Editing Style

[nerwin]

For a long time I've been struggling to find my "own" editing style. But I'm not sure if I really need to, but some say you do. Sometimes I like to editing my photos to be vivid and punchy, other times I like to do a vintage fade or B&W or something else that looks good to me. I guess it just depends on the subject and the lighting and I suppose that's my own style. I don't know.

But Should you find your own style of editing and stick with it?

I've been browsing through the many photographers on Flickr and checking out their stream and on some of the best photographers, their editing style is consistent. But I've also came across some where their editing style were all over the place like mine.

So does it really matter if you stick with a editing style or just edit them however you want? Whats your opinion? How do you edit your own?

 

[Derrel]

Flckr is a great place to get ideas from people who imitate other people and the work of others. Anything shiny, anything brightly colored, anything shot with a Big Stopper, anything heavily filtered, anything that has significant upvotes...that's what Flickr and the other aggregator sites are built upon: imitation, and circle-jerks of likes.

There is NO one style of photo editing that is appropriate for all photos or all subjects. So, no, do not find a style and stick with it; that will only lead to stultification, and even worse, to cliche work.

Flickr is based largely on newbs, many with little taste in imaging, "following" the recipes that people consistently vote for....that's "it"...lots of pretty girls in their 20's with vaguely sexualized, blank expressions: bonus points if they are from an Eastern European country. Yeah...on Flickr you will see entire catalogues of work done by people with just a few recipes, which they go to over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over. And over.

Edit EACH assignment the way that makes the assignment look the way it should. Edit each image in a way you like. Don't imitate the people on Flickr. Stay away from Flickr and 500px, unless all you want to do is imitate the current flavor of the month. The stuff on the front page, with the utterly ridiculous fantasy greens, and the comically jacked-up vibrance, and the super-plastified skin tone on the airheaded 22-year-old models....uggg...

 

[nerwin]

Lol, what an answer Derrel. I guess it comes down to your personality, some people edit everything in B&W and some edit their photos to be contrasty and vibrant and others edit each photo different.

I love Flickr though and I don't imitate other ones on Flickr. I've actually learned a lot on Flickr as well as photography forums. But hey its all preference.

 

[Buckster]

Just do whatever you feel motivated to do at the time, and don't worry or take to heart what any naysayers try to pile on you for any of it. There will ALWAYS be people who hate it, people who love it, people who are somewhere in between, and it's all good.

Go crazy, experiment, push over the top, pull it back down again to super-subtle - wander through many genres and styles and get to know them - find out what they're about. See what about each appeals to you, and what doesn't.

In that way, you'll find your own way. You'll gravitate to what you like to do, which will yield that which is most pleasing to your tastes. Don't try to force yourself to do what anyone else does, or what anyone else says you should do - you'll never be truly happy following someone else's path if you're not into it. If your path follows along well-trodden paths of photographers who've gone before you, that's okay too.

Some people find what works for them, and they stick with it. Richard Avadon comes to mind first, I guess. Love his work or hate it, so does Peter Lik. Others like to move from genre and style to genre and style, working to master each as they move through them, acquiring knowledge and experience with many different situations along the way.

Neither is right, neither is wrong. Each is right for the photographer who finds what's best for their own path.

Above all, enjoy it.

 

[Light Guru]

Don't spend time thinking about what you're "style" is, that's waisted time. Put your energy into making images that portray the feeling you want.

 

[snowbear114 45]

My editing style is mouse (or tablet) in right hand, ZZ Top rockin' the ear buds, and coffee or iced tea on the left.

 

[Designer]

Should you find your own style of editing and stick with it?

I've never understood why some photographers want to edit in a "style".

 

[nerwin]

My editing style is mouse (or tablet) in right hand, ZZ Top rockin' the ear buds, and coffee or iced tea on the left.

Haha, I like to edit listening to Frank Sinatra and drinking coffee..sometimes wine.

Should you find your own style of editing and stick with it?

I've never understood why some photographers want to edit in a "style".

Well I guess some prefer only black & whites or film like edit and that's how they edit all their photos, which I guess is okay and that's their "style" I suppose, but I always edit mine depending on the scene and the mood I'm in. Sometimes I'm in a black & white kind of mood or a vivid punchy mood. I don't know.

By style, I don't mean like they are copying others or following a trend, but found their own unique way of editing their photos.

 

[Wilh93]

Wow there is some great advice here. I actually stopped putting up a few photos on my site for this exact reason. I couldn't understand how this one guy edits all 180 photos the exact same way on Instagram is able to get 2k likes on each and every photo that he puts up every 2 hrs.

 

[nerwin]

Wow there is some great advice here. I actually stopped putting up a few photos on my site for this exact reason. I couldn't understand how this one guy edits all 180 photos the exact same way on Instagram is able to get 2k likes on each and every photo that he puts up every 2 hrs.

Every 2 hours? Wow atleast he's consistent. I can't even do a photo a day. Hahaha.

 

[Wilh93]

Hahah you're telling me. Still though you'd think people would get bored seeing the same style from the same person of the same subjects 3 or 4 times a day. But hey each of their own I guess.

 

[raventepes]

Unless I'm working on a paid shoot where I have some specifics I need to adhere to (even if some of them are my own), I edit for the mood I want to convey.

Photography is a medium that needs to grab people at an emotional level. Sometimes that emotion should be happy or sad...sometimes brooding, or peaceful..sometimes whimsical. Sometimes a photograph should convey a sense of fulfillment or that you need a certain product. It all ties into emotion, one way or another. The point here is that every situation is different. Editing shouldn't be robotic. It should be organic and compliment the picture and mood itself.

 

[Forkie]

Should you find your own style of editing and stick with it?

I've never understood why some photographers want to edit in a "style".

Style is developed when a photographer is booked because people like how that photographer's images look. And if they get consistent bookings for that look, then you either consciously keep it, or a your "style" develops over time as you get used to shooting/editing in a particular way or have a particular workflow.

Actor headshots are a perfect example of this (certainly in the UK, anyway) and casting directors can often know exactly who shot an actor's headshot solely on it's style and therefore, how much money they spent on it, which can translate into how serious that actor is about their career, which can lead to that actor getting many more bookings.

These headshot photographers are well known for their individual styles and are quite distinctive and recognisable from each other:

Colour Headshots - Jon Holloway Headshots
CATHERINE SHAKESPEARE LANE
Charlie Carter Photography professional actors headshot photographer
Actor s porttrait gallery Some used in Spotlight directory
John Clark Portrait and Casting Photography

 

[rexbobcat]

Your style generally develops as you move forward whether you notice it or not. You can obviously influence them by looking at new ways of processing photos, but it's still determined by your own aesthetic sensibilities.

If you process a photo and think "That looks like other photos in this genre, but it doesn't look right to me," then you're going to have a bad time because you're always going to be second-guessing your decisions.

Basically, look at different editing techniques that intrigue you, but don't force your photography into a pigeon-hole simply because you feel you have to. It's often easy to tell when a photo's processing is "organic" as opposed to forced.

 

[4073706]

Should you find your own style of editing and stick with it?

I've never understood why some photographers want to edit in a "style".

Style is developed when a photographer is booked because people like how that photographer's images look. And if they get consistent bookings for that look, then you either consciously keep it, or a your "style" develops over time as you get used to shooting/editing in a particular way or have a particular workflow.

Actor headshots are a perfect example of this (certainly in the UK, anyway) and casting directors can often know exactly who shot an actor's headshot solely on it's style and therefore, how much money they spent on it, which can translate into how serious that actor is about their career, which can lead to that actor getting many more bookings.

These headshot photographers are well known for their individual styles and are quite distinctive and recognisable from each other:

Colour Headshots - Jon Holloway Headshots
CATHERINE SHAKESPEARE LANE
Charlie Carter Photography professional actors headshot photographer
Actor s porttrait gallery Some used in Spotlight directory
John Clark Portrait and Casting Photography

I can see a pro photographer who has a niche product needing to be identified by a style but .......that sounds so dull to me.
Every pic needs to be considered as individual. I must have taken 1000 pics of the desert in Qatar (and will be taking more this weekend) but every set is an evolution in processing and different from the previous set. Good / bad / better / worse is just a matter of opinion. Style has a time constraint.

I did an experiment with the same picture processed very conservatively and another version tone mapped up the wazoo (to the point of garish cartoon). Guess which version got most likes on flicker?