natural vs software

[carinlynchin]

I am learning about photography on my own and I was wondering are there ways to achieve the different methods without using software? For example, muted colors, very saturated photos, and other methods I don' teven know about yet...??

I feel like I am cheating if I use software but some photos are just so beautiful like that "zara jennings"...gosh she is good. But her photos are muted and "old" looking which I think makes them so beautiful, but can you do that with your camera or do you have to use software??

Carine

[dcclark]

Remember, your camera is applying "editing" to your photos in exactly the same way you would with a computer. If you set your camera to "Vivid" color settings, your camera is basically increasing the saturation -- just as if you'd changed the saturation curve in a RAW editor.

Also, please remember that cameras do not take "natural" photos. A camera sees things very different than your eye, and it usually takes quite a bit of post-processing work to make a photo look "natural". A digital camera also processes photos for you -- even a RAW file has to have processing settings applied (color rendition, sharpening, color balance, etc.) before it becomes an image.

So, the summary is -- you're not cheating if you post-process. It's OK if you choose not to post-process, but please don't fall into the trap of thinking that straight-out-of-camera images are somehow perfect.

[gh patriot]

Software is not cheating. Professional photographers have been processing photos in darkrooms for a loooong time. Was it cheating when Ansel Adams would spend hours and hours dodging and burning in the darkroom until it was just how he wanted it?

[youknowhat]

I used to feel exactly like you are feeling

Simply becuase I did not know how to use photoshop to create a better (or beautiful) image and I discirminated people who used it.

Once you have learned how to use it you will simply love it and think you were foolish

photoshop is not a cheating UNLESS you are telling people you have not photoshoped it but you actually did ....

[navcom]

These folks are right...it's not cheating. Where the controversy lies is where do you draw the line. But that line is drawn in something that is art...and art is subjective.

My opinion as a purest is that post-processing, whether it's done in a dark room or on the computer, is perfectly "natural" as long as it enhances the photo into what you saw when you took the picture.

[JCatara]

When I started on this hobby I was a lousy photographer.I had to learn photoshop. I started with photoshop elements then I graduated to photoshop. Elements is great for pictures. Photoshop is just more flexible. Correcting a good picture is always easier to process than a bad picture. However as stated earlier I was bad at taking pictures, I still think I am. Taking all those bad pictures does have educational value though. I learned how to fix em. I gained some insight on things to look for through the view finder and then remember to change the camera settings. One thing I find fun to do in photoshop is to incorporate parts of image A into image B. Is photoshop cheating. Nah, its art and creativity. Mainly its a ton of fun.