Processing - Overview

Many people think that post-proccessing of photos (through photoshop or similar programs) has only been important since digital has been introduced. Not true! Check out what the famous film photographer Richard Avendon scribbled on his shot when he sent it to his printer (from an excellent post on blog.chasejarvis.com):



The + and - marks all represent different magnitudes of dodging and burning during the film printing process, a method that is still used effectively in photoshop programs today.

So pretty much every form of good photography involves post-processing and editing. Get used to it!! And don't call anyone a cheat who does - because it takes skill to edit subtly and tastefully, while still improving the original shot.

I have always tried to get the best possible result straight off camera - and I do use a few 'in-camera' processing techniques - but 99% of the time I will at least make minor adjustments in photoshop afterwards.

Keep reading through the processing links in the top right for a few simple editing techniques that I use in camera and out of camera.

Cheers
Tal