The origin of my previous comment was my spending so much time editing a shoot I did. I use Photoshop every single day. Maybe I’m addicted to it. I love postprocessing, but in certain circumstances like event photography, I think it’s better to try shooting it well lit and color balanced the first time. I’m a digital collage artist and I love everything post processing affords me.
ouch. My photographs (in my library, assembled over years, via many cameras, & scanned from older camera images) are building blocks. I shoot an object, an angle, a color, ad infinitum. I use parts of them, build on them, change them. I composite. Photoshop is my main digital tool, before I print, cut, form. "Post processing" is how I make art. I spent years doing production for customers, before retirement. It was never a waste of time. I learned a lot. Now I can take that experience and those tools, and I can finally make whatever I dream up. Definitely not commercial - waaay too slow. I can be as picky as I choose, until I'm satisfied that I've communicated how and what I want to say. Someone will respond to it, sometime. To each their own joy and calling - with no disrespect towards other forms.
I did add a disclaimer for "carefully planned composites" which are a completely different discussion. I am not being critical of any particular method of creating one's art. I am suggesting certain modes of photography are better handled with care in-camera than not paying attention while making photographs and pushing decisions off to be dealt with later.
I've made my share of "graphics" and even composites but the care in which they were shot in terms of lighting, perspective, scale, etc optimized the time I spent in post. Generally those endeavors for me fell FAR more on the commercial side of things. (Not my particular preference as it feels much more like writing code to me)
Definitely a well composed image is a thing of beauty. But I think how it's composed is up to the artist. I was a dyer for many years. I did a lot of experimental work on technical textiles, and made outerwear for people. Some people would come up to me and tell me I couldn't dye textiles I had shibori dyed, silkscreened, painted, airbrushed, or later, digitally printed. We'd be surrounded by my work, and they would tell me with great seriousness, it could not be done. It didn't fit their pre-conceived ideas about how something could be created. Sometimes they ended up buying it! 😂 Do what you do. Do the best you can. For some reason Photoshop makes sort of sense to me. I visualize 3 dimensional sets of layers and tools. It's a great tool, when I'm not in despair at what it does sometimes. Most fun challenge ever. But I was always a hopeless klutz in the darkroom.
Stay tuned, we've started messing with something that will remind you of shibori dyed fabric a bit... or on the other hand if it doesn't turn out we'll pretend it never happened (only kidding we share are screw-ups as well)
1. When i want to finish my paintings (i use watercolors as background, then sharpen thd watercolors with colored pencils, contes, and oil pastels. After all these, i take a photo of my painting with my phone and that's when i'm ready to start anew).
2. When i want to write a long text, whether it's an essay, a poem, a story, ... .
I look at it as deferring decisions to "later" that should be made NOW. If you cannot make a decision now there's a good possibility you cannot make it later either but you'll sure waste a lot of time doing so while fiddling with the computer.
The origin of my previous comment was my spending so much time editing a shoot I did. I use Photoshop every single day. Maybe I’m addicted to it. I love postprocessing, but in certain circumstances like event photography, I think it’s better to try shooting it well lit and color balanced the first time. I’m a digital collage artist and I love everything post processing affords me.
ouch. My photographs (in my library, assembled over years, via many cameras, & scanned from older camera images) are building blocks. I shoot an object, an angle, a color, ad infinitum. I use parts of them, build on them, change them. I composite. Photoshop is my main digital tool, before I print, cut, form. "Post processing" is how I make art. I spent years doing production for customers, before retirement. It was never a waste of time. I learned a lot. Now I can take that experience and those tools, and I can finally make whatever I dream up. Definitely not commercial - waaay too slow. I can be as picky as I choose, until I'm satisfied that I've communicated how and what I want to say. Someone will respond to it, sometime. To each their own joy and calling - with no disrespect towards other forms.
Ha, ha, ha...
I did add a disclaimer for "carefully planned composites" which are a completely different discussion. I am not being critical of any particular method of creating one's art. I am suggesting certain modes of photography are better handled with care in-camera than not paying attention while making photographs and pushing decisions off to be dealt with later.
I've made my share of "graphics" and even composites but the care in which they were shot in terms of lighting, perspective, scale, etc optimized the time I spent in post. Generally those endeavors for me fell FAR more on the commercial side of things. (Not my particular preference as it feels much more like writing code to me)
Definitely a well composed image is a thing of beauty. But I think how it's composed is up to the artist. I was a dyer for many years. I did a lot of experimental work on technical textiles, and made outerwear for people. Some people would come up to me and tell me I couldn't dye textiles I had shibori dyed, silkscreened, painted, airbrushed, or later, digitally printed. We'd be surrounded by my work, and they would tell me with great seriousness, it could not be done. It didn't fit their pre-conceived ideas about how something could be created. Sometimes they ended up buying it! 😂 Do what you do. Do the best you can. For some reason Photoshop makes sort of sense to me. I visualize 3 dimensional sets of layers and tools. It's a great tool, when I'm not in despair at what it does sometimes. Most fun challenge ever. But I was always a hopeless klutz in the darkroom.
Stay tuned, we've started messing with something that will remind you of shibori dyed fabric a bit... or on the other hand if it doesn't turn out we'll pretend it never happened (only kidding we share are screw-ups as well)
I become lazy in two situations:
1. When i want to finish my paintings (i use watercolors as background, then sharpen thd watercolors with colored pencils, contes, and oil pastels. After all these, i take a photo of my painting with my phone and that's when i'm ready to start anew).
2. When i want to write a long text, whether it's an essay, a poem, a story, ... .
You read my mind recently. This post processing it’s for the birds better to take a picture right the first time.
I look at it as deferring decisions to "later" that should be made NOW. If you cannot make a decision now there's a good possibility you cannot make it later either but you'll sure waste a lot of time doing so while fiddling with the computer.