Learn how to post process! No excuses!

I know there are a lot of you guys out there who don’t want to hear this, but it’s time you faced it: you need to learn how to retouch your work. Before you go on about how it changes the essence of the image, how the truth is being altered and how the result will look fake, please hear me out.

Digital photography has obviously brought great differences in the way we shoot things. The principles are the same. All cameras have a dark room and lenses ,but film is very different from your digital sensor. Back in the day, if you wanted to shoot in black and white, you just bought b/w film. If you need high sensitivity, you would have high ISO film and so on. Besides getting rid of all that hustle and having all the options in the same sensor, the fact is, digital photography was never made to be standalone and to deliver the finished product straight out of the camera .I don’t care if you’re using the world’s first DSLR or the latest high end digital medium format camera, all files need basic enhancement to bring out the full potential of the sensor. And I’m not just saying this for the sake sitting at your computer longer. Out of the camera photos do look good if properly exposed, but the thing is ,without minimum adjustments to exposure, color and white balance, they’ll just be…ok. If you don’t believe me, give it a try.

Back in the film days, you could end up with some neat, artsy , colorful surprises on your negative , depending on light and conditions.

With the 1s and 0s of digital imagery however, the outcome depends entirely on how the camera designers think red, green and blue should look. Since this is a creative field, the last thing you want to do is limit yourself.

I’m not suggesting you open Photoshop and start HDR-ing the life out of your photos, but basic stuff is a must, regardless of skill level, genre, or camera.

It may seem surprising, but image retouching and enhancements are about as old as photography itself. The difference is that nowadays we do the dodging and burning on a screen using a tablet or mouse ,instead of playing with our fingers in front of the enlarger.

It might be scary to consider learning Photoshop or other such software but it’s a lot less easier than you think. The internet is full of tutorials made by very talented people that can explain how most of the tools work. The best way to learn tough, is by experimenting constantly. Choose an image and find out what each little icon does. The self taught method is of most recommended as it will allow you to develop a personal style in retouching in addition to you shooting techniques .

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Image credit: maigi / 123RF Stock Photo