Fundamental Post Process !

When I was using Films I was never so PP crazy but after I switched over to Digital I'm too much PP crazy. I'm not into Photography industry, nor do I make bread and butter with photography. I am mostly a travel photographer.

It is some times difficult to carry to bodies, so in such situations I mostly carry the digital body because it helps me in continuos shooting.

I am improving day by day. I want to participate in competitions but there are lots of competitions where they dont accept too much manipulated images.

What you think are the most basic manipulation with any digital image and how much you do it? Ok, with sharpening i know. As much as required to get the correct sharp image but how about levels? How much you think one can adjust the levels for a image. How about digital B&W, what if you want to add little bit grains in it to give it a look like Film B&W.

Recenlty when I was displaying an image to a NON photography friend, he said 'good photographers dont do PP, they will always get it exactly what they want at the first go'. That made me too confused. Now I wonder how is the Fundamental PP .

Ghosh

Your friend is basically talking out his ar*e...

As you'll know, developers of film have been messing with images for years and years. Digital is just the next step, and fortunatly, everyone has a chance to PP now with software and a home PC.

Do as much PP as you want to do. I usually process an image until it looks just right - that's my benchmark

I'd agree with Sando's last comment. Do it till it looks ' just' right and then stop.

More than ever, with a digital image you can go and change things time and time again and i think you can get yourself caught up in it too much. Similar to painting on canvas, when you reach the point that your dibbing and dabbing here and there to make tiny changes, put down the paint brush. The painting is done and its diminishing returns. The same goes with post processing for me too.

Tell him to read up on Ansel Adams.

Thanks friends for your time and comments. I appreciate your comments but to be frank I was more interested to hear from you about the PP than my friend.

My friend, he is non photography. So really dont care about him.

I understand it is a good idea to go about doing PP as long as the i am not satisfied with the image or as long as i dint get what i want but the other issue is in some competitions they dont except high level digital manipulated images, so such case what minimum thing would you do?

I grew up with film photography and the wet darkroom. I would like to consider myself a photographer not a digital artist ... so I draw the line at the wet darkroom ... whatever I could do in a wet darkroom I apply to post processing.

I shoot RAW, so in RAW processing I color correct, adjust contrast, adjust lighting, convert to monchrome should I choose and sharpen. In photoshop I do what I consider as polishing, crop and adjust horizons, burn, dodge, remove dust (clone) and fine tune contrast and color.

Gary

PS- I am not saying that those who do more in post processing are digital artists and not photographers ... I'm just saying that the above works for me mentally and photographically.
G

Use whatever you want the way you want and have fun doing it. If you enter a competition who don't accept high digital manipulation. Just do the basic. White balance, sharpening, level, contrast, cleaning and crop. Those kind of competition are usually about the subject in the picture and the composition.
Otherwise, experiment as much as you can. And the BS about real photgraphers don't use PS, tell your friend that if it's true, real writers don't use word processing, they write with wood pen... right?

Yeah basically what everyone said as long as your not cloning out cars moving birds for better compositions. Basically those competitions want the image to look how you photographed it so dont go moving clouds and trees.....pretty much anything like color correction, levels, curves, exposure, white balance, crop/straightening is all good.