To edit or not to edit...

[Kustomkarma]

How many of you guys or gals do little to no editing or retouching to your digital images? I am from the old school where we shot film. Now and then we would do a little dodging, burning or cropping in the darkroom, but mainly had to rely on getting the shot right the first time. I have carried this kind of thinking over into digital photography, but was wondering if this is an outdated way to approach it. Is it pretty much standard practice to edit ALL digital images or do most photographers do it only if they have to? I think my shots look ok, but when you compare them to heavily edited images, they don't have the same dynamics. Anyone have any thoughts on this?

 

Thanks!

[Dennis Simone]

I absolutely agree. I don't believe in altering a model's figure at all. Some photographers do not know when to stop the retouching. I have seen images of models that have had their skin smoothed so much that it lost all definition and they wind up looking plastic. Almost dead. It's very freaky. Do your best work in the camera. Retouching should be used to enhance a photo. Not create it.

[AldoSV73]

I took photography classes in High School back in 89 to 92 needles to say I didn't have a digital camera, I learned on film, on film you had to do everything possible to get the image right the first time, needles to say I brought all that experience with me once I transferred to digital. I still do editing when I believe the image ask for it do.

[67-Lou]

Just my 2 cents here, but I think that with today's technology, some photographers take less care about composing the picture in the right way from the start. Nowadays, you can shoot hundreds of pictures and look at the results instantly. One of them should be good enough, right ? If not, Photoshop will take care of it !

 

 I shoot racecars (Indy, F1) and I just can't imagine how they did that back in the old days. Looking at the work of some guys from the '70s and '80s realy helped me to get more focused on taking a better shot from the start.

 

The tools are extraordinary now. You can get professional results at reasonnable costs with half the equipment you needed before but still, the tools don't make the photographer :D

[GT6 Photography]

Well said, I couldn't agree more.

67-Lou said:

Just my 2 cents here, but I think that with today's technology, some photographers take less care about composing the picture in the right way from the start. Nowadays, you can shoot hundreds of pictures and look at the results instantly. One of them should be good enough, right ? If not, Photoshop will take care of it !

 

 I shoot racecars (Indy, F1) and I just can't imagine how they did that back in the old days. Looking at the work of some guys from the '70s and '80s realy helped me to get more focused on taking a better shot from the start.

 

The tools are extraordinary now. You can get professional results at reasonnable costs with half the equipment you needed before but still, the tools don't make the photographer :D

[David Noir]

I think each shooter has his/her own style, even if the subject matter is of the same theme, pinup or whatever it may be. Some do little or no post shooting editing or retouching and that fine, its their style. I myself, enjoy massaging image files in photoshop and believe the resulting image is more reflective to my intent to the original capture .

[Shar]

This is really interesting to me! I've pondered this question for years - I have seen so many over Photoshopped images that frankly make the model look silly - even Barbie doesn't look as plastic fantastic as some photos I've seen where the photographer has got carried away or doesn't have enough PS skill - however, I recently went to see an exhibition of Hollywood icon photography - and was particularly struck by a photo of Joan Crawford - they 'photoshopped' on the negatives - with amazing results - and yet... I loved the un edited photo of Joan - so much more than the flawless copy - personally I prefer to enhance the model with minimal editing - relying on lighting, angles and good MUA's. I went for a photoshoot myself about 18 months ago - and was photoshopped to within an inch of my life - I hate the photo and it now resides in my bottom drawer - even though it cost me a small fortune! Great question!

[BellaV]

I retouch every single image that goes out my door.  I also get them right in camera.  If an image looks bad, it gets chucked... to try and photoshop a bad image is like trying to polish a turd...