One thing that I've noticed is that there are many people that are getting started in Photoshop or just a different type of artistic process where saturation and contrast are all pumped up. Personally I like the look in most of these, but do you think it can be over board?
I think many of these images are just stunning, but a LOT of them seem WAY over-Photoshopped to me. Extreme saturation and contrast with bumps in sharpness which are clearly done in the post-processing stage.
It is all Ansel Adams fault, why couldn't he just go in print the shot and then go out and shoot some more! But nooooooooooooooooooooooo he had to try to make the shots more like what he saw or what he wanted them to appear like.
I think that like all technomedia people have a desire to push the envelope. HDR for example gives me flashbacks, thank heavens
Looking back a few years I can see a couple of trends. The photos have gotten better IMHO and the photoshopping has gotten more subtle. I think the before work and after the click work go hand in hand towards a better end result.
Every once in a while though you need to get radical and really bend those pixels to your bidding.
“Amateurs worry about equipment, professionals worry about money, masters worry about light, I just make pictures… ” ~ Vernon Trent
chasrich wrote: Looking back a few years I can see a couple of trends. The photos have gotten better IMHO and the photoshopping has gotten more subtle. I think the before work and after the click work go hand in hand towards a better end result.
Every once in a while though you need to get radical and really bend those pixels to your bidding.
People tend to like pumped up saturation and contrast. Notice the popularity of Velvia for the last 30+ years. I do see a lot of saturation, and local contrast adjustments that are a bit rich for my taste, but a lot of folks dig that stuff.
Every time I get enamored with a new gimmick I tend to over apply it for a little while. How can you learn how far is too far if you don't go there? Eventually I back off, or move on to the next gimmick.
I think people are depending on Photoshop way too much. How many times have you heard someone say "I'll fix it later in PS." when if they took their time and thought out their shot they wouldn't need any post processing.
I'd rather put my effort into aquiring the image, not the process used to create an image.
No matter how fast I go, there's always someone slower in front of me.
As I always say, there can never be enough GOOD photoshop. Bad Photoshop on the other hand..
When the last candle has been blown out
and the last glass of champagne has been drunk
All that you are left with are the memories and the images-David Cooke.
Most folks dropped their film off at the lab for standardized, automatic machines to develop and print, but there were always some of us willing to put up with the inconvenience of doing it ourselves in the darkroom, because it offered us more options, more control, and a better finished photograph. These days most folks are happy with the in-camera processing, but there are still some of us that see an advantage in taking control of the processing. Photoshop is more convenient for most than having a darkroom, so more people are getting into the processing. It's fun, and offers creative control. It's just as important to get processing and printing right as it is to get the exposure and lighting right. The weakest link affects the entire chain.
chasrich wrote: Looking back a few years I can see a couple of trends. The photos have gotten better IMHO and the photoshopping has gotten more subtle. I think the before work and after the click work go hand in hand towards a better end result.
Every once in a while though you need to get radical and really bend those pixels to your bidding.
I think it is good to push the envelope & get creative from time to time. There's a lot to be said about taking a modern photograph & make it look vintage. People thought Picasso was outrageous in his day & look at what his stuff is worth now.
Zerfing's Photographic Imaging
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Last Edit: 12 years 11 months ago by Maria21. Reason: remove extra pic
Graflex 4x5 wrote: I think people are depending on Photoshop way too much. How many times have you heard someone say "I'll fix it later in PS." when if they took their time and thought out their shot they wouldn't need any post processing.
I'd rather put my effort into aquiring the image, not the process used to create an image.
As an event photographer, sometime I say "I'll fix that in PS" because I don't have the chance to take the shot again. Of course I usually get it right first, but it's not always possible.
Beauty is in the eye of the beholder.. Photoshop is just another "tool" in the photographer's arsenal. Or the artist's, or the web-designer's.. And a very powerful tool for that matter. Sometimes I behold an image and think "WTH were they thinking?" and then I realize, many people probably look at my stuff and think the same, with an F instead...
Is taking a beautiful B&W print and hand-painting it with oil pencils overdoing it? Or is it creating a piece of art from another piece of art? I believe if Ansel, Picasso, Dali, and all the other great Masters were alive today, they would use a camera, paints, and CS5 to their fullest abilities to create..
Enough soapbox... Yeah - a lot of photographers just click away, never changing from Full Auto Jpeg, never checking a histogram, no thought whatever for composition or lighting - all with the admitted mindset that they can always fix it later with Photoshop..
Dave Speicher I thought I wanted a career.. turns out I only wanted paychecks.
dlspeicher.zenfolio.com
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Eventually I back off, or move on to the next gimmick. 
