I love taking photos - they're not particularly good but I hope to learn more using my new DSLR so I have bought a couple of photographic magazines for help and inspiration.
Don't get me wrong - the photos in the magazine are incredibly beautiful but I'm a bit disappointed that there are no natural shots at all! Every single photo has been Photoshopped extensively. It didnt occur to me that when I got my new camera, I would have to buy PS too so that I could create nice images.
The mag does tell you how to use PS to create the image (which is very useful) but does no one take natural shots without editing within an inch of its life these days?
I now have to, not only learn about my camera and the settings, but PS too!!!!
A simple-to-use program like Lightroom will set you back less dollars than CS5, and can do most of the things you would need to do, such as contrast adjustments, dodging and burning etc.
I think the thing is, nobody ever just "took" a photo. No pro photogs, anyway. We spent hours in a darkroom doing all the stuff hobbyists now do in Photoshop. All I'm saying is, if you want to do it all in-camera, that's just the same as dropping your roll of 35mm film off at the local lab and picking it up later. If you want to produce the kind of polished product you see in magazines, it's time to bite the bullet and learn your way around the digital darkroom. You'll enjoy it, I promise! :)
i just got lightroom 3 and it is by far the best program i've ever used - it's set up with photographers in mind from shooting -developing - printing- web whereas photoshop is much more oriented toward graphic artists. i shoot in raw and am happy with lightroom and also have photoshop elements which is quite inexpensive. also you can get good deals on lightroom i got it at 1/2 price by keeping an eye for deals on the web.
After joining this site and looking around at the really great photos, I realized they were mostly not sooc. Which was quite eye opening. Much like you, I didn't realize all the photos out there were so edited. I do, on occasion, and by pure luck get some decent photos sooc. Nothing magazine worthy, but something I'm decently happy with. I think this project will help me grow, not only learning how to effectively use my camera, but also how to edit photos to get me out of my comfort zone. Unfortunately the time involved is what holds me back, but rather than spending useless hours trolling facebook at night after the kids are in bed, I could be doing something more useful, like learning Lightroom.
You can do a search on here for sooc, straight out of camera, and you can find images with no or very little editing. I find that interesting as well.
As jinx put it, I'm a minion, but quite frankly, happy to at least be here and trying! Good luck!
When I first joined on this website,as I was browsing through great photos,I thought they were all straight-out-of-the-camera and they look great because pro`s took them,with super-expensive pro cameras. I even promised myself not to edit my photos,because it`s like cheating.
...and look at me now,all my photos go through Photoshop,at least. A little bit of cropping,detail enhancement,colour adjustment,all necessary for me to get the result I want.
Allthough sometimes I think that the editing software is getting in my way of "growing" as an amateur photographer :-/
I own PhotoShop, but I have never used it. I rarely edit my images other than cropping and what I can do on my camera (which even then I rarely do). I use Picnik.com, since it's free and super easy to use when I do do my editing. You don't need PhotoShop to make amazing pictures, just a lot of practice and figuring out the various settings of your camera, since that's the best way to manipulate an image in my opinion. I think of the editing tools as something to add a more fun twist to my shots, but I don't rely on them at all the create my perfect image. Of course, I'm not the best photographer, but I think I do well enough. =)
I'm with Cristina, I very seldom do any editing to my photos. It is usually a crop, maybe lighten it up a little since my viewer makes it seem a little lighter, and adding my name which was recommended when I started this project. I just love the look of a natural photo. Guess it is like the whole makeup no makeup concept :)
My recommendation is to take a proper film photography class where you have to work in a darkroom developing your film and photographs and learn to use filters, dodging, and burning. After learning a few "old school" tricks and spending a few claustrophobic hours in a chemical-filled room where you can lose hours of work (and a bundle of money) in a split second, you might develop (ha! pun!) a certain appreciation for photoshop/gimp/paintshop/whatever.
@tamo Me too. I can't afford any editing programmes, so have to rely on getting the right shot or just deleting it. Generally I am happy with my photos. I like to remember them as I saw them, not enhanced by technology. However, there are occasions when a shot has come out not very well and I think it would be nice to be able to manipulate and rescue it. Each to their own I guess.
okay... can someone please tell me what the heck SOOC is? Straight Out of Camera?
I work with Photoshop when I need to make edits, but try to keep them as minimal as possible. BUT.. I must say that when I take shots of plants and flowers outside (one of my passions) I almost never have to edit, other than for size. I challenge the notion that photographers rely on editing and spend hours and hours on every single image. True..I have had to labor arduously over some images (especially some of the trickier product shots we use for Ads here at work)... but I've got a pretty fair collection of SOOC images I've taken as well that I feel are strong compositionally.
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I think the thing is, nobody ever just "took" a photo. No pro photogs, anyway. We spent hours in a darkroom doing all the stuff hobbyists now do in Photoshop. All I'm saying is, if you want to do it all in-camera, that's just the same as dropping your roll of 35mm film off at the local lab and picking it up later. If you want to produce the kind of polished product you see in magazines, it's time to bite the bullet and learn your way around the digital darkroom. You'll enjoy it, I promise! :)
You can do a search on here for sooc, straight out of camera, and you can find images with no or very little editing. I find that interesting as well.
As jinx put it, I'm a minion, but quite frankly, happy to at least be here and trying! Good luck!
...and look at me now,all my photos go through Photoshop,at least. A little bit of cropping,detail enhancement,colour adjustment,all necessary for me to get the result I want.
Allthough sometimes I think that the editing software is getting in my way of "growing" as an amateur photographer :-/
I work with Photoshop when I need to make edits, but try to keep them as minimal as possible. BUT.. I must say that when I take shots of plants and flowers outside (one of my passions) I almost never have to edit, other than for size. I challenge the notion that photographers rely on editing and spend hours and hours on every single image. True..I have had to labor arduously over some images (especially some of the trickier product shots we use for Ads here at work)... but I've got a pretty fair collection of SOOC images I've taken as well that I feel are strong compositionally.