I am finding more and more frequently that I take photos like the one on top, that needed virtually no retouching. I liked banding it in black, to make the colors pop a little, but it didn't need exposure or color tweeking, and I liked the composition. Also, I've gotten less reluctant over the past decade with digital photos to be conservative. I shoot lots and lots of shots, so I keep the best and throw out the worst without worry. Occasionally I still use photoshop elements to improve the basic flaws in a photo as I did with photo 3 from 2. I blurred out a messy background, sharpened the face a little and did a color correction before cropping it down to a more focused subject area. I couldn't do much with the motion blur.
I was REALLY BAD at taking photos when I bought my first digital camera and started playing with edits. My subject was usually out of focus and had parts cut off (usually the top of the head, but I could miss other pieces) and I ALWAYS caught my subjects with their eyes closed, mouths gaping, and leaving the frame. If there was a mess or flaw in the background, I'd have it in the picture. If not, I could always insert a finger.
The more I edited, the better I got at fixing some of those things, switching out heads and backgrounds if needed along with sharpening and blurring and color and exposure, and then, joy, joy, cosmetic touches. Along with the skills in altering, I must have got into the awareness of them as I composed and shot as well, I just don't do as many of those terrible things as I used to. I was starting to become kind of fond of my dead on capture of the just missed shot, but I can still do that quite well :).
I saw a post the other day about challenging yourself by shooting some film, but it may be another two decades or so before I'm ready for that, if ever.
No comments:
Post a Comment