How often do you post process?

[Happy]

The acceptance of PP is nice to know. Adjusting the pictures is my favorite part of photography. It seems they always need a little tweaking.
With my new XSI, I nearly always need to sharpen. I hope to become more accurate.
What is your favorite program? I like Miscrosoft Digital Image.(easy & fast)

[JerBear]

If you are not processing your photos, than you are missing an opportunity to create a better image that will wow others.

Everything created is processed is some way or another. Would you hang your work in a gallery for others to see unframed, poorly lit, and crooked on the walls? Probably not, but if you frame, light and hang the work, you have just processed the work. So, maybe the question should be “How much post process”?

Good shooting

[blarg]

I suppose that the file type format that all digital photos should be captured in should give a clue. RAW format, ie the image is raw and needs further processing.

[intofotos]

Originally Posted by dickyknee

Until recently I would have said never.
Talking to members at a local camera club I found that for the competitions it was a normal thing to photoshop everything, I thought a photo comp was all done with a camera, light, filters etc. Otherwise it would be a computer operators comp. I too felt cheated.
However if you cant beat them, join them. Why feel guilty if it is the norm.

yes, most comps allow you to tweak your shots however, there are comps that explicitly say "no post processing allowed" in which you can submit images sooc on photographic merit alone.

[smenzel]

Every day. Every image. Some images are very close to perfect coming out of the camera but others need a bit of tweaking to get just right.

Back when I shot film, I would spend a LOT more time post-processing my images in the darkroom. Black and white wasn't so bad but color took ten minutes to process each color test and it might easily take half a dozen tests to get the color right.

[smenzel]

Originally Posted by intofotos

yes, most comps allow you to tweak your shots however, there are comps that explicitly say "no post processing allowed" in which you can submit images sooc on photographic merit alone.

I find the notion of a photo contest that states no post processing allowed rather confusing. Every camera has some post-processing built into it. The least amount of in-camera processing is to shoot RAW, turn off auto white balance, etc.

As we all know, the act of opening a RAW image is in fact post-processing as the image must be converted to another format. Printing an image is a post-process as the image colors must be converted from how the camera saw the image to how the printer delivers the image.

The only way such a competition could really work would be for the photographer to submit their RAW images electronically to the competition. Perhaps that's how these contests are done.

This still doesn't make sense to me. Having a competition that doesn't allow post-processing is like saying you're not allowed to use an enlarger for your film prints (machine prints only).

- or like a car race where you're not allowed to tune your engine
- or a writing competition where you're not allowed to use edit your writing after you finish outlining the story
- or a sailing race where you're not allowed to trim your sails

Now I completely understand that there's a fine line between subtle post-processing to help an image and over-the-top post-processing that can be garish over-processing.

[darrenwilliams]

Originally Posted by blarg

I suppose that the file type format that all digital photos should be captured in should give a clue. RAW format, ie the image is raw and needs further processing.

ye, but the purpose of RAW files is so u can edit them on the computer...because a doesnt post process pictures to me nearly as well as a pc...and you can recover more of the image if it was overexposed in a RAW file than in a JPEG file...without postprocessing...photography wudnt b that big of a deal cause a camera cant make all the special effects

[OsmosisStudios]

I dont necessarilly consider my RAW conversion process to be post processing, but It could be. I dont generally touch up images unless there's anything specific i want to fix.