"I'll fix it in Post", the avoidable sin.
by Bob Hubbard
I've lost track of the number of times I've heard this from other photographers. They take a shot, and accept it being less than it could be, and figure they'll fix the color, angle, composition, and so forth later on in Photoshop. To me, that's well, stupid. The more you manipulate it in post, the more you risk degrading your image quality, resulting in subpar work. It's also time consuming. Let's look at a few of these avoidable issues.
Composition.
Of all of these issues, this one is the most forgivable. Sometimes by cropping in you can save an otherwise off shot or can tweak things just a bit more for more "WOW". But if you find yourself often cropping a head shot off a full length, or cutting out half the valley to focus on a tree, you need to improve your composition skills. As Buffalo NY photographer Ray Sopczuk told me "Stop wasting pixels. Get in tighter.". If you're always cropping, get in tighter. You'll have more detail and less work.
Color.
At a wedding I was at another photographer commented that he just locked his camera on auto for color and let Lightroom fix it later. Huge waste of time. Get one of the several excellent color balance tools out there, take a couple minutes and do a custom color balance for your lighting. If you do it right, you'll have spot on color for all your shots.
Excessive clean up.
If you are shooting landscapes, take a minute or 2 and look for trash or other debris, and if possible, get rid of them. Don't capture it and clone it out later. If you're shooting portraits, bring in a good make up artist. Why spend 10, 20, or even 30 minutes cloning out wrinkles, pimples and bad skin, when for a small fee you can shoot perfect shots requiring minimal to no post shoot clean up? Take a moment and look at your subject and brush off that lint or stray hair. Why spend minutes per picture cloning out what you could have done in a few seconds?
Time is money, and time is time. Even if you aren't shooting professionally, taking the time to compose your shot, balance your color and check your subject for correctable issues means less time in front of the computer, and more time out shooting.
And, isn't that why we're called photographers and not image fixer uppers?
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Bob Hubbard is a professional photographer specializing in martial arts event, nature and portrait photography. Bob's photography can be found at http://bobhubbardphotography.com/ and his martial arts photography at http://martialphotos.com/. He may be reached through these sites.
Copyright © 2010 - Bob Hubbard - All Rights Reserved
by Bob Hubbard
I've lost track of the number of times I've heard this from other photographers. They take a shot, and accept it being less than it could be, and figure they'll fix the color, angle, composition, and so forth later on in Photoshop. To me, that's well, stupid. The more you manipulate it in post, the more you risk degrading your image quality, resulting in subpar work. It's also time consuming. Let's look at a few of these avoidable issues.
Composition.
Of all of these issues, this one is the most forgivable. Sometimes by cropping in you can save an otherwise off shot or can tweak things just a bit more for more "WOW". But if you find yourself often cropping a head shot off a full length, or cutting out half the valley to focus on a tree, you need to improve your composition skills. As Buffalo NY photographer Ray Sopczuk told me "Stop wasting pixels. Get in tighter.". If you're always cropping, get in tighter. You'll have more detail and less work.
Color.
At a wedding I was at another photographer commented that he just locked his camera on auto for color and let Lightroom fix it later. Huge waste of time. Get one of the several excellent color balance tools out there, take a couple minutes and do a custom color balance for your lighting. If you do it right, you'll have spot on color for all your shots.
Excessive clean up.
If you are shooting landscapes, take a minute or 2 and look for trash or other debris, and if possible, get rid of them. Don't capture it and clone it out later. If you're shooting portraits, bring in a good make up artist. Why spend 10, 20, or even 30 minutes cloning out wrinkles, pimples and bad skin, when for a small fee you can shoot perfect shots requiring minimal to no post shoot clean up? Take a moment and look at your subject and brush off that lint or stray hair. Why spend minutes per picture cloning out what you could have done in a few seconds?
Time is money, and time is time. Even if you aren't shooting professionally, taking the time to compose your shot, balance your color and check your subject for correctable issues means less time in front of the computer, and more time out shooting.
And, isn't that why we're called photographers and not image fixer uppers?
===
Bob Hubbard is a professional photographer specializing in martial arts event, nature and portrait photography. Bob's photography can be found at http://bobhubbardphotography.com/ and his martial arts photography at http://martialphotos.com/. He may be reached through these sites.
Copyright © 2010 - Bob Hubbard - All Rights Reserved
