Why edit photos?

[USAntigoon]

I think this thread is bringing most of us to the confession chair...
My editing approach is very simple..try to bring back in the image what I saw at time I took the shot..You know our eyes are so close to perfection that current camera technology with WB, Dynamic Range, etc are still falling short... that's where my editing comes in and yes can only be accomplished with RAW originals..Just my "confession" .. no pun intended..

 

[Clix Pix]

I think we are confusing editing like painting something in or out with Photoshop and editing details with Lightroom. Both are edits but vastly different.

Painting something in or removing it from an image, tinkering with masks and layers and such in order to make extensive alterations in the original appearance of what was shot, smoothing skin or brightening teeth or eyes, etc., etc., should probably more appropriately be called "retouching," as opposed to doing something fairly basic such as adjusting the exposure or contrast in an image.....

 

[ericwn]

I don’t generally process my images whole lot. But since I primarily shoot with a ranger finger, I often have to straighten the horizon. And I also shoot Av, so I sometimes have to correct global exposure. Finally, the rare white balance correction may be needed as well. Other than that, I like to present in a white, square border.

So that’s my boring post processing.

What’s a “ranger finger”?

 

[bsamcash]

What’s a “ranger finger”?

It'a the result of me trying desperately to use my iPhone keyboard successfully. You can always tell which posts are my iPhone and which are my Mac based on typos.

 

[Bandaman]

It'a the result of me trying desperately to use my iPhone keyboard successfully. You can always tell which posts are my iPhone and which are my Mac based on typos.

It helps to reset the iPhone keyboard dictionary once in a while. The keyboard for me gets dumber over time.

 

[hodad66]

For me, the fun begins when I upload into Photoshop. One of my cameras is a Sony a7RIII
and the dynamic range is huge. The amount of detail that you can bring out of the shadows
is amazing. Cropping..... while shooting surfers I caught an image of a seagull flying by.
The bird was only in a corner of the frame but I recropped and processed & it became one
of my favorite images.

 

[r.harris1]

For me, the fun begins when I upload into Photoshop. One of my cameras is a Sony a7RIII
and the dynamic range is huge. The amount of detail that you can bring out of the shadows
is amazing. Cropping..... while shooting surfers I caught an image of a seagull flying by.
The bird was only in a corner of the frame but I recropped and processed & it became one
of my favorite images.

View attachment 1923440

A terrific composition! You bring up another great point on why I personally edit: There are a lot of “images within images” on photographs I take. On wildlife shots in particular, I don’t always get it right in camera but I can use tools in my arsenal like a modern camera’s dynamic range and resolution ability along with editing tools like Photoshop (or whatever) to coax out the final image.

 

[tizeye]

Shoot in RAW
Editing is mandatory, if for no other reason than to convert to an acceptable format. Plus, since it compiles a lot of data on the photo, by nature it tends to be flat, and like jpg in-camera auto-editing/processing, needs to be edited for tone, color, contrast and saturation. Things that the jpg engine does in camera...but you have the choice of what to emphasize with RAW.

 

[ericwn]

It'a the result of me trying desperately to use my iPhone keyboard successfully. You can always tell which posts are my iPhone and which are my Mac based on typos.

I had a guess that it was autocorrect butchering the Leitz heritage, but wasn’t sure.

 

[cupcakes2000]

Not if you import as "Camera Vivid."

My Nikon Z cameras actually read the true camera profile, even with in camera tweaks to them. But as I mentioned above, I use my own preset anyway, so that info is discarded.

Doesnt seem to make any difference with my Canons and Lightroom. You can add the same in camera presets after the case though, if you like.

Not trying to be smart, but did you read the rest of my post, and also which editing programs have you used?

My comment SPECIFICALLY was that Lightroom, when importing the NEFs(and converting to DNG) does "read" the camera presets and the initial photo you are shown after import reflects your camera presets.

Yes, you have 100% total control to change those, but if you shoot RAW+JPEG and open both photos side-by-side in Lightroom they will look identical when first opened.

I keep settings like that because 95% of the time, they get me closer to where I want the end result to be and save editing time, and for the other 5% of the time I can completely change them in post processing.

When I've used Nikon's RAW processor, it imports presets too. From what I recall, the last time I played with it, you essentially had a menu also that gave you the same options as in-camera for saturation, contrast, etc and you could easily switch to a different camera preset mode or of course do anything else you wanted(which generally is the reason we all shoot RAW anyway).

Yes I read it. I just clipped that bit because it was the relevent bit. There is no need to be upset, I’m just stating my experience when using in camera presets and shooting raw. I use mainly Canon stuff and Lightroom. You can shoot how you want, and whatever works for you. When I first tried importing using an in camera setting like that, admittedly years ago so it may have changed, it made no difference to the imported image.

 

[Apple fanboy]

I'm one who isn't very fond of editing much or very good at it.As a RAW shooter its usually just a few minutes in LR. However sometimes you need to spend a bit of time. This particular image was shot in Barcelona. I'm very unlikely to ever travel there again. The cathedral is still under construction and as my primary goal for the trip was not Photography, I didn't have a wide enough lens with me to capture this without creating a pano.

But it started out looking very different as you can see.

 

[tizeye]

Someday I will get around to editing this. The lady on the bridge just planted herself there. Need to make her disappear as detracts from the subject.

 

[Apple fanboy]

Someday I will get around to editing this. The lady on the bridge just planted herself there. Need to make her disappear as detracts from the subject.
View attachment 1923737

The clone tool should take care of that in PS.

 

[tizeye]

The clone tool should take care of that in PS.

I know, just wasn’t a priority when initially processing the group of photos…move onto the next one. Looking at it, should be easy as won’t have to ‘micro clone’ all the fine detail of the bridge rails. There is sufficient ’clean’ rails to either side to directly clone over.

 

[mollyc]

I know, just wasn’t a priority when initially processing the group of photos…move onto the next one. Looking at it, should be easy as won’t have to ‘micro clone’ all the fine detail of the bridge rails. There is sufficient ’clean’ rails to either side to directly clone over.

fix it and put it in our before and after thread. ?

 

[tizeye]

fix it and put it in our before and after thread. ?

Done and will post over there, but figured I would work on the sky while I was at it.

The reason distracting? That statue, new since I lived there in the 1980's, is of a very popular BBC Sitcom, "Dad's Army", where a large portion was filmed in the town that now includes a museum. Just seemed wrong with the lady in the background but kept waiting for her to move...and she didn't. The area has changed, noted when returned in 2018 as the statue is located in what was a car park serving the town center, now 90% gone with shops built on that site with the statue. I rarely used the car park, other than the public WC - now gone, as I walked to town on the public walkway behind the bridge along the River Ouse, then crossed over at the bridge.

 

[MajorFubar]

Before digital photography took over, I was a massive photography fan and admirer of the many photographers whose skills 'captured the moment' brilliantly onto a piece of color or B&W film.

Then, digital photography came along a generated a whole new breed of creators who also called themselves photographers. But certainly they weren't photographers as I knew them. They were/are definitely artists, there is no question, but their art is maybe 20% being a half-decent photographer, 30% having an intriguing artistic vision, and 50% being a Jedi Master at Photoshop.

 

[Apple fanboy]

Before digital photography took over, I was a massive photography fan and admirer of the many photographers whose skills 'captured the moment' brilliantly onto a piece of color or B&W film.

Then, digital photography came along a generated a whole new breed of creators who also called themselves photographers. But certainly they weren't photographers as I knew them. They were/are definitely artists, there is no question, but their art is maybe 20% being a half-decent photographer, 30% having an intriguing artistic vision, and 50% being a Jedi Master at Photoshop.

I’d disagree with your %. Everyone is different. Some edit a lot. Some don’t. It’s personal choice. None is right or wrong. Just different.

 

[kenoh]

What’s a “ranger finger”?

Sounds like the sign bad people make at the toll booth in a state park? lol....

 

[squawk7000]

What’s a “ranger finger”?

is that when you stick a finger in the air and guess the distance?

 

[jwolf6589]

Shoot in RAW
Editing is mandatory, if for no other reason than to convert to an acceptable format. Plus, since it compiles a lot of data on the photo, by nature it tends to be flat, and like jpg in-camera auto-editing/processing, needs to be edited for tone, color, contrast and saturation. Things that the jpg engine does in camera...but you have the choice of what to emphasize with RAW.

I have no cameras that can shoot in RAW.

 

[tizeye]

I have no cameras that can shoot in RAW.

OH, the camera shoots in RAW. I knew I was doing something wrong.

 

[OldMacs4Me]

I have no cameras that can shoot in RAW.

As has been pointed out earlier here and elsewhere all cameras shoot RAW.

Some cameras such as yours, allow only minimal control of the first JPEG edit from that RAW image. More importantly those cameras do not allow you to preserve the original RAW image. That somewhat limits but by no means eliminates your ability to further edit an image.

 

[cmaier]

I personally like the original feel to a photo and only will edit for simple tasks such as brightness, contrast, and some cropping. I don't normally edit photos since Mr. Powershot does a good job with picture taking and certainly the best camera I have ever owned. I will edit when absolutely necessary since I prefer the original touch to a photo to make it more legit. As I have mentioned before I don't care too much for the way many abuse photoshop on FB. For example a liar played with photoshop and made a Rolex watch appear on Gandalf in one of the LOTR's films to make it appear like a film blunder. I hate this type of use of photoshop.

So why do you edit photos and if so do you edit every photo that you take?

The photo being unedited doesn’t mean it is “more legit.” The camera has made certain decisions in the rendering to jpeg, and those decisions don’t make the photo any more legit than decisions a skilled photographer, starting with the .raw file, would instead choose to make. A camera sensor is not an eyeball.

 

[cmaier]

I have no cameras that can shoot in RAW.

That can’t be true. I believe what you mean to say is you have no cameras that can produce RAW files. All cameras shoot in “raw” in the sense that the sensor receives all sorts of information - far more than is rendered into the final file output. A camera that saves only Jpeg files is making a decision as to how to process that information and render the final image. In particular, cheap cameras (the kind that can only save jpeg), typically make all sorts of artificial decisions, picking a color palette, smoothing out chroma noise, deciding on a white balance point, etc.