To Photoshop or not to Photoshop…
Posted on 05. Jan, 2009 by Terry Reinert in Photography
A recent post that Scott Kelby made on his Photoshop Insider blog discusses a quote from David Ziser about the “I’ll just fix it in Photoshop” mentality that some photographers have. Some of the comments really got me thinking on the subject…To see what Scott and David (along with all those that commented on the story) said on the matter, and to read the original quote that started it all, jump over to Scott’s blog and read up on it HERE.
When I was much younger I had film cameras but they were not SLR’s. They were the film equivalent of the little Barbie digi-cams that hold 8 photos taken under 1.3MP. My first foray into “real” photography was with a 1.3MP Sony Cybershot camera that many of my family members went in on and bought for my birthday right before I went on an oversea’s deployment when I was in the Marine Corps. I then upgraded to a Canon Digital Rebel which lead to an upgrade to the Canon 20D and then onwards to the Canon 5D that I have now. Anyway, when I first got started I had that typical new guy opinion of “take 1000 photos and at least 10 of those will be good!” It usually worked for me but it took a heck of a lot of downloading and fumbling through Photoshop. So after a time I flipped 180 degrees and started doing everything I could possibly do to get the shot the best it could be out of the camera… to the point of getting very stressed out at every shoot! Not the most fun one can have on the job!
What I have done is found the middle ground between the two philosophies… I do whatever I can within reason to get the shot perfect out of the camera and the rest I make up for in Lightroom and Photoshop. By within reason I mean take care of the things that I can control, try like hell to handle a few of the things that I think I can control but really probably cannot, and then forget about the rest. Since I have found that one of my gifts is in improvising on the set and making whatever I am presented with work for me.
But that is pretty much what I have come around to after all these years… Now instead of shooting a ton of photos I usually end up with a small amount. After an hour long photo shoot I might have shot 100 photos but usually probably under that. But almost every shot is a pick instead of a reject. But many times a little Photoshop work is needed to either clone something out or touch up a spot here or there. But my time spent post processing or on the set have both been drastically reduced.
So in reality I think the answer to this whole debate is that everyone has to find their own solution. Some people may find that existing in the middle is where they want to be. Others may prefer to continue on exactly where they are firmly in one camp or the other. To each their own, right?
As an exercise in social networking, drop a comment and tell what you think. Are you a purist in that if the shot isn’t perfect don’t bother pushing the button? Or are you the type to buy as many 16GB memory cards as you can find and never take your finger off the shutter? Are there any middle ground types around besides me?
Related posts:
One Response to “To Photoshop or not to Photoshop…”
Leave a Reply
Additional comments powered by BackType
My Social Media
Advertisement
Per
06. Jan, 2009
I’m pretty much middle of the road although it depends a lot on what you’re shooting. At the KSC air show I shot almost 1400 images with a little less that 10% “keepers” (bulk shooting at it’s finest, or worst, your mileage may vary). That wasn’t bad ratio in my book considering the light, the jets, where I was sitting and my mood at the time, etc. It was by far the most images I’ve ever shot at any event, but Lightroom made it easy to review, cull and do most of the post-processing on the images.
Doing studio shooting I expect fewer exposures and 75 – 90% “picks”. People always tend to blink at the wrong time, open their mouths, turn their heads, blah, blah, blah.
As to getting it right in camera or fixing it in Photoshop, I tend to do what I can in camera and am never bothered if I have to crop and do slight adjustments to finish a photo. Actually, for me Lightroom has replaced a lot of what I used to do in Photoshop since I’ve never really “over-processed” my images with lots of filters and effects.