Post Processing

How much processing are you doing. I like to get it right in the camera but there are so many ways to tweak a shot I just can's seem to know when to stop. It's driving me nuts!

That's where posting a photo for critique helps. I used to belong to a local photography club in my city and each monthly meeting included viewing and feedback on members' photos.

well i shoot RAW so i try and get the exposure as dead on as possible in camera. Processing simply consists:
White balance correction
lighting correction (highlights shadows etc if needed)
contrast and saturation if needed
then to finish off noise reduction and sharpening.

In a perfect world, where I never make mistakes, anti aliassing filters don't soften images and the lighting is always exactly right, then I would never need to post process.

Sadly I'm not perfect, the anti-aliassing filter does soften the image and the light is never perfect. So post processing of only those images that are worth the time and effort is my solution. Maybe one in twenty exposures on a good day, the rest never see the light of day. One good shot per outing is my aim, my personal standards are high, so my output is very small.

I actually like post processing! And trying to rescue a good composition that I've not got spot on certainly rubs my nose in the mistake, which rams the lesson home. I've found the whole digital capture thing easier to learn from than film ever was.

That is the kind of question that if you ask 12 photographers you will get 12 different answers. Of course everyone wants to get it right in the camera but what is right is somewhat subjective, just like this whole art is.

You see blogs that are complaining about a little skin smoothing and other that tout it. It is all in the eye of the beholder. I had a client not too long ago that kept me pushing to do more and more, so I did. In the end it looked similar to her but certainly nothing like what the original did. The customer was very happy and that is all that mattered to me. I have received several referrals from her that turned into jobs so even if I didn't personally like the end result they did.

There is no image that has not been post-processed, so "getting it right in the camera" means approving and accepting Canon's post-processing. If it looks good to you and fulfills your needs, that's cool. If you think you can do better or at least like challenges, that's cooler.

Heh! "Get it right in camera", then "Get it right in Post Processing" and you're done!

How much PP you do is entirely up to you!

Genome wrote in post #9955590
well i shoot RAW so i try and get the exposure as dead on as possible in camera. Processing simply consists:
White balance correction
lighting correction (highlights shadows etc if needed)
contrast and saturation if needed
then to finish off noise reduction and sharpening.

That seems to be a nice work flow! I think I will give it a go!

For me, it depends on the image I am making. Sometimes, it is some simple tuning (WB, sharpening, some curves) other times it can be a complete nerdfest with hours of PP nonsense. Mostly, envisioning what your are trying to accomplish ahead of time, before you capture the data, helps guide the nature of the post production.

Kirk

i am the same, i can keep tweaking a photo and not know when to stop

each variation look good and i have a hard time choosing which PP version to go with

im trying hard now to work on "less is more"

dynamitetony wrote in post #9968791
i am the same, i can keep tweaking a photo and not know when to stop

each variation look good and i have a hard time choosing which PP version to go with

im trying hard now to work on "less is more"

Lol; that's what I'm talking about!!!!

Yes, I will also try "less is more".

With black&white film it's the basics: exposure, contrast and some dodging and burning to get it just right.
With color I just started experimenting more in digital color, with a solid basis in the above: get a negative/raw that is easy to work with, exposed to the right and all that, and then take it into post for light and contrast adjustment. I might want it dark, but getting it dark in the camera is a bad idea: better to tone it down later. I'm also doing more and more color-balance tweaks as I'm bored with straight colors: I don't have to take what Canon gives anymore than I take what Kodak gives me. I figure out what the picture means and tweak the colors and exposure to match. An hour in the darkroom for a single image is not that much, and I'm moving more towards spending that amount of time on digital images. Get to know it and then work it to perfection. It's not the way to handle say a wedding shoot, but I shoot for me and would rather spend more time on less images.