Post processing

[C.J]

How many of you do any PP?

Or are most pictures you use straight from the camera?

I find I do PP with almost every picture, whether it's tweaking the saturation, contrast or cropping.

Let's see your non PP pictures (ie straight from the camera with zero editing)

 

[Revels]

100% as it came from the camera.

But that was a one off. It depends what I've been doing. Like when I went to Goodwood/FCS, I couldn't be arsed to sit and crop/edit every single picture. So just left them pretty much.

Anything I put a bit of effort into gets the photoshop treatment.

 

[DanFreemanPhoto]

Don't think I have many non PP shots, all have some kind of work done, even if it's a trivial as straightening a horizon that I didn't notice on location.

 

[Dweeb]

i never use photoshop or any of that
i dunno but i guess i just think its cheating, its not a good picture unless its done all by yourself on the camera on manual settings, otherwise its not yours if you get what i mean, so yeah, never have, never will.
www.flickr.com/jambradley

 

[Scott™]

I deffinatly do post processing. An example of two of mine. I had some good examples but recently lost them all

And

 

[Andy.]

I disagree that doing PP is cheating. Photographers have always done it, it was just more effort in the darkroom rather than on a PC.

I read something on POTN where somebody was saying that using Autofocus was cheating too and that good photographers only shot manual, with manual focus.

Complete b****cks IMHO.

 

[unofficialPete]

i never use photoshop or any of that
i dunno but i guess i just think its cheating, its not a good picture unless its done all by yourself on the camera on manual settings, otherwise its not yours if you get what i mean, so yeah, never have, never will.
www.flickr.com/jambradley

*breathes*

No.

Developing photos is part of photography, always has and always will be. Why is letting a camera decide your contrast, white balance, saturation etc etc doing it yourself?

 

[Dweeb]

well i meant manual as in shutter and aperture. just feels so much more rewarding taking a picture on film and scanning it in then using it un edited, all your own work if you get me

 

[Dweeb]

all my camera has is a lightmeter, film ftw

 

[unofficialPete]

Who develops your film, its them post processing! I've only shot a lomo a little so don't get the process, assuming someone else does it before you can scan...

 

[Dweeb]

my mate does it himself, gives me then negatives back and then i scan them in with my negative scanner

 

[unofficialPete]

nice nice, that'd be a massive PITA shooting sports mind

Ok, so lets play the game, heres an original and an edit, it was shot in RAW so needed processing & I wasn't going to perch on a rock at 6am for a dull sunrise...

 

[Dweeb]

haha i guess
mate thats rad

 

[DanFreemanPhoto]

Where's that Pete?

 

[Rhod.L15]

Pete, that sensor needs a good clean!

Anyone who doesn't PP is not getting everything out of their photography they can, end of story! PP is the difference between a good image and a great one.

I'm also a recent convert to RAW. The CS4 RAW plug in is a fantastic bit of software which drastically reduces the time taken processing RAW images. So much so that I wouldn't even consider shooting JPEG now.

 

[unofficialPete]

Portland Bill, Dorset http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portland_Bill

Sensor was a mess, sold the camera now anywhoo..

 

[Sparky]

I deffinatly do post processing. An example of two of mine. I had some good examples but recently lost them all

And

stunning picture, How did you get the glare from the lights like that?

 

[DanFreemanPhoto]

Any long exposure shot - usually over a few seconds

 

[unofficialPete]

stunning picture, How did you get the glare from the lights like that?

A small aperture..
http://www.macworld.com/article/143076/2009/09/snapshot_starburst.html

 

[Scott™]

A long exposure, with a small aperture mixed with a few other tweeks on the camera.

 

[ScarySquirrel]

Anyone who says that post processing is cheating, either isn't a photographer, or doesn't understand photography.

Post processing has, and always will be a part of photography.

Besides, if you shoot in RAW you should ALWAYS post process your photo. A RAW file is what it suggests, it's raw, there is no saturation, sharpening, contrast boosts that the camera adds itself. Without post processing a RAW file every image will be flat a lifeless.

Having said that, it can rescue what might otherwise be deemed a bad photo (this is a RAW out of the camera)

 

[Sparky]

What software are people using for PP? Both OSX and Windwos

 

[dunganick]

Lightroom, nothing comes close (imho) for batch editing quickly.

 

[Matt_90]

I use lightroom which is ideal for shooting in Raw and for doing quick edits if I need to do anything else I then move it across to PS.

 

[gsums]

What does everyone use for PP? i take it the main one is photoshop ive never used it how do people find it to use is it easy once u get the hang of it or...?

 

[Andy.]

Another vote for Lightroom. Amazing program.

 

[unofficialPete]

Think I need to learn lightroom, I've only used it for importing and tagging images, I tend to then use Photoshop for processing..

 

[Paul_G]

Another vote for Lightroom. Amazing program.

Hear, hear. Have downloaded the 30 day trial. Really impressed - provides a lot more editing options that Canon DPP (what I have typically used) and is likely to mean that I no longer need to jump to Photoshop Elements where I need / want to perform more detailed edits.

Aside from the editing functionality the Database / Catalogue functionality is completely new to me and appears very useful and user friendly. No doubt I'll be purchasing when my 30 day trial expires.

 

[C.J]

I use Lightroom 3 for 90% of the pictures I take. I'll use Photoshop CS5 when wanting to blur/delete content.

 

[koi]

As above Lightroom for the simple stuff then PS if I'm feeling fancy

 

[ipodsandguns]

Not much of my stuff goes much further then CameraRaw.

Correction in temp and Im typically happy.

 

[Sarah]

I dont really PP as much as I should.

But when i do its mainly, adjusting horizon/constrast/cropping nothing too technically

Really need to get round to learning more