Community weekly poll: How much do you edit in your digital photos?
- 7/25/06 1:27 PM
Editing those digital shots
by D.Clay - 7/26/06 5:11 AM In reply to: How much do you edit in your digital photos? by Marc Bennett
Any serious photograhper edits his shots it is always
a good idea. With my Sony F828 digital camera it is
just a beautiful camera to work with. In addition to
this I always carry with me my Minolta Max., 5 film
camera and I have a 100X300 lens for those
long shots as the Sony lens is 28X200,but still a
great camera. With a at home digital programs on our
computers it is just amazing what you can do in
photography.I strongly recommend using a tripod for
those serious shots.
PS...I have noted that several of my emails to firm
appear to me to have never been referred to in any
of your articles ?????.
I remain dclay@cogeco.ca
GOODBYE FILM -- I farme and edit everthing digital
by Leighow - 7/26/06 5:45 AM In reply to: How much do you edit in your digital photos? by Marc Bennett
I bought my old Minolta SLR in 1961 for $300 in NYC. I miss not seeing thru the lens with my Canon G2. But that's about all!
1: I try to frame shots better - IN THE VIEWFINDER -- looking for left to right motion, diagonals and lines, and subjects on Golden Means
2: I bracket all shots -- tending to prefer the more underexposed images
3: I rarely shoot in RAW as JPEG is fine for screen shots.
4: I touch up all shots for colour saturation, colour balance, levels, contrast (individual channels), sharpness (once for small detail and once for larger detail.
5: I select and feather portions of shots for custom alteration.
6: I try to reduce noise via individual "problem" colour channels
7: When time permits I take a look at the "Luminous Landscape" for inspiration and technique
But ....
Overall I would say that digital has taught me that there are shots within shots that -- rather than crop -- ought to be subjects in themselves. So I tend less to shoot an entire garden -- add shoot instead a bee within an individual Lilly!
And as others have said -- it’s all free! Hurrah for digital.
I edit every photo
by clsmith - 7/26/06 5:45 AM In reply to: How much do you edit in your digital photos? by Marc Bennett
I change something in every photo due to the fact that digital photography is inherently "soft." This requires an unsharp mask filter to correct and sometimes I change the lighting and/or crop the photo to get the effect and punch I desire from it. This is part of my normal workflow with digital photography because I have been taking pictures for over 22 years and have been digital for about 5. The fuzziness is not apparent to most people, but it is there. If you have a good photo editing suite, you will find the unsharp mask with the sharpen/soften tools. Just using a standard sharpen tool will put unnatural edges in your photo and it won't look very good when it is printed or someone zooms in on it.
Picture Improvement
by tomlegal - 7/26/06 5:50 AM In reply to: How much do you edit in your digital photos? by Marc Bennett
Since I have gotten my Pentax Digital SLR I have not had to do as much editing of the pictures. I have a HP Digital camera and I had to edit almost all of the images. It was either to crop the image, change the exposure, or color balance. The SLP seems to do better. Since I have zoom lenses on the SLR I do not need to crop the pictures.
Editing Digital photography
by hrnichol - 7/26/06 6:12 AM In reply to: How much do you edit in your digital photos? by Marc Bennett
With my Olympus I am able to frame the shots larger than I would with the 35mm and then tweak the framing on the computer to provide the most pleasing composition.
This was an expensive proposition with the 35mm SLR due to the cost of processing, visual examination and then reprocessing the result.
With today's software, that cost becomes a one-time factor with countless subsequent uses, bringing down the per-print cost dramatically.
Also, when using digital photography, only the pictures that you wish to keep are printed, another cost savings.
I Edit Always
by markdoiron - 7/26/06 6:18 AM In reply to: How much do you edit in your digital photos? by Marc Bennett
I edit always. My Canon Digital Rebel is just a smooch soft in the sharpness. So I always use the Paintshop Pro unsharp tool. I don't believe I'm alone in thinking the Rebel is soft: I've read that newer Canons have "fixed" that.
On top of that, I almost always crop the images. I'm not a sloppy photographer. I grew up using a Nikon F where the viewfinder image was 100% accurate. The Digital Rebel puts more into the image than shown in the viewfinder. So I have to go back and crop to restore my original vision.
Also, I shoot with a Canon A95 sometimes (backpacking, canoeing/kayaking, diving, etc). It's aspect ratio is too large for a 4x6 print. To ensure that I get a good image, I crop every image taken with that camera.
mark d.
http://members.cox.net/mddoiron
http://www.summitpost.org/object_list.php?object_type=3&contributor_id=26307
Editing Photos and Online Storage
by jedi2b - 7/26/06 6:26 AM In reply to: How much do you edit in your digital photos? by Marc Bennett
I usually edit most of my photos for color balance, brightness, contrast, and crop for a better picture. I discard bad photos, and never keep them on my hard drive more than 24 hours. Most of my photos are on flash drives, or DVD+R. So far, I haven't lost any. Does anyone use any of the online backup programs? What kind of experience have you had? Do you recommend them?
Depends on digital vs. film
by photobuff55 - 7/26/06 6:30 AM In reply to: How much do you edit in your digital photos? by Marc Bennett
Yes, I edit almost every digital photo I take. No matter how much I play around with the controls (white balance, contrast, light sensitivity) it never meets my expectations. On the other hand, I still shoot film when it's an important event (I am a part-time wedding photographer and official family historian) and altho I get every photo taken on film also scanned to a CD, I find I never have to ''fix'' any of these. And no, the camera store that develops them does not fix them for me. I always ask to have developed as is. While digital does free you up to make mistakes, it also creates more work. I also don't believe in changing the photo you took after the fact. It's no longer the photo you took, you're depending on the skill of the computer to fix what you as the photographer lack. Bottom line is, the different mediums take pictures differently, no matter what the manufacturers claim. Digital can enable you to learn from your mistakes faster, and is ultimately less expensive in terms of supply costs. However, look at the history of the technology to date - vinyl records, 8-track and audio cassette tapes, and even VHS cassettes are already obsolete in my own lifetime - can you guarantee that today's digital files will be readable in 10 years? As I said, I still use 35mm for anything important. I have a feeling there will always be a demand to print from a negative. But I guess that's really a subject for another opinion poll.
To edit or not to edit, that is the ?
by bigduke - 7/26/06 6:57 AM In reply to: How much do you edit in your digital photos? by Marc Bennett
Way back in the fifties I did a lot of film photography. It partially supported my way through college. Almost everthing was edited as the product was usually an 8x10 glossy print. The enlarger and some dodging, cropping and carefully watching image in the developer made the output. It was the BW photoshop of the day. It worked. I usually made a contact print of whole roll for image choice. A good magnifier helped too.
As a matter of interest, good technique helped. I used a good washer on prints. And hypo eliminator. Of several hundred proof prints (these were samples for final orders) only one now has a small hypo burn. Old timers will understand.
Real difference was that film cost time to develop and see end product. And before affordable Polaroid™ there was no quick check. An instant camera was out of my budget, although commercial photographers had them.
Now we can shoot dozens of images if desired. And Video cams completly alters home movies. Speaking on old film, it might be worth scanning if it is important.
With Photoshop™ almost anything within the frame is possible. It chages completly the presentation of digital camera output. Yes, we do use editing tools when needed. Cropping is more often done with the zoom that was impossible in the old days. Even more interesting is to see panoramic 360 degree stiched displays. Reminds me of the 360 display in past world's fair shows.
New tools have really changed the whole process. And I don't really miss the old hypo smells either.
A computer display or projector is the most often final output of a lot of my current photography. And all video is burned to DVD's. That was a dream in 8mm years ago.
I edit 100% of the 10% that I keep
by smartipants - 7/26/06 7:32 AM In reply to: How much do you edit in your digital photos? by Marc Bennett
I'm just finishing an unpaid photojournalism internship at a local newspaper, and I shoot up to 200 photos at each assignment. Of those 200, I'll edit about 10 for submission to the newspaper (OK, that's actually only 5%). An image that's designated for professional printing must be high res, well-focused, and have good lighting - all opposing factors in capturing pictures on the run for photojournalism. I don't have time to set up a tripod, use the timer delay, meter the scene, etc. I often shoot in continuous mode to get action shots. Once I select the usable images (good focus/good composition), I use Photoshop/Bridge to convert raw to tiff, boost the contrast and saturation, enhance the edges, and sharpen. I save time by running 4 or 5 actions on batches of opened pictures, and then examine each to make individual adjustments to that action's layer. I can open up the shadows if needed, and often use a neutral gray filled layer to dodge and burn (I admit that I'm really bad with flash). If there are major hot spots, I usually use "replace color" to soften them to a very light gray. Outdoor (natural light) pictures need far less manipulation than indoor flash photos, and I try to take a good picture in the first place to minimize the need for fussing with it later. In photojournalism, getting the picture right has been the exception rather than the rule due to the nature of the shooting. I don't discard the remainder of the raw images, just store everything on CDs. Since I started my college photo curriculum I'm no longer satisfied with just "point and shoot." :o)
What do you mean by "edit"?
by Ranger100 - 7/26/06 7:35 AM In reply to: How much do you edit in your digital photos? by Marc Bennett
What do you mean by "edit"? Do I create Hollywood special effects? No. But, I do change the size and resolution for emailing. Does that count?
I edit most of my photos.
by geodesy - 7/26/06 7:44 AM In reply to: How much do you edit in your digital photos? by Marc Bennett
Mostly cropping and composition - which I almost always do with most photos in the darkroom on the film side. Less regularly do I digitally edit with Photoshop CS2.
Editing digital photos
by mblaster47 - 7/26/06 8:42 AM In reply to: How much do you edit in your digital photos? by Marc Bennett
While I responded to the poll with "not many", I do adjust backlighting & fill flash, contrast & brightness more often than I realized earlier.
I have a Fujifilm E550 and after only 6 months, it's showing the same problem an older Fuji digital camera developed. The power drains off in 24-48 hrs even with it off. I don't recommend this maker anymore, even though my early experience was good, plus I liked that it takes AA batteries, including rechargeables. No more Fuji for me!
Batteries
by tomlegal - 7/26/06 10:08 AM In reply to: Editing digital photos by mblaster47I have the same problem if I use regular AA batteries. I use the Photo AA batteries. They last much longer. I am very happy with them. To save battery life I do not ever transfer images from the card using the camera. I use a card reader to do it. I can capture 400+ images with the photo batteries when I do not use the flash.
Digital Photos - Editing personal images
by elhs - 7/26/06 8:52 AM In reply to: How much do you edit in your digital photos? by Marc Bennett
Most photo edits I make are color corrections, correcting facial tones and removing red eye. On landscape photos most edits are cropping and resizing or converting to web friendly formats.
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