Photo editing: do you prefer to keep it subtle or embrace bold transformations? (Page 4): :sm24: :sm24: :sm24:...

Barre Loc: Fairfax Co, VA

Longshadow wrote:

I edit until I like it.
I don't overdo it.

Retired CPO Loc: Travel full time in an RV

NateB wrote:

Totally with you on that. I try to keep mine looking as natural as possible too. As a general rule, I try to avoid any post-editing if possible, but it’s not always an option. Sometimes you gotta do a little editing to give it the finishing touch. But like I said (just personal preference here, not saying that my way is the right way), I try to keep the editing down to a bare minimum and keep the pic looking as natural as possible

dustychow

post processing

Sometimes my images are good right out the camera. Other times they need a lot of work.
I take a lot of bird, plant, scenery shots. Cropping is the biggest thing that I do.
For instance, I like to reposition subject in my photos, so I crop accordingly.
Sometimes the subject is on the edge of the canvas - so I add more space around the
subject. It often works with certain types of background matter. If it doesn't work, I
simply discard that shot. Recently I had two successive shots of a White-crowned
Sparrow. On one the head was a bit blurry, but the other shot had a very sharp head.
The body of the second shot was too blurry. I selected the good head and copy/pasted
to the image with the bad head. I believe it works well. I just all depends. Sometimes
I'll have a shot with obstructing objects i.e. twigs and I can eliminate those unwanted
objects. If the shot involves obstructions on the head - especially the face, eyes,
beak I then deleted the shot. I do a bit of sharpening on soft images.

OldCADuser Loc: Irvine, CA

JZA B1 wrote:

I prefer to keep mine looking "natural". As if there wasn't any post-processing or editing done. So even when I do heavy post-processing, I still do it in a way that looks like any alterations are minimal.

Unless I'm doing some extreme cropping or removing something that distracted from the primary subject, I usually only work on contrast, and if there are shadows or too bright of an area, I might try to mitigate that, but in the end, like you, I would like the final image to look as if this is what is was when it came out of the camera.

Nigel7 Loc: Worcestershire. UK.

Just Fred wrote:

Most of the time I simply "enhance" a photo, adjusting shadows and contrast give it the memory I saw when I shot it. There are some exceptions, of course. I really like viewing well done real estate photography, because even though you know the image has been staged, lighted, and shot in the most favorable way, the final image still does not shout out, "EDITED" in the most obvious way.

I agree wholeheartedly. Photography is about capturing an image not creating one. So I'll use PP where I feel it necessary to match what I believe I saw at the point of capture. I might occasionally even tweek it a little to make a dull day look a little brighter. But the final image must be believable.

So many folk totally overdo their adjustments. I just wish a few would study their landscapes and ask the question "have I in my ?? years ever seen grass looking that colour?".

imagemeister Loc: mid east Florida

Photography's highest and best use has always been for realism and therefore, believe-ability - and being a long time film shooter, I subscribe to that philosophy. That is why ( up until AI now) photography can be used as evidence in a court of law - which may be changing now ! ?

So, for me personally, at this time of my life, PP is only a necessary evil and minimalistic at that

druthven

Linda From Maine wrote:

I like both! br br url=https://flic.kr/p/2puDARo... (show quote)

I don' know what processing you did on this photo Linda. I'm sure it was quite a bit and it works wonderfully. I found it difficult to divert my eyes from it. It' like a beautiful painting and it should have been in the previous forum as an example of photography as art. Bravo!

joecichjr Loc: Chicago S. Suburbs, Illinois, USA

dustychow wrote:

post processing br br Sometimes my images are goo... (show quote)

Lovely job, well done

joecichjr Loc: Chicago S. Suburbs, Illinois, USA

Aw c'mon

You could have gotten a couple more bottles in there if you'd tried

I love the still life and the variety of colors 🌈🌈🌈

druthven

CHG_CANON wrote:

Every successful photographer is driven by an inner voice telling them everyone else is using PhotoShop.

Aren't they?

joecichjr Loc: Chicago S. Suburbs, Illinois, USA

User ID wrote:

Well acoarst it never sees what you see. Given that the camera cant learn but we can learn, it falls to us to learn how to see like our cameras see (as best we can). After we learn that stuff, its time to whiz those sliders around and have a grand old time !

Cool results 🧊🧊

bwana Loc: Bergen, Alberta, Canada

JZA B1 wrote:

I prefer to keep mine looking "natural".... (show quote)

Depends... Do you want a photography, an image or an art piece?

bwa

Linda From Maine Loc: Yakima, Washington

druthven wrote:

I don' know what processing you did on this photo Linda. I'm sure it was quite a bit and it works wonderfully. I found it difficult to divert my eyes from it. It' like a beautiful painting and it should have been in the previous forum as an example of photography as art. Bravo!

Sent you a private message

.

druthven

NateB wrote:

Totally with you on that. I try to keep mine looking as natural as possible too. As a general rule, I try to avoid any post-editing if possible, but it’s not always an option. Sometimes you gotta do a little editing to give it the finishing touch. But like I said (just personal preference here, not saying that my way is the right way), I try to keep the editing down to a bare minimum and keep the pic looking as natural as possible

What is natural? Is it the way we remember the scene, the way we think we remember it or the way we think it should look? What about black and white? We don't see in B&W but who doesn't like that dark almost black Ansel Adams blue sky. For me, in color the line is when the reds, yellows and greens look like nothing in nature. I can like and accept a Kodachrome blue sky.

bdk Loc: Sanibel Fl.

i like natural, but as I look back on my photos over the last 30 years I can see where my PS has greatly improved. My natural look is much more processed than before.