Not long ago I got a message on Facebook complimenting me on my photos and asking me what kind of camera I used. I responded with info about my cameras and made a comment about how in my opinion the camera is just a tool and what makes a photograph good is the vision of the photographer has for the image, and the post-processing work they do to make sure the final image expresses their vision. The person wrote back thanking me and saying they were looking for a camera that would do everything because they didn’t want to have to do any editing to their photos after they took them . . .
I’ve heard this attitude about it’s the camera not the photographer and the vision a few times lately – and realized I just have to say something about it
Not long ago, I was photographing water lilies at Longwood Gardens in Pennsylvania. There was a pair of spectacular white, pink and yellow Texas Shell Pink water lilies in bright sunlight. I could see what my final photo of the pair was going to look like even before I took my camera out of the bag.
So I took several photos from different angles until I was sure I had captured what I wanted – and went on with my day.
When I got home, I downloaded my photos – and to put it mildly – what I saw on my screen wasn’t the image I had in my mind of how the photo would. Here’s what came straight out of my camera.
After spending some time working in Lightroom and Photoshop I’ve got a photo that lets me share what I saw at the lily pool at Longwood Gardens that day.
What I did in terms of editing was work through the workflow that I’ve developed that lets me take an image from what I capture in my camera to what I want to share with the world. For every photo I edit, some of the things I consider are
- Do I need to crop the photo?
- What do I need to do to clean up the image?
- Is the contrast correct?
- Are the colors what I want them to be?
- Am I drawing my viewer’s eye to the most important part of the photo?
I’ve got my editing workflow to the point where I usually know what I need to do to my photos when I look at them straight out of the camera, but I know many photographers who when they see what the captured aren’t sure how to get from there to their vision for their photo.
Bill and I will be teaching a workshop Creating a Workflow the Works for You on September 20-21. We’d love to have you join us for the workshop and let us help you make it easier to share your vision for your photos with others.