Photo editing

“We create a meaningful life by what we accept as true and by what we create in the pursuit of truth, love, beauty, and adoration of nature.”

― Kilroy J. Oldster

I was somewhat amazed to know that the editing of photographs goes so far back to the time when the first photograph was developed. The creation of the first photograph happened in 1814 and a few years later the developing of photo retouching started. I think it might be safer to call this photo manipulation. In the digital years, as cameras became more advanced, so did editing software and now it’s affordable and available to all.

When I first started with photography, I did not use advanced editing software to edit my photographs. This was a great advantage even though I didn’t realise it at the time. It made me more conscious of making sure my settings were right before I started photographing and it also made me aware of what the environment and mood is like where I was photographing. Unfortunately, there were also times where my settings were wrong and then I lost a photograph that was under or over exposed and there was not really a good way for me to fix it.

Learning by doing and learning from youtube tutorials and photography blogs has a lot of advantages. However, following specific blogs or youtube channels is not a very good idea. When you look at the same style of photography and follow advice to the letter, you’re not able to develop your own style. The answer to great photos is not about the editing software. Manipulating colours and fiddling with detail is not always a good idea. This takes away the mood and atmosphere of the photograph and gives a distorted vision of what is natural.

Some things are just what they are, and I can’t see the point in editing a photograph just to make it “pop” (a term that I frequently hear). The moment you start fiddling on one aspect of a photograph, you are messing with the whole balance of the picture. In nature photography I think it’s essential that we try to stay true to nature and show the world as it is. Haze on mountain ranges are natural, shadows are natural, faded colours in bright sunlight are also natural. This is how we see it and this is how we should show it. Moods and time of day could be captured this way and the wonderful thing about this is that you could be standing on the same spot at different times of the day and have a different photograph each time.

Yes, I would agree that with editing software it’s great to restore light when a photograph is over exposed and vice versa, but to spend hours on changing every possible aspect of a photograph, I find is really a shame.

I feel the same about portrait photography too. Yes of course it’s good to take away blemishes on a person’s face, but to change specific features to a face is something I don’t agree with. I think it’s wonderful to be able to show a person through a portrait with facial characteristics that make them who they are.

I choose to keep my photographs as natural as possible. It took a while for me to get enough confidence to be able to stick to the style of photography that I have developed over time and the way I want my photographs to be. I think it is good to learn from experienced photographers and gain knowledge about techniques of photography, but it’s very important that your work will not become just a copy of someone else’s work. When you manage to gain more confidence in your photography, you will have the courage to develop your own style in your own way.