I still remember the days when I just picked up DSLR, when I rely mainly on Picasa to do "post processing" of my photos. That I was so amazed by its functions and thought "damn that's cheating!" As time progresses, when I became more heavily involved with photography, I started shooting photo in RAW format and began using Digital Photo Professional (DPP) from Canon as main tool of PP. Eventually my friend Tony, who started photography later then I did, started to persuade me to use Adobe Lightroom when he saw some video about it. Oh boy, I sure put up a fight against shifting over, took my about 2 months to even start using it.
Now... I'm a loyal fan and bought a new laptop just for it... lol
I suppose the debate on the practice of post processing the photos will never end. For me though, I believe in PP, not in ways that it can utterly change the photo, but the ability of it to "Simplify" and "Amplify" the existing elements within your composition. I'm writing this as after-thought after some pro-photographers shared their way of "PP" and couldn't agree more with their methods.
Admittedly though, I would go from time to time playing wild with PP, it helps on my creativity and knows what the software is capable of as well.
Original
Extensive post processing was done to eliminate unwanted elements on this shot, the shapes of the vines and the color of autumn were what I wanted to show in this photo.
Original
Saturation, WB shifting and Vignetting were done to amplify the contrast of lines and color on this shot
4 comments:
I feel so cheated and lied to! haha JK. But thats really nice post process. You know how I feel about post... but it certainly does help convey the intended message. I just have to be very careful that I don't only rely on post to make my photos better... it's a thin line. I had this conversation with Thomas awhile back and we all agree tasteful post is great, but don't "flickrize" your images (not that I have anything against Flickr images)... I guess in the end, it's just a personal choice
lol
Indeed photos are personal, but for me, a pro wanna be, I need to be able to present a photo that are able to "wow" the general public...
I treat my photos more of like an art piece then a record I guess
You have to look back at the "analogue days" of photography, too. I read a book by photographer Boyd Norton and he said "on dull and overcast days, I use Velvia" (the film with the very high color saturation). I read another book (by Chris Coe) and 90% of the photos in the book are shot using Velvia. Then there were darkroom techniques like dodging and whatnot, and shooting techniques like pushing a film (with higher ISO) which would then be taken care of in the lab. There was the problem of film itself - slide film was made for daylight and would show very intensive "false" colours when using in the morning (yellow) or evening (blue).
Today we have our own lab in the computer. I think its just important to stay authentic and not falsify the picture itself. Carving out the beauty of a scenery so that other who where NOT there can feel it is wonderful to transport the art and joy of photography.
This is true. The key is to convey the wonder and amazement that you witness yourself for others who are not there. But at the same time, I've been called a liar by my friends in the past just because what I convey is not what they see for themselves (even before post) ;). I guess the beauty is always there, it's just about framing it and bringing it out
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