Photo Editing

[Gingerboy]

Hi everyone, I'm brand new to the forum here. I've been into photography for the last couple of months. I've been using Instagram as a way to find my niche and style. However I am conflicted and wanted to discuss editing of photos. As I'm sure many of you are aware, the teal and orange look is popular currently and for example it therefore turns grass from green to a brownish colour. My question is, is this taking photo editing too far? You are completely altering the scene and making it unreal. It may look better but it's false.

 

[Gingerboy]

For example the first is editing to improve the photo and the second completely alters it

 

[snowbear]

Not really my thing but are you satisfied with it? Is she satisfied with it?

 

[Light Guru]

1st one is horribly photoshopped. 2nd one is over processed, you made her look plastic.

And I don't think the photos are yours, considering they are from different Instagram accounts. Also why would you need to post screen shots if the photos are yours. It is against forum rules to post photos that are not yours.

 

[Light Guru]

As I'm sure many of you are aware, the teal and orange look is popular currently

Who cares what is popular! Find your own style.

 

[Cody'sCaptures]

I mean if it's your thing, let your flag fly.
Personally not a big fan of over processed photos. HDR was a huge tend (still is on social media) but, IMO most of them are hideously overdone.

Zenfolio | Captures By Cody

 

[Gingerboy]

Sorry, I didn't realise it was against the rules to post pictures that aren't mine, I just grabbed these from google as examples. I'm just questioning that I've taken photos and can edit them to look like say Sam Kolder's, I'm not trying to copy him but if I edit like him the photo Displays a real place and real people but the colours are not real - does this make sense? I prefer to keep things true to real life because what is a photo of you have to fake it?

 

[Dave442]

First, Welcome to the forum.

Second, I suggest making a link to the images and remove the posted images.

Third, a couple months is a short time to have found your style. The teal and orange style is a typical cinematic style and is based in good part on using complementary colors.

Fourth, the "unreal" or "fake" is always part of photography. You took a real scene and used a camera to make an interpretation of what you saw. What your eyes see and brain processes is often very different from what the camera will produce, especially in a scene with a strong backlight (sunset) and a main subject in the foreground in shadow. What is it that you visualize when you have such a scene? You could "fake" the image by adding some fill lighting to the subject at the time of exposure or by raising shadows in post production. You may visualize an "unreal" outcome for the image where it becomes a fairy-tale and true to your pre-visualization.

Fifth, it's just photography, have fun.

 

[Designer]

As I understand; your primary concern is that the colors are not "real". I say whatever conveys the intent/mood/idea is what you do. Considering all of photography, one could argue that absolutely all of it has been manipulated to one degree or another.

 

[KmH]

Photography is both art and a way to record things as accurately as possible.

For art, anything goes, as there are no rules though there are guidelines.
For recording things there are rules regarding preserving the original image as accurately as possible for many professions - like journalism, medical, legal, etc.

 

[Dikkie]

I prefer to keep things true to real life because what is a photo of you have to fake it?

It depends on how far you go in keeping something true. Just right out of the camera shot in .jpg, no more editing.
No sharpening, no cropping, no adjusting of levels or contrast, no filters/ changing contrasts,...no ...

For everyone it is personal, everyone has his/her limits in how far the editing goes.

 

[zombiesniper]

Welcome to TPF.

I didn't realise it was against the rules to post pictures that aren't mine,

Now is a good time to read the forum rules so you can avoid any future issues.

 

[chuasam]

This is called Colour Grading. If you enjoy it...do it