It’s in the post ... processing

In my November blog I mentioned one of the things I wanted to do over the winter was to learn more about processing photos.

I have always been a bit wary about post processing photographs as it has I have always thought that I should be getting images right in camera. I’m sure this came from my days of shooting on film. However, I heard recently something that was really helpful - that is in the days of film it wasn’t you that chose how your photographs looked it was actually the photo lab so they were always being post processed in someway.

This has given me the freedom to explore how and what I can do in the digital age.

On the phone I have been using Snapseed. This is a free photo processing app which has proven to be very simple to use. There are different filters and simple sliders that you operate by touch. They work very simply and are very intuitive it’s almost like using a pencil on a piece of paper. In fact I will often use Snapseed on the phone ahead of firing up the PC - especially as the Canon has built in WiFi that I can download the image and process on the move.

However, there are downsides. The range of editing options available to you is more limited than on the PC and also the size of screen you view on the photo on means you can miss some of the finer elements that you may want to include or adjust.

On the PC it’s been Luminar - a competitor product to Photoshop at a fraction of the price. Mine was even cheaper as it was a free download from Practical Photography magazine!

Again it is a very intuitive package to use allowing you to put layers at different stages to different extents. This has produced some very interesting and exciting images - ones that I wouldn’t necessarily be able to do straight out of the camera. It’s allowed me to apply different about of the box filters but also create black & white images and pull additional details out of shadows in the image. The way it allows you to use layers and masks doesn’t require a lot of knowledge, training or skill so I was able to start producing some great results very quickly.

Working on a bigger screen is a definite plus however, the fact that you have to use a mouse makes the control of any masks or affects the heart of control-this may result in me getting a graphics pad at some point in the future!

So given my experiences is it worth it?

Take a look at these before and after images

I’m really pleased with the processed image - and it has won first prize at the annual camera club competition ...

... so a resounding yes - and I’ll be continuing both post processing my images and learning more to get even better at it.