Most people connected to the photography industry would tell you that if you aspire on some level to get your photos up to the kind of quality that truly showcases your child then learning at least the basics of "photo post editing" is a must! So today I want to give you a few things to think about so you can begin to decide what photo editing solution is best for you.
There are many different styles and ways of photo editing. They range from the extremely artistic, as this example from my friend Danial at
alittledarkershadesofbrown:
Then there is the more simple and straight forward style of editing, so that you might not even think it had been edited, as in the example below that I took of a local senior:
Looks pretty normal, huh? Well this is the picture before I edited it:
The colors were cooler and I warmed them up. And I originally shot it as a landscape then changed my mind in post editing and made it portrait oriented. If you look closely you will notice I cleaned up some of his acne and the cut on his lip as well. As you might imagine, he loved this photo! You would never have known unless I told you that it had been edited.
I do want to point out that the examples above started out as good photos. If you want your photo to look as though nothing was altered then you really need to shoot it right to begin with. It is possible to take a technically bad photo and make it artsy and off beat in a fun way that will dazzle with some wild editing tricks. But you aren't going to turn it into what you saw when you looked through the lens just by messing around in the editor.
Therefore I cannot stress enough how learning to light, compose backgrounds, adjust settings, and frame your photos properly before you take the picture will help you really become a photographer in your own right! The photo at the right I took while doing a wedding shoot. I was adjusting my settings and checking lighting conditions when the groom's dog wandered into my field of vision. In the split second that he stood still, looking toward the house, I captured this image:
I have not post edited even in a small way. This picture is straight out of my camera. I didn't need to crop, adjust the satruation, lighting, or contrast. I saved myself lots of time by taking the photo right to start out with.
Depending on your subjects it is sometimes impossible to control your settings, lighting, and backgrounds completely and then post editing is still a must. It gives you that added control over the final product that can really save those images you just don't want to throw away!
So to my mind if you are just starting into photography, learning to post edit should be a vital part of that process. And if you are going to post edit we should discuss the programs photographers use. In the next post I want to introduce you to Photoshop, the industry standard for photo editing. A whole new world will open up for you once you have tried some of the tricks of the trade!
Looks pretty normal, huh? Well this is the picture before I edited it:
Comments (9)
Ooh I can't wait. I just checked and yes I have Adobe Photoshop in my laptop. (I admit, I'm a tech idiot and am quite clueless as to what my laptop has to offer me.) So I'm looking forward to learning about Photoshop and maybe, just maybe, using it.
My husband has been suggesting Photoshop to me for some time, but I'm a creature of habit and have been fighting doing anything different. But since you are suggesting it, I think I'll check it out. Are there different editions of Photoshop and if so which one should I go with?
LOL extremely artistic... That may be my new branding strategy... Well this is a cool post and I certainly agree that if you are going to get serious about photography then you have to become familiar with photoshop on some level. I can't tell you the hours that it takes to learn and for people starting out it can be a bit frustraiting but in the end it is very rewarding to have a vision for a particular shot and be able to execute it in post porduction. Just about once a week I run into a client or a friend of a client who aspires to make photography into a career and then when they find how technical it truly is and the time that needs to be invested in learning it.... They move on to a different form of self expression.
I can still remember opening up Photoshop 6 for the first time and thinking...... Is this some kind of alien language
It's a long journey but well worth it.
D
@mamma_sez@revelife - Adobe Photoshop is what I use and has a Mac version as well. I'm going to talk about the Elements version in my next post so you may want to check it out even before I post. You can download a full trial version for 30 days and then convert it to a sale at the end if you are ready to start playing with it. It's the best program for the price out there!! Hands down!
@FairyBunnyPrincess@xanga - You'll see my above comment on Adobe Photoshop Elements and the link for a free trial download from Adobe. This is by far and away the best, most comprehensive program out there! Nothing in it's price range even comes close! We'll talk more about it in the next post... Hope that helps!
@PhotographerJess - thanks so much, I will look into it. I can see the limitations of what I am using and it is frustrating me, I am at the stage where I want to play around lol
Very good tips. Thank you!
Thanks for all the tips.