Cedar Park Photography | Post-Processing in the Digital Age

 

Okay, so this Cedar Park Photographer admits that taking the shot is only half the the skill and art we know as photography.  Well, it's actually way more than half, if you consider the time it takes to pull some of the shots we pull. Really all depends on the shoot. 

This said, taking the shot isn't where the ball stops.

I'm about to say one word that makes a ton of photogs cringe, especially those who are just starting out...

POST-PROCESSING IMAGES

That might actually be two words, I don't even know.  Maybe just one compound word.  Okay, who cares.

Post-processing.

What is it?  Well, it's everything that happens after the shot's taken and prior to actual delivery to the client.  For someone like me, that involves retrieving the images, sending them through processing procedures in Photoshop or Adobe Lightroom, adjusting them, judging them, selection, communication with the client, getting some valuable client feedback, performing final mods on the individual photos, and somewhere amongst all of this, lunch.

Yesterday afternoon, I overheard someone say "Everything is photoshopped these days. Nothing is real."  I stopped for a moment to think about what that meant before deciding that the exclaimer, in this case, was probably right.  Seldom do I send out photos without doing anything to them, even if I'm just adjusting contrast or brightness.  I mean, why would I?

People are fallible, and I'm no exception.  I commonly adjust exposures, brightness and vibrance. A lot.  Why?  Probably because every photo is a bit different and I want them to look as good as they can.  When I first starting shooting with film, I did the same thing, only it was in the darkroom and not with a computer.  Of course, it's not as much fun to fumble around in the dark looking for the  film cannister you just dropped on the floor in complete darkness, but it's akin to the same exact process.

If you're a novice or the family photographer, your film labs used to make those corrections for you. You did it too.

Now that we're mostly a digital image world, we spend a lot of time on this important aspect of photography without really thinking about how much time it really takes. If you're good at it or hire it out, it doesn't take much time, but you do spend your own personal time performing these tasks or paying for someone else to perform them for you.

MY LATEST PORTRAIT SHOOT

The photo above was taken down at Gruene Hall yesterday on the northwest side of New Braunfels. This was a somewhat challenging location due to the heavy canopy tree cover (higher ISOs) and the equally opposite heavy direct sunlight out in the open areas. Lots of chances to make mistakes related to exposure.  I found myself having to adjust on nearly every single shot.

Once the shoot was complete, I naturally moved first to Lightroom and then to Photoshop. I've seen photographers who profess that if you use one, you don't need the other.  I don't really agree, but I don't really care either.  They can do whatever it is that they want. Personally, I use Lightroom to adjust nearly all of the photos even before I take a real close look at the best shots.  I'd call that Round 1 of post-processing. After I cull the obvious errors, I'll seek feedback from the client on which photos they like before putting them into Round 2 - Photoshop.

Trust me, I don't use either one of these programs to their full potential and I can promise you that they're always going to be way more intelligent than I'll ever be.   I have, however, found different aspects of them that I really like and I tend to use them for what I consider to be their strengths.

And this is from a guy who doesn't like to process at all.

I really don't.

But I consider this to be a mandatory part of my practice now and besides, the client deserves the best photo they can buy that fits the budget.

It's that simple.

WHAT DOES IT ALL MEAN?

I don't think a single day goes by where I don't learn all that I can about something new about photography. I love the exposure to so many different concepts and ideas and almost always use those ideas to make my photography better.  That's what life's all about right? To leave things better than you found them?

A good post-processing plan brings out the best in your photos and just simply makes  a better product. We don't have to spend all of our time in the stage of production, but it shouldn't be ignored either.

How does post-processing fit into your plan?