise.

You always do your best to enhance it with some aspect of technique, including a bit of post processing if necessary.

How far you push the PP is a matter of taste - when does a bit of tweaking step over the line into 'digital art'?

Does it matter? Not to me, but to some folks it does.
 
Nearly every photo you see on the net will have been edited some more than others....

Imho It goes hand in hand an d always has sone / will do.. every good photo will have had a tweak or a tweak wont hurt it BUT !!!!!!! You cannot make a silk purse out of a sows ear..


If a photo is soft and should be sharp then no amount of pp will make it a decent photo imho...


MD
 
Um it depends. I do believe that you "make a perfect picture" but that isnt just photoshop. Its lighting, direction, conception, etc. Post production may be just the little afterwards.

The term "you dont take a perfect picture, you make a perfect picture" shouldnt exclusively be to PP, it should be from the beginning to the end of the image.
 
a perfect picture is one that is well executed from beginning to end, the perfect image can only be perfect to you, as everyone else will have a different interpretation of it. its a bit like films and games, reviewers like them but you dont and reviewers dont like them but it doesnt mean you dont.
 
Learn to take/make a perfect picture without Photoshop first then when you do come to use it you won't be relying on it to rescue something you could and should have got right in camera.
 
Surely it depends on the type of photography and what you are trying to achieve.

Product photography for instance. You would need to make the perfect picture with lighting, positioning and finally PP.

Trying to capture some war torn town you won't be able to have such a big effect on things and often, you would want to keep PP to the minimum.
 
In this context the verbs are more or less interchangeable, so yeah, why not? You could maybe even go so far as to say 'record', 'capture' or even 'create'. To me they all mean the same thing. Such a wonderfully flexible language.
 
Vic said:
Um it depends. I do believe that you "make a perfect picture" but that isnt just photoshop. Its lighting, direction, conception, etc. Post production may be just the little afterwards.

The term "you dont take a perfect picture, you make a perfect picture" shouldnt exclusively be to PP, it should be from the beginning to the end of the image.
Click to expand...

Could not have put it better myself!
 
Vic said:
Um it depends. I do believe that you "make a perfect picture" but that isnt just photoshop. Its lighting, direction, conception, etc. Post production may be just the little afterwards.

The term "you dont take a perfect picture, you make a perfect picture" shouldnt exclusively be to PP, it should be from the beginning to the end of the image.
Click to expand...
:agree:

When taking a picture one should consider composition, lighting, lines, texture and depth of field. I'm a firm believer than a good image is one that feeds the viewer, so pre-production planning is important. This is the making of a photograph and it's done in ones head when looking through the viewfinder.

Post-production processing (Photoshop) really shouldn't come into making a good image. If one is using Photoshop to make the image, then they really need to work on your photography skills.
 
I think if you talk about it regarding PP, it is quite true in most cases especially when you have access to a RAW image. You could take the perfect picture, but most times there will be something wrong, something that got in the way, object is alive and moved for your second shot etc. Obviously you play with the settings and try and get the picture right there and then.

With post processing you have a second chance to get exactly the image you wanted, those people in the distance that walked into the shot? Deleted! The picture over/under exposed? Fixed! Aspect not quite right? Croped!

You have so many options to change the outcome of the image you really can get exactly what you wanted even if it wasn't possible at the time.

By editing your images and 'fixing' them you learn more about what you did wrong and gives you time to contemplate how you would approach a similar scene next time.

I think the statement would be more accurate if it said:

"If you don't take a perfect picture.. you have a second chance to make it with Post Processing."
 
I don't think this has anything to do with what we now call 'post-production' and in the past called 'developing and printing' - it's just the latest way to get the image the way we envisioned it when we took it...

A lot of my work-stuff is 'taken' - that is: I react to what's happening and record it rather than manipulating the situation to get a photograph.
However, some of my stuff is set-up: weddings, portraits and the like, in that sense they are 'made' rather than 'taken': you manipulate the situation to make the most pleasing image possible under the circumstances; lights, poses etc...
 
As someone who makes a living from there photography im lazy i do as much work in the camera as i can i hate sitting at a computer trying to alter photos later. Probably stems from growing up with slide film.
Regards
Richard
 
dont you ever see a perfect situation....(to your eyes)

you need to define perfect against what could be construed as well processed

most 'perfect' photos start with the light qualities (3) quantity, quality, direction
then compostion..which varies immensely with the style and subject
then the technical wrappings of every which way the pp will allow...which co incidentaly can occur naturally

perfect is in effect an imperfect concept
 
mrcrow said:
dont you ever see a perfect situation....(to your eyes)

you need to define perfect against what could be construed as well processed

most 'perfect' photos start with the light qualities (3) quantity, quality, direction
then compostion..which varies immensely with the style and subject
then the technical wrappings of every which way the pp will allow...which co incidentaly can occur naturally

perfect is in effect an imperfect concept
Click to expand...

The one time I saw a 'perfect' scene, I had a brief moment of panic, then just sat back and enjoyed the experience, knowing that by the time I'd unpacked all my kit, stressed about getting the right exposure, composition, viewpoint, lens choice etc I'd have missed it.

Sometimes you just have to record it on the 'internal drive' instead.
 
That phrase is as old as me, and I've seen it attributed to the great Ansel Adams.

I'm teaching my daughter photography and have altered the phrase to 'people take photo's' but photographers make photographs.'
It's not about PP or being in control of the lighting. When the guy in the street holds up his camera phone and points it at something, he's merely trying to make a record of what's in front of him. That's 'taking a photo'
Before a photographer picks up his camera, they usually have an idea of what they're trying to achieve, this will inform choices of gear, shutter speeds, apertures, camera position, light, composition and finally what will be done in PP.
There may be compromises made, dependant on circumstances, but to believe that great war photographers only got classic images because 'they were there' rather than those images having been created by their ability, is a little naive. And if you believe that you can take 'snaps' and turn them into masterpieces in photoshop, you're on a hiding to nothing.
 
Phil V said:
That phrase is as old as me, and I've seen it attributed to the great Ansel Adams.

I'm teaching my daughter photography and have altered the phrase to 'people take photo's' but photographers make photographs.'
It's not about PP or being in control of the lighting. When the guy in the street holds up his camera phone and points it at something, he's merely trying to make a record of what's in front of him. That's 'taking a photo'
Before a photographer picks up his camera, they usually have an idea of what they're trying to achieve, this will inform choices of gear, shutter speeds, apertures, camera position, light, composition and finally what will be done in PP.
There may be compromises made, dependant on circumstances, but to believe that great war photographers only got classic images because 'they were there' rather than those images having been created by their ability, is a little naive. And if you believe that you can take 'snaps' and turn them into masterpieces in photoshop, you're on a hiding to nothing.
Click to expand...

Probably the biggest single factor in deciding the outcome of a photo, is when to press the button. Nothing to do with any aspect of technqiue or equipment, just the timing.

The decisive moment and all that.
 
People have been adjusting photos since photography started. Stalin was a great fan of photoshopping.

Photoshop just does digitally what one does manually in a dark room - just as a typesetting package does what was done at a typesetting house manually.

When is a photo not a photo? When the member of the audience forms the opinion it is no longer a photo in their own eyes.
 
"You dont take a perfect picture... you make a perfect picture."

You make a picture when you decide to press the shutter.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top