Editing… Ay yi yi…

By no one in particular I feel a little mislead in my quest to ‘take better pictures’.  Okay, rather mislead by myself (I have a tendency to just jump right into things without really testing the waters)  My desire to improve my photography skills started around when Kaden was born and I was so inspired by pictures I’d see online and in scrapbook pages that I started reaching out for as much information as possible.  Naive me, thought that those pictures could be captured, simply, with a good camera and some education.

Come to find out that probably 99% of the pictures you see online (and I’m talking the personal pictures, not professional ads and stuff) are edited.  Sorry to burst your bubble. Rarely to falsify the image (like making the person lose weight) but to enhance it… the colors, clarity, sharpness, and to fix it… any errors made when shooting, problems with composure, white balance, exposure, etc. So ignorant little me realizes that I not only need to be well educated in the photography aspect (as well as have the natural ‘nitch’, which I’m still not sure I have) but also educated and armed with the goods for editing (ie. Photoshop Elements or Photoshop or Lightroom… the list goes on and on in regard to these programs). 

My goal in my photography has been first and foremost to capture real life in the best way possible. So, at first I was putting my foot down and saying “I don’t WANT to edit my pictures.”  But the more I’ve learned about photography, the more I know that it isn’t making the pictures fake… its all part of the process of capturing real life in the best way possible. 

Therefore, I’ve kind of changed my tune about editing.  I really don’t want to have to put much time into it so I’m going to do my BEST to get the best possible SOOC (straight out of camera) shot possible.  I’m going to attempt to figure out a quick easy workflow to keep my pictures clean and real. 

So, now I’m learning about photography and learning about editing.  I have A LOT to learn and I am no where near good. But since I’m all about full disclosure and seeking help, I thought I’d post some SOOC and edited shots.  (Oh, and to make matters MORE complicated, my monitor isn’t calibrated, so I may actually be making my photos worse without really knowing it. Sheesh.)

Let me know what you think. Honestly.    

                                                                         (SOOC)

(Edited)

                                                                         (SOOC)

                                                                         (Edited)

                                                                         (SOOC)

                                                                         (Edited (1))

                                                                          (Edited (2))

        

Do you notice a difference between the above 2??  Which one looks better??

All SOOC shots are going to look a little blurred online because when they come out of the camera they are sized to print not for web.  Its a concept I don’t understand enough to explain here, but just had to state it in my defense: my SOOC aren’t that blurry.  :) 

And this last one is an edit I did to save a pretty bad picture of Cooper. Simply by increasing contrast, cropping a bit and converting to a ‘warm’ black and white, I love it.  So, I guess I don’t have SUCH hard feelings toward editing.

Fortunately, the focus for me is still, and should remain on, getting the best SOOC I can.

Because, like my photography instructor says, “You can’t polish a turd.”