[daza]

Hi all, I am a newby on the site having posted only 9 shots. I soon was comparing my pictures with all the others on the site and soon realised I have a lot to learn. It also dawned on me that Photoshop is a popular product used by many. I was wondering how many of you tweak your pics to get closer to obtaining that perfect image.?

I tried using edit software on one of my shots and it made it ten times better. But it is still my desire to capture the perfect shot 'a la natural' with one click of the button.

cheers

[Markulous]

Digital cameras are often deliberately "detuned" so requiring some sort of tweaking (may be as little as sharpening).

And then sometimes to convey the character of the image some sort of post-production work may be preferred!

Always best to aim for the maximumum in-camera and the minimum in-computer - if only on a time spent basis alone!

[Victoria]

Hey Daza,

I'm a big fan of photoshop and use it in processing all of my images. I'm not sure I'd label it trickery though. A lot of what I do is the equivalent of what they did in the darkroom in the good old days of film.

You have to keep in mind that in the days of film I could choose between black and white, portrait, velvia, do some cross-processing, a bit of doging/burning etc to get the desired effect. Now I use Photoshop to get the effects I'm after.

I gotta admit that being able to apply all these effects to the same image to see which works best has been a great bonus to me (not to mention the clone tool!).

I personally think using software editing is perfectly acceptable and probably necessary if you wish to keep up with the pack .

I'd love to take the perfect image straight out of the camera but I've yet to take one that hasn't benefited from some PS help .

[P-E]

Hi &

[fionaB]

Hi and welcome to the site.

I would think that most folk that are serious about photography, aim for getting as much right in camera as they can...... but as has already been mentioned by Victoria, what most of us do is only the "lightroom" equivalent to the "darkroom".... I know ( and im sure all the others who shoot in RAW will agree) that there is no way that you can output an image straight frmo the camera frmo RAW and expect it to be as good as someone elses as RAW is designed to be put thru some post processing, and when u think about it the camera if you are shooting in Jpeg already does some digital processing befroe showing you the final results.

Fi

[daza]

Originally Posted by Victoria

Hey Daza,

I'm a big fan of photoshop and use it in processing all of my images. I'm not sure I'd label it trickery though. A lot of what I do is the equivalent of what they did in the darkroom in the good old days of film.

You have to keep in mind that in the days of film I could choose between black and white, portrait, velvia, do some cross-processing, a bit of doging/burning etc to get the desired effect. Now I use Photoshop to get the effects I'm after.

I gotta admit that being able to apply all these effects to the same image to see which works best has been a great bonus to me (not to mention the clone tool!).

I personally think using software editing is perfectly acceptable and probably necessary if you wish to keep up with the pack .

I'd love to take the perfect image straight out of the camera but I've yet to take one that hasn't benefited from some PS help .

Fiona a good point made about the camera making digital changes once you initially take the pic. It seems as if photography these days can consist of firstly looking for the perfect shot and if it does not happen on the first click stage two kicks in and you begin the process of manipulating it to gain the best from it.
I know with the little bit of editing i have done it definatley brings benefits to the less than perfect shots.

[daza]

your car pic was one of the images i looked at that made me think about posting the thread in the first place. The pics posted by the other users really made a huge difference to your photo. The changes add a heap of wow to your original. I was pretty impressed.

[Dave]

Welcome to Pixalo Being an avid Monochrome fan, all my resulting Mono shots are processed in PhotoShop. As others say though, you can't beat getting the perfect shot straight from the camera though

[Victoria]

Originally Posted by daza

your car pic was one of the images i looked at that made me think about posting the thread in the first place. The pics posted by the other users really made a huge difference to your photo. The changes add a heap of wow to your original. I was pretty impressed.

You mean my car photo in the pimping section? It is amazing to see what others can do to an image. I had no choice in the time of day the photo was taken so it turned out looking rather dismal (the sun was in the wrong place). I was pretty amazed to see what others did to the image and I learnt a lot as well.

Maybe you should throw one of yours up to be "pimped" and see what happens

[Sonsey]

Hi daza, it's good to have you at Pixalo!

[stepheno]

Hi there....and a belated welcome from me

[daza]

Originally Posted by Victoria

You mean my car photo in the pimping section? It is amazing to see what others can do to an image. I had no choice in the time of day the photo was taken so it turned out looking rather dismal (the sun was in the wrong place). I was pretty amazed to see what others did to the image and I learnt a lot as well.

Maybe you should throw one of yours up to be "pimped" and see what happens

I will do that.(just need more time) One of the most outstanding things done to your photo is the framing. It really made the altered shots stand out. I was very imperssed.

[daza]

Originally Posted by Sonsey

Hi daza, it's good to have you at Pixalo!

Thanks. One of the things i have noticed most about the site is that the vast difference in feel everyones pics. I think this mainly comes from the different environments people are taking their photos in. I am in Australia and live in a tropical environment. I see a vastly different feel to the photos taken in europe and america. It is really interesting and inspiring.