How much editing do you do?

[james_cook14]

<blockquote>

<p>Forget the judge. Why are you making photographs?</p>

</blockquote>

<p>Ta Da!<br>

Unless the purpose of the image is for some sort of reportage where an accurate portrayal of a situation or scene is required, it really only matters if the result satisfies you.<br>

Personally I do my best to utilize the camera to capture what I see in my mind's eye. Then I post process as much or as little as necessary to complete that vision. If I'm happy with the result, Voila!<br>

I do have my own rules. My personal style is to avoid anything that would suggest manipulation. I don't want anything that doesn't look real or that looks unlike what I actually witnessed. I don't add things that weren't there but I do remove what I may consider to be visual blemishes. Those are my choices and mine alone to make. My rules don't apply to anyone but me.<br>

When someone purchases a print, I'm gratified that they appreciated my vision. And it thrills me that the more I have stuck to pleasing myself, the more responsive others have become.<br>

I have no arguments with those purists who choose to shoot and go with what the camera produced, or with those who use their computers to create pure fantasy worlds. We have the same rights to pursue our visions as a painter with brush and canvas or a sculptor with mallet and chisel.<br>

If we live by what others decree we have missed the point.<br>

And, FWIW, "editing" is what I do when I review the results of a shoot-session-outing and make a choice of which images will move on to processing which seems to be the actual topic of this thread.</p>

 

[john_h.1]

<blockquote>

<p>Unless the purpose of the image is for some sort of reportage where an accurate portrayal of a situation or scene is required, it really only matters if the result satisfies you... ...My rules don't apply to anyone but me... ...If we live by what others decree we have missed the point.</p>

</blockquote>

<p>Ray told us, in his first sentence, what the purpose of the images are for. Satidfying someone else. Somthing photographers do all the time. If he asked how to produce images according to criteria for a customer would you say "ta da!" when someone said 'Forget the customer'? Unfortunately, Ray's description of what he wants to accomplish is vague. Nevetheless, you are suggesting he disregard what he is trying to accomplish which is, ironically, suggesting he disregard what he is trying to accomplish. Since Ray is urged to 'live by your decree' apparently you "missed the point" as well.</p>

[john_h.1]

<p>That comparison didn't come out quite right. Ray is being told he should do what he wants which is actually what YOU want.</p>

[ifti]

<p>When I used to shoot in JPEG I did quick adjustments in Picasa as camera has done lot of default adjusting done before it spits out the JPEG. Sometimes I will remove blemishes is PS.</p>

<p>Now I shoot in RAW only and adjust in in PhotoRAW and then minor tweaking in PSCS3 to get the color and viberance and when photo looks like the one I saw when I clicked, I stop. </p>

[wildforlight]

<p>We all do a lot! I find a lot of photographers are confused (and the public even more so) on the issue of manipulation/altering/processing/developing...<br>

Since an "original" (as the sensor captured it) raw file is a hypothetical version that comes out of ACR (Adobe Camera Raw - or another raw converter) with no corrections at all - everything set to zero, a <strong>flat</strong>, <strong>dark</strong>, <strong>colorless</strong> version (a digital negative if you will) we can not possibly accept that as a representation of our work! Thus we all are COMMITTED TO MAKING <strong>MAJOR CORRECTIONS</strong>. The fact is even if we are going for sheer realism, we still have to develop the heck out of an original whether film or digital to get it good.</p>

[Stock-Photos]

<p>Ray, I agree with Walter, the first responder. I try to keep post processing to a minimum. But that's just my preference. <strong><a href="../photodb/member-photos?user_id=215599">Check out my portfolio.</a></strong></p>