Rongnongno Loc: FL

Another can of worm I am willing to open...

What is 'get it right' exactly?

Pray tell because for me, it only has to do with composition and exposure of the subject - at the expense of other things -. If a detail gets in the way, I just don't care, "I can fix it". What is the detail? That can be anything from a shadow to an object that just does not belong there. If I know I can remove in seconds in PP, I just do not care.

What is 'fix it post'?

I have no clue either. To PP is part of a process, not an end to it. Meaning that I will likely make changes to the overall image that are not necessarily drastic. In fact most of my changes are subtle. Removing the object mentioned above is part of my process as I always inspect my image for 'photobombers'.

Oh, and what happens to "I shoot for PP"??? in the following examples... Using a chroma key, shooting to create a B&W image, to create a composite... Are they not 'fix it with PP'?

So, for me, get it right vs fix it in post is not a religion. I would not recommend either because in both cases promoting one or the other is simply detrimental to the final product. BOTH are needed, even if 'get it right' is a priority. (Remember I am a staunch enemy of cropping/composition after the fact...)

Result? It depends.

Longshadow Loc: Audubon, PA, United States

Yes, it depends...

I do try to get the composition and exposure the way I want it when I go "click".
Then I review (analyze) the image in post.
I may or may not decide to tweak one or more parameters to enhance it, according to my mind and taste.

I'm not hellbent on getting it the way I want it when I click the shutter.
If it turns out excellent (to my taste) out of the camera, perfect.
It it doesn't, I'll tweak it, to my taste.
I use editors as a tool to augment the results of the camera.
And yes, sometimes I have a screw-up that may need a lot of work, or deleting.

JohnSwanda Loc: San Francisco

For me, it isn't a matter of fixing images in post, but enhancing them. You can't adjust exposure or color in a specific area of an image in the camera. I concentrate on getting the exposure and color balance as good as it can be in the camera, but then bring out shadow or highlight detail or color balance wherever it is needed within the image.

JohnSwanda Loc: San Francisco

For me, it isn't a matter of fixing images in post, but enhancing them. You can't adjust exposure or color in a specific area of an image in the camera. I concentrate on getting the exposure and color balance as good as it can be in the camera, but then bring out shadow or highlight detail or color balance wherever it is needed within the image.

Longshadow Loc: Audubon, PA, United States

CHG_CANON Loc: the Windy City

First, if you shoot in RAW, you've already committed to Post Processing. Shooting in RAW, you should simplify your image capture by using AUTO WB. There's one 'fix' needed in post, or 'perfection' depending on how well your camera's AUTO WB performs.

Next, if you're an aggressive RAW shooter, you're always seeking to maximize the data recorded from the sensor, so you push your exposure to the right (ETTR), maybe just a little or maybe by a lot. Now you've got lots of detail in the shadows while not losing data in the highlights. You're going to need to 'adjust' that overly bright image in post, as that is your plan, not your fix. You don't bother with JPEGs in this approach as they'll be more effort to 'fix', if even possible, because they don't have all the data you're purposefully capturing into the RAW file.

This RAW approach generates a certain given amount of processing work. Beyond that, why give yourself more todos? Take a moment and assure your horizon is level, either as you frame the shot or as a quick chimp and reshoot, if needed. I occasionally just rotate the camera maybe over a 30-degree arc taking a series of pictures, one's going to be easy to pick as best later. It's easier to cull for the best and delete the rest than have to edit just one when I should have captured many of these free alternative versions. Even when I swear I was level, the results at home say my images tend to lean.

When it comes to noise, again getting it right minimizes what you have to do later. Approach every image with the slowest shutter and widest aperture appropriate to the composition. If you need to move off the 'base ISO' of your camera model (typically ISO-100), raise that ISO only as high as needed. Even when I'm up at ISO-5000, I'm still at that ISO only after maximizing the light that reaches the sensor via the slowest shutter and widest aperture I could use.

I try to avoid plans to try to remove something later. I'll wait for a plane to fly out frame. I'll perform some impromptu landscaping to remove leaves or branches, even weeds. There's enough work to do already, why add more that you can fix / avoid while composing?

I get by with just LR6. If I can't complete the processing in this tool, I just delete the image and move onto something better that doesn't need a more complicated 'fix'. When I'm not getting the images I want, I look at my technique and consider what I need to fix as the photographer, I don't blame the camera as the source of failure.

Thomas902 Loc: Washington DC

"...Shooting in RAW, you should simplify your image capture by using AUTO WB..." Really Paul? Does Canon have an attribute that is capable of analyzing the color temperature at 1/3300 sec. to 1/1650 sec. (Full to Minimum Power) of my studio strobes? When I've forgotten to reset my WB from Auto to 5250 Kelvin on my Nikon's they do a great job of matching the incandescent modeling lamps which is totally inappropriate for the actual capture... terrible amber/yellow hue/chroma

Maybe speak to that which you have actually tested in real-time Paul...
You're typically spot on and thus I'm surprised at this inference...

Workflow is a dynamic that constantly grows with experience...
There are absolutely no "correct" standards or SOP's only stages of one's proficiency on one's photographic journey. In my humble estimation... I grow in technique and in artistic visual statement with each and every failure..
If I got it right every time I wouldn't grow only stagnate in mediocrity..

Thanks for sharing Paul

CHG_CANON Loc: the Windy City

If you need me to teach you how to adjust the as-captured AUTO WB result in your RAW editor, just commit to 2-hours training, my rate is $50 / hr ...

Longshadow Loc: Audubon, PA, United States

Ysarex Loc: St. Louis

Why?

Longshadow Loc: Audubon, PA, United States

I like it when I can get additional compositions by cropping an image.
It's like a two-fer or three-fer.

CHG_CANON Loc: the Windy City

Did you just buy that $12,000 600mm lens so all your wildlife work doesn't need cropping either?

CHG_CANON Loc: the Windy City

I crop to square for Instagram, and love how their filters can fix everything.

Longshadow Loc: Audubon, PA, United States

I don't do Instagram, or Fweeper.

Oh, wait, that's the sound my camera makes....

rgrenaderphoto Loc: Hollywood, CA

With my finger on the shutter release, my main concern is composition and overexposure, everything else I know I can change/recover/alter in post-production. Ansel Adams himself wrote extensively about his dodging and burning technique and how he arrived at his final images.

I'm just following in the Master's footsteps.