I Spent A Lot Of Time Processing My Photos… For Some Reason

Hey there, Panda Nation! I recently commented on one of the articles here on Bored Panda and the response to it was quite surprising to me. Not because of the upvotes or something, but because of the reactions – besides the fact that many readers agreed with me, they seemed somehow relieved and also encouraged to try editing photos for themselves.

Many people seem to be desperate when they see photos of professional photographers and articles like the one I commented on are making things even worse – they discourage people and are somewhat misleading … at least in my opinion.

This is the article that I am talking about. My comment to it was: “I am a photographer myself and to be honest … some of the ‘you pics’ do not look too different from some originals which photographers then edit in photshop/lightroom/whatever … it is just not magic! ;) Besides that … the lenses make the main difference to small digicams or smartphones … especially with portraits, close ups and macros. Landscapes can be done with an iPhone or Samsung or whatever – they all deliver solid shots which then can be edited in ps/lr/whatever. ;) ‘That guy talks a lot …’ some of you will say! You are right! I do not see myself as a pro or a great photographer or anything … but I really do like some of my pics myself and if you are curious now … here you go ;)”

I really wasn’t thinking or expecting anything when I wrote that comment. Advertisement for my artist page on Facebook was not my intention – believe it or not – it just seemed fair and logical to show it. That way I gave the readers of my statement the chance to see for themselves if I am just another talking head or not (well I am anyway, but who cares). ;)

I recognized that some new likes on my artist page followed that comment and I was really more than surprised. People messaged me on Facebook, curious about how to process images, how they look before editing and afterwards and if I have any advice on how this or that works. To be honest – I see myself as an amateur. I am really not a good photographer compared to other professionals out there. But what I do, I do it with heart and passion. I really do it with love and I invest a lot of time in it. Maybe this is what at least some people like about my pictures. So for me it is quite difficult to give any advice to people as I am struggling myself in the depths of Photoshop, Lightroom and camera settings. I know what to do to get my style of photos as a result of my workflow, but that’s about it. I think everyone has to find his/her own way how to process a photo. Of course, there are some general rules, standard procedures and so on, but in the end we all are unique and so is our artwork.

So what I can do is to show you some before/after photos. That way you will see that many images would just look horrible without processing and that the article mentioned before is somehow misleading, although of course a professional photographer is a professional photographer is a pro…

Well, anyway … lets get things started. Here is my first post on Bored Panda – I hope some people will enjoy it and maybe I can encourage some of you to try photo editing for yourselves! :)

More info: Facebook

Normally the editing process starts like this: Here is the raw photo as it comes out of the camera

I usually make most of my adjustments in Lightroom

Then I import the pic to Photoshop to give it a final touch. That’s about it!

Sometimes …

… I do more

Sometimes …

… I do less

Sometimes …

… I do quite a lot

And sometimes …

… well – to be honest – I really just do what I want to

Here and there …

… I think that black and white is a good choice

Often …

… I just crop the image and use some filter (in this case: “Orton Effect”)

But most of the time I only miss some contrast, color and intensity …

… so I just change that

A photo should transport its theme and … in that case … what’s cooler than being cool?

… ice cold! :D

If there is a motif with a lot of light and dark areas like we see it here, then the problem is that either the lights get burned or the shot will turn out too dark

I then nearly always choose to take a shot that is too dark – burned areas can hardly be corrected – some editing and the problem is solved!

You will face the same problem when shooting against the sun, which I love …

… so I often have to brighten my pics and then I edit them so they fit my mood. Here I was somehow in an “avatar mood”. I guess, I watched the movie just too often. ;)

Because I like shooting against the sun you might have guessed already …

… I just love silhouette photography! :)

Here and there it happens that I just forget about the white balance …

… but it doesn’t cause too many troubles. ;)

And sometimes the main motif is not really apparent …

… then I just crop the photo and do the “other usual stuff”. ;)

Wait … what?! This lake was green! I mean REALLY green!

See!? :)

Sometimes – especially at night – I just don’t see what I am doing …

… but I know, that as long as the camera settings are correct, it will result in quite a nice photo in the end.

Sometimes this even happens at daytimes – most often when I decide to take a photo against the sun – again! ;)

But normally I have something in mind and I know that I can crop the image and edit it as I wish – same here – as long as the camera settings are okay so far.

In the end not the camera makes the photo and not Photoshop, Lightroom or whatever makes the processing or selects the motif – I am the decider! You are the decider! :)

It is just …

… a question …

… of perspective. ;)

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