Skip to main content

One photo, many visions


A photograph straight out of a camera, no matter how prolific the photographer, is only a part of the process of creating an exposure worthy of sharing. The other part is the developing of that photo with photo editing software. Specially if you shoot in RAW. All RAW images have to be edited. It's just like in the film days; all rolls of film had to be developed.

Fortunately, or unfortunately, depending on how you look at it, there are a great many ways to edit, or process, a photograph. It all comes down to the photographer's creative vision and the editing ability to bring that vision into being. So much hinges on being adept with the editing tools that without it the realization process can become frustrating and convoluted.

In this article I will illustrate how one image can be processed in numerous ways, each technique allowing for a specific feel or emotion. This first image above is my original shot of the pier at Lighthouse Point in West Haven. As you can see it is rather drab and generic.

Most editing software allows for adjusting very specific elements of an image. Colors can be enhanced, black levels boosted, details sharpened, horizons corrected, red eyes removed and so on. The amount of bells and whistles available is only limited by the type of software you use.

In this image, the rather drab sky and water have been color corrected by enhancing the blues and de-emphasizing the greens. The resulting image is a more pleasing, natural image of blue skies and blue waters. The image on screen now matches the image in our minds of what skies and water should be. The image has also been brightened to match the feel of a sunny day.

Take the opposite route and we get this image at right. Here we have stripped away all the color information and used the color channels to manipulate the luminance settings. The result is a dramatic black and white image. A little white vignetting in the corners help pull the eye inwards.

The appeal of a black and white image is that you remove the psychological influence of colors and instead use subject and composition to drive the image. Play around with the color channels on a black and white image and you will see how the tones are affected giving you many variations on how the final image can look.

A close cousin to the black and white image is this sepia toned, or duotone, image here. The principal is similar except that a soft pinkish brown "Antique" color is left behind. As with a black and white image, you have to adjust the tones in order to fine tune the look of the image.

This style of processing gives a feeling of an old time photo and, for obvious reasons, not all photos look good with this type of processing. With a little more creative editing this image can really transport the viewer back in time. Add some grain or a vintage frame or a distressed edge and you have a whole different look.

Looking for a more dream-like quality to the scene? Try softening the edges by purposely introducing blur. In the film days a photographer would use a little vaseline on a filter to get a similar effect. The softer tonal transitions reduce the realism of the image, giving a more surreal feel. As with any effect, some images work better than others with this process. Experiment and have fun.

I added a dark vignette to the corners to draw attention to the center part of the image. This effect further enhances that feel as if we are peeking into another realm through a portal.

Speaking of surrealism... High dynamic range photography is all the rage nowadays. HDR is simply that the shadowed areas of an image that would normally go to black are preserved, effectively increasing the number of f-stops being displayed in the image. There are a variety of methods available for achieving this look, including special HDR software that 'tone maps' three or more images together to create a single HDR image.

If you shoot in RAW you can 'push' the processing to give similar results without the need of tone mapping. If you compare this image with the first image above you can see how the tones are shifted to expand the range. Specially in the shadows and mid tones.

The nice thing about  photo editing software is the ability to play with images. The  more familiar you become with the tools, the greater your vision expands on what can be done to an image. That is why I tell photographer not to delete those 'bad' images. As your editing experience grows you will find ways of salvaging an otherwise discarded image.

As you learn new editing techniques and image styling you will be able to mix and match to give your images a distinctly personal touch. So have fun with your images. Experiment with the software and push the limits on those little slides and levers. There are a ton of tutorials online to teach you various editing techniques. Read them. Watch the videos. Then apply what you have learned.

Comments

Most Popular Posts

Don Julio - Hero Shot

For starters, a hero shot is one in which the product is showcased in all its splendor. Careful attention is placed on making the product look its very best. For this shot of Don Julio I knew I wanted to give the bottle some majesty by photographing it from a low angle. That low angle makes the bottle look tall, towering over the viewer and creating a position of dominance. Can't you hear the choir of angels singing in the background? I also knew that I wanted a rich, moody image with lots of darks. I am partial to darker images, which is surprising to most people because the majority of the work I do are images on white backgrounds. But that's another story. I also tried a lifestyle type shot with glasses and lime slices but I wasn't feeling it and ended up scrapping it. Again, that's another story.

Observations on composition - Pieter Bruegel

In this article I am reprinting a critique I published on photoMENTORIS.com regarding the painting entitled ' Census at Bethlehem ' by famed painter Pieter Bruegel , who was born in what is now the Netherlands in the 1520s. The first point I would like to say is that you first need to consider both the medium and the time frame of this painting. Being a painting, the artist has a certain advantage of being able to carefully direct the large amount of content presented to the viewer, unlike, say, a photo of opportunity of the street photographer (I strongly believe Pieter would have been the 'street photographer' of his time). Even a studio photographer, with the luxury of space and time, would have a hard time justifying creating such a complex composition. Where you would see this type of visual composition today would be in modern cinema. In particular, period pieces that rely on background elements to "sell the era" .  Secondly, the era in which thi

Who Cares About Your Business

October marks the beginning of the holiday season with Halloween at the end of the month. Seasonal items are being shuffled around and soon Thanksgiving, Christmas and Hanukkah will be upon us. Personally, I have been busy preparing for the cold weather and analyzing how to move forward into the new year. This got me thinking about many things; rescaling my marketing, updating my prices, expanding my services… you know, all the regular business stuff. It also got me thinking about my customers... actually, the customers I don’t have. What can I do to help them find me? Then it hit me, if they did find me, why would they care?  This month’s newsletter is about ways of connecting to customers in today’s age of information.

What is the new normal after COVID?

A very large oak was uprooted by the wind and thrown across a stream. It fell among some Reeds, which it thus addressed: “I wonder how you, who are so light and weak, are not entirely crushed by these strong winds.” They replied, “You fight and contend with the wind, and consequently you are destroyed; while we on the contrary bend before the least breath of air, and therefore remain unbroken, and escape.” - Aesop's Fable