Feeling overwhelmed when editing

[nerwin]

I would like to make something clear first.

I know this topic may bring upon a debate between post-processing and getting it right in camera. That is NOT what I would like this discussion to entail. This discussion is about post processing.

In my personal opinion, getting it right in camera is something I don't really care about. Why? Because I choose to get it close as I can in camera but I don't focus too much on it, instead, I focus on other important factors such as composition and lighting. Exposure can be fixed in post, especially with cameras of today. Also, I love having full control of the raw files to process how I please and do crazy editing that is just simply impossible to do in camera. At the end of the day, it's my opinion and you don't have to agree with it. But that's how I do things, that's my workflow and my style. I'm not perfect. Ansel Adams wasn't either. There is not right or wrong way.

If this discussion turns into a debate between editing and getting it right in camera, I'll have it closed.

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Lately I've been feeling a bit overwhelmed when it comes to photo editing. Sometimes I almost dread having to do it after a photoshoot.

After spending hours of processing images and staring at the computer monitor, I swear your eyes start playing tricks on you. Drives me nuts!

I love taking photos into LR and making them come alive and playing around with the sliders but when you gotta do it to 400+ shots...it's not that fun anymore. Especially when you get stuck on one photo where you have no idea which way you wanna take it.

What are some tips and tricks that you have learned that have made your post-processing life more enjoyable?

 

[jcdeboever]

Lately I've been feeling a bit overwhelmed when it comes to photo editing. Sometimes I almost dread having to do it after a photoshoot.

After spending hours of processing images and staring at the computer monitor, I swear your eyes start playing tricks on you. Drives me nuts!

I love taking photos into LR and making them come alive and playing around with the sliders but when you gotta do it to 400+ shots...it's not that fun anymore. Especially when you get stuck on one photo where you have no idea which way you wanna take it.

What are some tips and tricks that you have learned that have made your post-processing life more enjoyable?

Getting them right in camera

 

[JustJazzie]

I am right there with you. I really need to give it a week or so between the shoot and my editing so I can have a more objective view of the shots, but I also loose the momentum and excitement from the shoot.

In my last shoot, I edited through them all, rushed into getting them printed and then had a random epiphany that I could have EASILY fixed the hair (to some extent) using liquify. But I had been staring at them for so long and just wanted to be done I didn't even think of it.

Looking forward to hearing others tips!

 

[jcdeboever]

Lately I've been feeling a bit overwhelmed when it comes to photo editing. Sometimes I almost dread having to do it after a photoshoot.

After spending hours of processing images and staring at the computer monitor, I swear your eyes start playing tricks on you. Drives me nuts!

I love taking photos into LR and making them come alive and playing around with the sliders but when you gotta do it to 400+ shots...it's not that fun anymore. Especially when you get stuck on one photo where you have no idea which way you wanna take it.

What are some tips and tricks that you have learned that have made your post-processing life more enjoyable?

Getting them right in camera

Yeah but I don't care for SOOC photos. I like making my stuff unique.

Try to do it in camera. It can be done.

 

[smoke665]

@jcdeboever but what if you have a dozen of the same image "almost" identical, and you can't decide which one to keep, so you end up keeping all of them on the outside chance that you might come back later and want one of them, but then you never do, so your files just keep growing and growing??

 

[jcdeboever]

@jcdeboever but what if you have a dozen of the same image "almost" identical, and you can't decide which one to keep, so you end up keeping all of them on the outside chance that you might come back later and want one of them, but then you never do, so your files just keep growing and growing??

I only do that when bracketing or troublesome light conditions. Other than that, I shoot one image.

 

[jcdeboever]

I despise editing.

 

[Derrel]

Lately I've been feeling a bit overwhelmed when it comes to photo editing. Sometimes I almost dread having to do it after a photoshoot.

After spending hours of processing images and staring at the computer monitor, I swear your eyes start playing tricks on you. Drives me nuts!

I love taking photos into LR and making them come alive and playing around with the sliders but when you gotta do it to 400+ shots...it's not that fun anymore. Especially when you get stuck on one photo where you have no idea which way you wanna take it.

What are some tips and tricks that you have learned that have made your post-processing life more enjoyable?

Waiting a bit, like at least a few days, or even a week, between the shoot, and the editing.

Doing a thorough cull-through, to avoid editing second- and third-rate or even fourth-rate shots.

Using Settings>Copy>Paste on the shots that had the same exposure and which need the same processing steps or treatment.

NOT allowing myself to get bogged down on one, single file!

 

[jcdeboever]

I despise editing.

Well not everyone is perfect like you.

Perfect? What does that have to do with what I said? Do you think that, based on what I said? Getting it right in camera is not perfection, it is a method learned from shooting film. People could spend more time in software than in camera. I am simply saying get it the way you want in camera or put the effort in. You don't like sooc jpegs for a reason. Not that I'm perfect, I just spend more time in camera as opposed to software. I am a horrible photographer but I don't waste my time trying to fix crappy images.

 

[limr]

Okay, I think things are getting a little lost in translation.

I think everyone understands that we try to do as much as we can with the camera, but even with a clear 'keeper', we often feel like it could be a bit better and that's what post-processing is for.

Let's keep the discussion focused on what happens after the camera work.

 

[nerwin]

I despise editing.

Well not everyone is perfect like you.

Perfect? What does that have to do with what I said? Do you think that, based on what I said? Getting it right in camera is not perfection, it is a method learned from shooting film. People could spend more time in software than in camera. I am simply saying get it the way you want in camera or put the effort in. You don't like sooc jpegs for a reason. Not that I'm perfect, I just spend more time in camera as opposed to software. I am a horrible photographer but I don't waste my time trying to fix crappy images.

And so post-processing your photos means your work is crappy? So you're basically saying everyone on this forum post processes their photos because their work is crappy?

 

[jcdeboever]

I despise editing.

Well not everyone is perfect like you.

Perfect? What does that have to do with what I said? Do you think that, based on what I said? Getting it right in camera is not perfection, it is a method learned from shooting film. People could spend more time in software than in camera. I am simply saying get it the way you want in camera or put the effort in. You don't like sooc jpegs for a reason. Not that I'm perfect, I just spend more time in camera as opposed to software. I am a horrible photographer but I don't waste my time trying to fix crappy images.

And so post-processing your photos means your work is crappy? So you're basically saying everyone on this forum post processes their photos because their work is crappy?

No. I just don't edit my crappy photos, which is majority. Your reading between imaginary lines. I simply answered your original post. You are taking it somewhere else.

 

[nerwin]

I despise editing.

Well not everyone is perfect like you.

Perfect? What does that have to do with what I said? Do you think that, based on what I said? Getting it right in camera is not perfection, it is a method learned from shooting film. People could spend more time in software than in camera. I am simply saying get it the way you want in camera or put the effort in. You don't like sooc jpegs for a reason. Not that I'm perfect, I just spend more time in camera as opposed to software. I am a horrible photographer but I don't waste my time trying to fix crappy images.

And so post-processing your photos means your work is crappy? So you're basically saying everyone on this forum post processes their photos because their work is crappy?

No. I just don't edit my crappy photos, which is majority. Your reading between imaginary lines. I simply answered your original post. You are taking it somewhere else.

Well maybe I have misread. I apologize. But we obviously have very different opinions on this matter and so we won't get anywhere. Let's just forget about it and move on.

 

[limr]

Moving on...

I'll admit that I really dislike post-processing and don't do a lot of it. Perhaps some of that is due to the simple fact that there is less that can be reasonably done to a scanned jpeg of a film negative than to a raw file. A lot of it is also surely due to what I like about photography in general.

But still, I do recognize that sometimes photos just need a little something. I can tolerate it to a point, but then have to let it go.

Some things I do to help the work along is to categorize photos into ones I definitely want to edit, ones I definitely do not want to edit, and the "maybe" photos. I'll work on the handful that I'm excited about first. I never look at the "maybe" file right away. I find that giving it some time and getting distance from the creation of the image helps me be more objective about it. Sometimes that's a few days, and sometimes it's a few months. Only then do I decide if I am going to carry on with trying to edit, or if it's just not worth it to me.

Still, I don't delete (though technically it doesn't matter because I still have the negatives). Because you never know what you ultimately might want to edit. If I may, this is a photo that I ignored literally for years. One day I was going through old files and I found it and realized that I actually had learned how to edit it to look the way I wanted to. I didn't originally have the skills I needed, so I just left it, but years later, I knew more and so editing it was a non-issue for me.


rs Poinsettia by limrodrigues, on Flickr

So I would say prioritize, set limits, and if you're not sure, just leave it alone. It might just not be the right time for that image.

 

[nerwin]

I've done that too, found a photo I took many years ago but for some reason kept it even though then I thought it was a throw away shot but actually ended being a gem. Just needed to wait for my editing style to flourish I guess, lol.

The best thing to probably do is when I start to get frustrated with post-processing is to just take a break from it and come back later, usually the next day or week..or a month instead of trying to get it all done in one day.

I'm not going to lie, I love editing my photos. I love having the ability to adjust every color of a photo and making it be visually different. That is my style and who I am. I mean every photo I have shared on this forum that have been liked by many and nominated have been processed and I've probably spent hours on them.