Post-processing and you!

[Learner]

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Hello,

 

Just wondering what fraction of your "keepers" you post-process (touch-up, Photoshop, etc.).

 

What category are you in:

 

a) I work on virtually all my "keepers" (80%+)

 

I work on the majority (60% - 79%)

 

c) I work on about half (40% -59%)

 

d) I work on a fair number (20% - 39%)

 

e) I work on some (5% - 9%)

 

f) I work on a select few ... my very best or most meaningful (less than 5%)

 

g) I never post process (I don't have the means or the energy)

 

h) I refuse to post process (I think my shots should remain just the way they were when I created them)

 

John

 

(Me? I'm in category g ... Plain lazy)

 

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Is there a poll function on this site? How do I access it?

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[Angora]

H.

 

But lately I had to make overexposures to some series of shots I stupidely missed... but I wanted to show them to friends and couldn't go back to shoot again, so...

[Guest stnami]

What do you hope to gain from the information, what is the function of your poll?

So 54.765% of people do so and so.... and??????

[Learner]

Stunami:

 

Obviously I have too much time on my hands. I'm just curious about what people do with their shots; trying to get some perspective. I suppose I just don't want to be burdened with guilt by the fact that I accept my shots as they are: the good, the bad, and the ugly. I do promise not to import my "research findings" into Excel. Anyhow, which category are you?

 

Stand by, I'm tempted to issue more meaningless polls.

 

I visited your site and was truly gripped by the biography of "Dad's Place". It prompts so many questions.

 

John

[Guest stnami]

Thanks for looking at Dad's place

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....so what do you intend to do with the 45.235%

 

 

i) ................ bypass the camera and still PP:)

[jaapv]

I'm a bit puzzled; Photoshop is your darkroom, you create your photographs in there. To not to use it is like looking at negatives instead of making prints. To print without postprocesing is like dropping off your roll of film at Wallmart and accepting the junk you get. And to think of the great shots you lose through not processing them properly - a shame.

[DaveB]

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I post-process almost every photo I take.

 

When I edit other folks pictures, as I often do, well I post-process them too.

 

If I do nothing else, I'll crop judiciously to make things look better in terms of composition. Horizontals and verticals need to respect the picture frame to some degree. If it's an "artistic" sort of photo then there are no rules perhaps. Most pictures though are more or less straight representational images of something and if the surface of the ocean is canted horribly it can look just awful.

 

If levels are egregiously bad then I'll play with them as well. There's a minimum contrast level that seems necessary for publishing to web.

 

Every photo has a point, a reason for being. If I can't explain it in a couple words then there's no reason usually for keeping the picture. Once retained, anything that distracts from or diminishes the rationale for having the photo seems to me fair game for post-processing shenannigans.

 

There are few pictures straight out of the camera, few pictures of mine at least, that can't benefit from some careful cropping and minor tweaking.

[DaveB]

Having thought about it for another minute, I would suggest that the most important post-processing action is the decision whether to save or exclude a particular photograph.

 

Anything else one does, converting to black and white, playing with perspective, messing with colors, etc; is of small consequence after having made the decision whether to save or delete.

 

That's the big post-processing action.