That being the case, the simple truth is that you need to learn how to do at least some basic post-processing of your digital images if you want them to look their best. Back in the heyday of film cameras, you seldom got the results you hoped to achieve when you picked up your roll after it was processed into prints. Even if the processing lab knew what look you were trying to achieve with your film images, extensive image adjustment was time intensive and therefore cost prohibitive. So we often got back prints that were bland in appearance with no real visual pop. Unfortunately some seem to think that is the way that digital photos should look now as well, but there is absolutely no reason in this digital age that you have to settle for the images that come unprocessed straight out of the camera.
Of course, one important decision to make is whether you intend to shoot RAW or JPG files. That is a whole other discussion to itself, but suffice it to say that if you shoot JPG files the camera will be doing some post-processing of its own and you may not need to make as much adjustment of each photo as you would with RAW files that have had no processing applied to them. However, even JPG files will need some adjustments at times and that is why you should have at least a working knowledge of the basics of post-processing. This will include being able to adjust exposure, contrast, clarity, noise, color saturation, use cropping, etc.
For these kind of adjustments, a behemoth like Photoshop may not be the best choice anyway. In fact, many photographers prefer the more streamlined approach found in Lightroom or similar products. So what do you do when you open a photo in Lightroom? Is there a standard procedure that you apply to every image? I know that it would be much simpler if that was the case, but the truth is that every photo is unique and and every scene that you capture is likewise very individual. So you need to have a working knowledge of the impact that each adjustment you make to the image will produce.
How do you get that kind of working knowledge? Well, watching some videos of others who can show you around Lightroom or similar programs is a good idea to get familiar with what adjustments can be made and what tools you will have at your disposal. There are plenty of these kind of educational videos available for free on YouTube. But if you really want to learn how to master image adjustments, you are going to have to get your hands dirty and just start using the program. The good news is that you will probably learn a lot very quickly and in short order will get some idea of general adjustments that you tend to favor in your style of photography. Most likely, it won't take long before you will be turning out much better images that have emotional and visual appeal.
As long as you save the changes you make as a different digital file from the one that came out of the camera, nothing you do to your photos is permanently harmful to that image. So feel free to slide the adjustments available to you in the post-processing program back and forth to see what effect they have on your images. Eventually you will develop a workflow with your images that is relatively quick and efficient. So if you aren't using a post-processing program, why not get started right away? You'll be glad you did and your photography results will improve by leaps and bounds.
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| Orange Gerbera Daisies |
Above photo: Here is an example of a photo that was taken in strong sunlight and was very bland when I brought it into Lightroom. By bringing down the background shadows and punching up the color of the flowers and adding some contrast, the image was much improved over the file that came straight from my camera.
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www.duanelipham.com
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