Less is more...

[David Watts]

I'm probably going to bring up something that will horrify some and traumatize others.  I know this site is a happy place and shock is not really part of it's personality but here it goes.  I don't edit my photos.  (wince)  I can hear your screams of anguish!  Bah, it's not that bad y'all.  I like a real, unedited natural look.  It's honest.  Yes, that means I have to take a zillion shots to have one come out right.  I'll toy with them a little from time to time to make a nifty shirt or mug or something that way...  (example of such toying)

But that's about it!  I change nothing in the shot, as a personal rule.  I will admit I've been known to add a little sky once in a while when it's not blue enough but that's about it.  Ok, so that's not nothing.  It's almost nothing.  I didn't do anything to this one other than make a T-Shirt out of it.  

I know what you're thinking, you have a point.  But I just can't.  Maybe no one else will know but I will.  I have all the right excuses to edit too.  I can't afford a fancy camera, I'm out of work so it's not like I don't have the time.  I even have a couple of nifty editing programs.  I just...  Can't. 

I probably go to far and I'm probably cheating myself out of cash.  I don't care.  What of those who over edit?  When it a photo finished?  Why is there always "one more little spot" that needs work?  Why can't we just be happy with our surroundings the way they are?  Think about it.

Anyone else have this affliction?  I rather like it!  :)  That's all I've got for now.  Have a good day.

[Andy P]

This is an ongoing discussion Edit or Not.

Imagine asking a wedding photographer to offer plain snapshots then have to pay him/her the big bucks. Not going to happen. Check your HS Year Book pic, edited? You bet. Who wants to see that zit on your cheek.

You can be proud of taking a good shot but chances are it will not sell. Straightening the horizon,, cropping, even cloning out some litter is fine with me. Adding a simple border or frame is nice also. HDR is over the top IMHO.

Now if all you wish to do is offer the pics on social sites like this, editing is secondary. If you want to sell them, learn to edit. My 2 cents. By the way, you should always resize your pics before posting here. We are an open site, anyone can come in & copy your 3 MB image and use it for anything. It happens all too often, protect yourself, resize.

[David Watts]

Deep down I know you're right.  I just can't bring myself to do it.  Maybe I'm just one of those staunch  weired  people that like the old ways...  I'll try to resize my shots.  That's why I didn't post anything today.  I've never actually resized a photo before.  

[Bebop]

I love to edit.  Any photo I take gets run through Photoshop Elements.  Always for resizing but often to dodge, burn, crop, clean up noise, enhance certain colors.  I grew up working in a darkroom with professional photographers way before the digital age.  Post-processing was always considered a part of the art.  It is still that way for me.  My original photo is just the beginning of the artistic journey.

[sjasis]

I'm somewhere in the middle, I guess.  For the most part, the photos I post here are pretty true to the original shot, but I do edit them a bit.  I resize, enhance contrast or color a bit, clean up noise, clone out obstructions if necessary.  But sometimes I edit just for fun, and then the sky is the limit. But I usually 'fess up about any editing or filtering I've done, in the description. 

[Wildflowernut]

Cropping, straightening, cloning out bad spots all work for me, and I don't have a problem with those things.  Extreme HDR seems jarring to me, and I just don't like it.  If the natural look of the photo doesn't work for you, for any reason, think about a different photo that stands on its own merits.  Some of the other editing programs are way too wild for my taste also, but I suppose that what you do with your work is purely subjective, and if it pleases you, that's fine.  However, it might not please some of the rest of us!  I've seen quite a few photos recently on DP that I think would look wonderful in the original!  Okay, 'nuff rant!

[David Watts]

@Bebop I  absolutely love your work, by the way!  I think the way a person edits really does depend on their personality.  They could stick with realism or contort the picture into something new.  Your style, correct me if I'm wrong, has more to do with enhancement than changes.  I can dig that and you're right that it does help with marketability.  

@sjasis Being honest about the changes is important, I reckon.  I mean, once in a great while I'll add a little sky or lighten an image.  I suppose everyone has their own personal taste.  I've tried it a few times and it seems I never knew when to stop!  I ruined a few good shots because I kept saving my work...

@Wildflowernut I'll have to agree I don't really get the "extreme" HDR.  I mean, why suck out all the realism?  At that rate, why not just become a painter?  You're right though it is subjective and if it pleases others to do it than I reckon it's fine.  I have seen a few like that coming out pretty cool but I wish I had seen the original instead!  

Thanks all for your feedback!  :)

[Andy P]

[Terry Davey]

I must agree with the majority. "You don't Take a Photograph, You Make It". Ansel Adams

[Keith]

Thank you for your perspective David.  I like it.  It is not my style, but that is the neat thing about sharing photography and photographs on Andy's site… each of us has a different style.   Initially my outlook was quite like yours.   Mine has evolved, I will take out a highline wire, remove some bird poop from a perch, deepen the sky, add definition, push the vibrancy/highlights, sharpen the shot, work on the edges… I guess in short, my outlook is similar to that of Ansel Adams "you don't take a photograph, you make it."   Whether it is fidgeting with the chemicals in a darkroom, or using all the edit features available on digital photo editing software, I try to make the shots I share, have as much "eye appeal" as possible - to me. 

 

What I don't do, like the very wealthy, famous nature photographer Thomas D. Mangelsen, is edit the blazes out of my nature photography and steadfastly deny any post shot editing.  I really upset him once, at his gallery, as he was signing prints when I asked "what software do you use to touch-up your critters and birds?"   Sorry, but what a poop-head!   He was "indignant" to say the least, that I would even suggest he did such a thing… give me a break! 

 

Thanks once again, for sharing your outlook.

 

Keith

[Andy P]

Keith "What I don't do, like the very wealthy, famous nature photographer Thomas D. Mangelsen, is edit the blazes out of my nature photography and steadfastly deny any post shot editing.  I really upset him once, at his gallery, as he was signing prints when I asked "what software do you use to touch-up your critters and birds?"   Sorry, but what a poop-head!   He was "indignant" to say the least, that I would even suggest he did such a thing… give me a break! "

I sense hostility here, Keith. LOL