developing the photographic eye...for post-processing

[nameWithheld]

Hi all

Long time reader, recently new poster. I've found DPS to be very useful in an easy to understand way.

I've read the threads about post-processing and about it being the darkroom equivalent, etc

Just a question...how do you develop your photography eye to see that a photo needs post-processing?

Sometimes, it's obvious to me that I need to adjust the colours, because I had forgotten to change the WB from sun to fluro light when I moved indoors, etc, but how did you develop an eye to say 'oh, i need to sharpen this one', etc

I gave a friend of mine a few photos and he says you need to sharpen it a bit and adjust the colours a bit. He gave me some values he used, but after applying them, I couldn't see any difference.

So how do you develop an eye for this sort of thing and how do you know when you have processed it enough?

I've just been sharing photos straight out of the camera until now.

Thanks

nameWithheld

[FormElement]

That's a very subjective subject...

Many people cannot see enough color or color depth to matter beyond a certain point. You could be one. That's life.

I guess there are really two parts to that.
Who are you trying to please? and
Can you even tell the difference?

From personal experience, if you actually can't see the difference, then it really doesn't matter. If your viewers cannot tell the difference, then it still doesn't matter, even if you can. However, if someone is able to walk you through a photo or group of photos and discuss the very subjective way that they would make adjustments, and you CAN see the difference, then that's a good starting point. You just need to look at a lot of photos, and try to make the adjustments that suit your taste.

I find that almost all photo's benefit from a little micro contrast sharpening. I also find that almost all photo's benefit from a slight targeted color saturation adjustment either up or down.

Then you get into viewing media, viewing distance, and image size. That's another book all together.

[Gonzo13]

For me it depends on quite a few things. It would also depend on what your definition of PP is. Sometimes a picture just needs something changed about it like a change in contrast, saturation, smoothing of skin, removal of blemishes or an object. When I look at my photos I have the thought in my mind "Is there anything that I can do to make this picture better." I also try to keep it so I am not changing the photo so much that it is not what I originally photographed. It can easily be taken to far. Check out the before and after section of the forum. There will probably be good examples of doing to little all the way to doing to much and everything in between.

In the end it is all a personal preference. Some people don't want to do anything to the photos and others want to the final result to look nothing like the original. I read somewhere that PP can make a good picture better but that it can't make a bad picture great.

[wulf]

I think there are very few photographs that wouldn't be improved by some further time developing them in the digital darkroom. However, there are plenty of shots where it probably isn't worth the time.

Wulf

[nameWithheld]

Thanks for your replies!

I kinda had the feeling that it would be subjective and up to each individual.

I'm glad though, that I'm not totally off the track by not adjusting all of my shots before I share them. I might try to post a few photos in the critique forums to see what people think.

Thanks