photography talk - editing

One thing I don't like to do is show people my pictures before I edit them. Only a select few have seen an unedited photo from me. Why don't I like to? Because using your camera to take the picture is only part of the process.

A famous photographer once said:

"The negative is comparable to the composer's score and the print to its performance." - Ansel Adams

Editing the photograph has always been a big part of photography. Even though Photoshop drastically changed the editing process (allowing us to change anything and everything about a photo) digital photography didn't invent the concept of editing....it just took it out of the darkroom, and into our computers. As a matter of fact, a lot of the terms used in Photoshop are terms carried over from the darkroom days (burning, dodging, etc.)

I edit every photo I take. Although, I don't usually drastically change it, I try and enhance things like sharpness, color and contrast....or change the color curves. My photography friends and I all have different styles of editing. You just have to find your own style.

Even though I am all for editing...I think there is a line between an edited photograph and a computer generated image. There are some pictures I have seen on "photography" websites that were obviously made with computer software...and probably didn't even start as a picture.

But don't get it twisted kids....if you start out with a crap picture, you will end up with a crap picture. I have taken a lot of pictures that the best photo editor in the world couldn't save.

To give you an idea, here are some pictures of mine before and after editing.

"Photography Talk" Disclaimer
I am not a photography expert. These tidbits are just things I wish someone would have told me when I was starting. If you are a beginner, hopefully this will help you spend less time figuring out your camera, and more time taking pictures.

photography talk - fuzzy wuzzy was a...picture

It is a moment that comes in every photography enthusiasts life. You just bought an expensive DSLR, you love photography, you've studied the work of other photographers, and you may have even glanced through your manual...but no matter what you did previously, some of the first pictures taken with that pretty new camera turn out blurry...even though the camera said they were in focus. Don't feel ashamed, it is natural. It is something we all go through. There is hope.

The enemy? Movement

Either...

1.) Your subject is moving
2.) You move the camera when you push the shutter button

How do you get around this? Speed. Shutter speed, to be exact. You have to be able to stop movement. If the shutter is moving fast enough, you can freeze the movement of laughing people, running squirrels, the wiggliest baby, or a messy sneeze.

In order to get fast shutter speed, you need adequate light. It is easy to get fast shutter speed in the sunlight or with a flash...but what if you are shooting inside with "less than spiffy" light and you don't want to (or don't have) a flash? Two things.....aperture and ISO.

The nice thing about DSLRs is a lot of them perform really well in high ISO. (ISO is the light sensitivity of the camera) So, if you can, crank up your ISO. My camera can still get pretty good shots up to 1500 ISO. After that, it gets a little too grainy for me.

Your aperture (or f-stop) is also important. If you take a lot of pictures in low light situations, you should really get a fast lens. When people say "fast", that means the lens can open up to a really wide aperture.

Q: What is aperture?
A: Aperture is how much light your lens is letting in.

Q: Okay...so what makes it a wide aperture?
A: The lower the number, the wider. So, an aperture of 2 is better for low light than a aperture of 8. Imagine the lens is an eye. You open your eyes wider, you see more.

Side note: The fastest lenses are the standard ones (fixed...not zooms). You can get fairly fast zooms, but you pay for it.

Here is a visual aid for aperture. As you can see..the higher the number, the less light the lens is letting in.

***Disclaimer***
I a not a photography expert. These tidbits are just things I wish someone would have told me when I was starting. If you are a beginner, hopefully this will help you spend less time figuring out your camera, and more time taking pictures.