Sharing photos with the world, or your social media following can be quite scary. The question becomes to share or not to share? It is a big decision. What can you get out of it when you do it? There are a few things to consider.
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It is a bit late this week, but I have podcast episode 11 ready for you. Today we are talking about whether or not you should edit. Really it is more about the choices we make in regard to it.
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Facebook loves video, apparently, so I have been trying to do more. Which then brings another problem, what do I do videos of?
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It seems like a good time to have this conversation as I was recently reading an article that was written when Adobe first started the whole subscription based deal for Photoshop and Lightroom. The article has since been updated, but reading through it I could see that a lot of what they were saying was not applicable anymore and out of date.
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You must have guessed that there would be more posts on this, especially as I learn more about what I’m doing. I’ve been doing more research and playing in Photoshop to see what I can do. Part of the reason I chose the filter for the sensor that I did, was that I was meant to be able to get some colour into the images. As it turns out, it hasn’t been as easy as I thought. I have spent all afternoon on the computer trying to see what I could find out.
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The 12 Apostles would have to be one of the most photographed natural wonders in Australia. They are right up there with the Great Barrier Reef and Uluru. Over 2 million visitors a year, not bad for a country that only has 24 million people living in it. When you are there you will find loads of tourist buses arriving from Melbourne filled with overseas visitors who want to see the wonders of the Great Ocean Road and this spot is the main draw card.
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It isn’t a secret that I want to challenge myself more with my photography and I’ve been trying to think of ways to do it. I do have a lot of ideas and I know that I want to start compositing and combining images. I am still not sure how exactly, but I do want to start experimenting. I don’t want to accept the world as it is. So when I was out the other day taking photos I saw this shop front.
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Those of you that follow me on Instagram know that I recently went away and was finding it difficult to work on photos without my Wacom Intuos Pro tablet. I have one at home, but it is a bit big for carrying around and I didn’t want to damage it. I can’t be without it for my day to day processing of my photos. The pen that comes with it means I can do fine detail work.
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Whether you are a weekend photographer or someone who wants to be more serious, learning photography is a great thing to do. We have all been there, and we have all taken photos that we now look at and cringe, it is a natural part of learning, but you can help yourself by taking some steps to make it easier.
Here are 7 tips for what you can do, or things not to do, when you first start out in photography.
- Which camera to pick
It is not the camera that does the work, it is you. So, someone with a phone, could, potentially take just as good an image as someone with a high end DSLR. Of course, it depends on the conditions, but the point is just having an expensive one does not make you a photographer.
Think about the type of photography you want to do and then decide what will be the right camera. Having the wrong one could mean you don’t take many images and could put you off photography. If you love taking photos, for instance, with your phone, then do it. Whichever one you get learn how to use it. Study it and experiment.
- Getting off Auto
If you buy a camera that you can use aperture, shutter speed, and pick your ISO, but you continue to put your camera on Auto, then ask yourself why did you buy a camera like that. While you might get some great photos with it, there will be missed opportunities because it doesn’t cut it. Learn how your camera works and taking it off auto, is something you will never regret doing.
Find a class or photographer who can teach you how to use your camera which will enable to use it to its full potential.
- Copying other photographers
This is a great way to learn. Find photographers whose work you like and try to emulate it. There is nothing wrong with copying, but only if you do it in the process of learning and never pass it off as your work. It is probably best not to put it up on social media as well. Use it to teach yourself, then get on with your own work.
- Study what others do
Like the comment above, you should also be looking at what other photographers are doing. See what they are photographing, and what you can learn from them. Study the compositions, how they use light and even what their subjects are.
Especially look at photographers who do work that you aspire to, who you find inspiration from. It is like that saying, if you want to get better at writing, then read the material that is like what you want to write. Photography is the same, if you want to do some photos of a particular thing or style, then look at images of them a lot.
- Do courses from respected people
Learning what you are doing can never be underestimated and is valuable. You can learn by yourself, but there are always going to be aspects you miss out on and you lose lots of time trying to figure out some stuff. It is great to have someone to ask questions, especially when you get stuck.
You don’t have to spend a fortune, but make sure that whatever course you choose will teach you everything you want to learn.
- Learn basic editing
Whether you want to do it or not, you do have to learn some editing. It is like using the darkroom. Photos straight out of the camera might be nice, but they never seem to have that polished look that photos that have been edited have. If you look at some of the great landscape photographers and see how they edit, they often don’t do a lot.
You don’t have to learn how to use everything, or even learn Photoshop, but Lightroom by Adobe is a great editing platform and easy to use. It is a great place to start and for many it will always be enough. There are some other editing platforms you could try as well, such as On 1 or Zoner Photo Studio X which is one I’ve been trying out.
- Critiquing
Getting people to critique your work can be invaluable, but it can also be very destructive and can kill your creativity. Don’t put photos up on sites and ask everyone to give you their opinion, because they will and you might not like what they have to say. If the image is bad, you will get lots of advice, however, if the image is good, then you might get some bitchy comments.
You need to find someone you trust, who you know will give you honest feedback, but isn’t there to bring you down, or make you feel like crap. Paying someone can be good too, as they, you would hope, wouldn’t be horrible to you. I know when I critique work I try and be gentle and encouraging. I want people who pay me to come back and get more work critiqued.
Finally
If you love photography learning how to do it is not something you will ever regret doing. It will always be money well spent. It could be the start of an amazing adventure and there are so many places to share your work. It is also a very social thing and people love going out with others to take photos. Good luck.
For those of you who have been editing your photos for some time now should be aware of these terms. However, they are often unknown or confusing to people who are new. So what is destructive and non destructive editing? Let’s see if I can explain it in this mini tutorial.
Simple explanation
Destructive – as you work on your photos you do things in a way that makes it impossible to go back and change anything. If you make a mistake, then you have to start again.
Non Destructive – everything you do on your images can be undone. Nothing is permanent, so if you do make a mistake you can go back and change it.
Working Destructively
It is very easy in Photoshop to work in a destructive way. If you avoid using layers, or continue to flatten your images you start to make it so you can’t undo a previous mistake or process. There are those that think this is fine, and I see people others this way, but it should be avoided.
The image has been processing in a destructive way, you can’t see what has been done to it, and therefore can’t undo anything.
All the processing is done in the one layer. While you can go back into your history to undo things, there is only so far you can go back. If you save the image with the idea of working on it again later, you will have lost all the history. While you continue the work and if you find you missed something in the earlier session it may be impossible to change it. The only option could be starting over again.
Working Non Destructively
There is a way to work so that you can protect or change anything you have done, which is to do your images in a non destructive way. In Photoshop this means working in layers and every adjustment you do is done in a different layer.
All the processes and adjustments to this image are done in separate layers.
While not much editing has been done to the image you can see what was done by looking at the layers. You can turn them on and off to see if they work. If you realise you have forgotten to do something you can go back to it the later and fix the problem.
Lightroom
This program by Adobe is by nature a non destructive editing platform. Everything that is done in it can be undone. It is a great program in this respect.
There you have it, a quick description for what these terms mean. If you have other terms you would like explained, let me know and I will do my best to give you an explanation.
