Frustrations with post and in general

[weepete]

So I'm feeling a bit scunnered lately. Looking back tonight over the photographs I took just a few months ago and I'm just not getting the motivation to process the backlog.

Even ones I shot and was resonably happy with at the time are now looking like cutting room floor material. I'm looking at shots I took only a couple of months ago and they look to me like the difference betwwen shots I took years ago in auto mode and when I started using the creative modes and getting decent pictures. I feel just so far away from where I want to be right now.

A big part of that seems to be frustration with my post processing skills. The ones I do want to edit I just can't seem to get quite right in post. I feel like I'm starting to get a bit more comfortable in photoshop, but that smooth professional of photo editing that looks so easy in the tutorials just doesn't seem to work right now in my own shots and while I can get half way there, the finised product is a long way off.

Maybe that means that my photography standards have taken a bit of a leap, maybe my expectations are just too high and I've hit a skill ceiling that will take time to break through or maybe I'm just clutching at straws. Either way, it's a bit frustrating right now.

 

[Original katomi]

Hope your break thro comes soon. It’s maddening when one hits a block be it skill or kit.

 

[smoke665]

A friend of mine has a favorite saying "How do you eat an elephant?.................One bite at a time". Photography is a great big world, from lighting, to camera, to processing, and it's easy to get overwhelmed trying to do it all at the same time. I've felt the same way as you at times, but when I do I find it helps to back up, break it down as to my frustrations, then work on an individual aspect. One thing I have found is that editing is like computers (garbage in, garbage out), the better your shot in camera the better your image post editing - and the less editing.

 

[vintagesnaps]

I've always thought your pictures were good... I'd stop looking at whatever smooth professional pictures you're seeing (whatever those may be, I'm not sure) and ignore them and use your eyes and brain.

 

[GimmeAnother1]

Personally I feel like Lr is for edits and Ps is for manipulation. 2 very different uses. Maybe try Lr for a bit instead of Ps.

For instance if I want to change HSL I would do it in Lr. If I wanted to say add birds to a pic I would use Ps. Not that you can’t figure out a way to do either in both but they r purpose built imo.

 

[Derrel]

Around 2012 I switched from Photoshop and Adobe Camera Raw to Lightroom 3.6, and that was a huge turning point for me. Although I had about one year in which it was difficult, I soon realized that Lightroom was what I had been searching for for over a decade. We used to have a member here who constantly repeated that Adobe Camera Raw and Lightroom used the same developing engine, but it's much more than just the engine ... Lightroom has a simple interface and the rapidly adjustable adjustment brush system makes it super easy to quickly edit hundreds of photos in a day. I think the Lightroom preset idea is really good too.

Perhaps you need to change things up a bit. What that means to you is really up to you. On this forum there are quite a number of people who still edit the vast majority of their photos in Photoshop,but there are others who have taken the time to learn and explore different tool sets, which is what Lightroom really is- a different set of tools than is found in Photoshop. For those who are accomplished at Photoshop, there is no need to learn a new way to do basic things and many relatively complex operations in Lightroom are easy in Photoshop, but the reverse is also true.

I think the degree and complexity of adjusting and editing that one thinks each photo deserves is typically different, with people who edit in Photoshop often doing extremely complicated pixel level editing, while those who edit in Lightroom are more typically less focused on making minor adjustments. There is a difference between photography and digital imaging, and if you like "straight photography" done with a digital sensor instead of film, then you are often less concerned with making complicated pixel level Improvements. I can almost anticipate the posts in reply to this post that I am making ...

I think with some reflection you can come to a realization about what it is that you wish to accomplish, and how best to arrive at that. There is no one single path.

 

[SquarePeg]

So I'm feeling a bit scunnered lately. Looking back tonight over the photographs I took just a few months ago and I'm just not getting the motivation to process the backlog.

Even ones I shot and was resonably happy with at the time are now looking like cutting room floor material. I'm looking at shots I took only a couple of months ago and they look to me like the difference betwwen shots I took years ago in auto mode and when I started using the creative modes and getting decent pictures. I feel just so far away from where I want to be right now.

A big part of that seems to be frustration with my post processing skills. The ones I do want to edit I just can't seem to get quite right in post. I feel like I'm starting to get a bit more comfortable in photoshop, but that smooth professional of photo editing that looks so easy in the tutorials just doesn't seem to work right now in my own shots and while I can get half way there, the finised product is a long way off.

Maybe that means that my photography standards have taken a bit of a leap, maybe my expectations are just too high and I've hit a skill ceiling that will take time to break through or maybe I'm just clutching at straws. Either way, it's a bit frustrating right now.

they do make it look so easy in those tutorials don’t they? I think it’s likely a combination of your eye becoming more trained and thus more critical and you’re probably looking at more pro level photos from others so you have expanded your expectations as well. There’s nothing wrong with a little discontent if it fuels you to improve. But don’t let it paralyze you.

maybe set a goal to take each of those backlog photos as far as you can as a way of honing your post processes skills?

 

[smoke665]

. I can almost anticipate the posts in reply to this post that I am making ...

Nope, IMO your comments/concerns are valid. A good image SOOC doesn't generally require all the tweaking at pixel level in Ps. Despite the simplicity of that statement, it took awhile for me to actually understand it, because initially there was this tendency to think I could improve something that didn't need improvement. Couple that with the speed of Lr when processing a large number of files by using the "Sync" button to apply settings across the board on all, and you realize how powerful it is. The recent addition of "Profiles" in Lr is major. Using a profile has no affect on the sliders and adds the ability of adjusting the opacity, to tone an image in one click. Stacking presets, adjusting sliders, and using adjustment brushes lets you quickly finish an image.

Not mentioned is the fact that there's a difference between an image processed in Lr, and one facing the 16 bit limitation of Ps, especially on skin tones.

 

[Grandpa Ron]

Weepete maybe you are discovering that your true passion lies in " as shot", rather in post processing.

More the once I have enhanced a good photo, only to come back in a few days, to discover I had simply wasted my time. I was trying to create what was not, rather than display what was.

More the once, someone has sent me "The 20 greatest pictures ever", yet my experience was shown me that icebergs really are not that pristine and so uniformly bluish white. Eagle's nest are not devoid of interfering limbs or branches and landscapes are generally not so deep and rich in color. These are great photos no doubt but to my eye the look too perfect.

Over time I have settled for cropping, exposure and simple color saturation or black and white contrast adjustments and let the subject do the talking.

There are very talented post possessing individuals, that is for certain but it is just not my thing.

 

[Original katomi]

Have to agree with post 9. Here photography went through the HDR fad. Just about every image seemed to have had the hdr treatment some were really overlooked others were ok but had that unreal look to them. Just like the fad for milky waterfalls it has at last started to fade as peeps start to realise that you can go too far with it
As Smoke was saying. SOOC image often does not need tweeting. If I am having a planned photo session I try and plan my images in camera depending what the finished image is for.

 

[weepete]

Hope your break thro comes soon. It’s maddening when one hits a block be it skill or kit.

Thanks mate, hopefully I'll be able to work through it. I suppose it's kinda inevetable unless you stay well inside your comfort zone!

 

[weepete]

A friend of mine has a favorite saying "How do you eat an elephant?.................One bite at a time". Photography is a great big world, from lighting, to camera, to processing, and it's easy to get overwhelmed trying to do it all at the same time. I've felt the same way as you at times, but when I do I find it helps to back up, break it down as to my frustrations, then work on an individual aspect. One thing I have found is that editing is like computers (garbage in, garbage out), the better your shot in camera the better your image post editing - and the less editing.

Thanks mate, that does make sense so I'll try a more logical approach and see what works. It's true that you can only polish so much, but in my case I feel like I've got all the elements, it's the putting together bit that's frustrating!

 

[weepete]

I've always thought your pictures were good... I'd stop looking at whatever smooth professional pictures you're seeing (whatever those may be, I'm not sure) and ignore them and use your eyes and brain.

Thanks vintagesnaps, very kind of you to say! It could well be that I've just got that facebook phenomenon (where because you just see other's really good posts you get a false impression). It's also fair to say that I'm looking at some very accomplished photographers so maybe I'm being too hard on myself, but it's the kind of standard I want to be at.

 

[weepete]

Personally I feel like Lr is for edits and Ps is for manipulation. 2 very different uses. Maybe try Lr for a bit instead of Ps.

For instance if I want to change HSL I would do it in Lr. If I wanted to say add birds to a pic I would use Ps. Not that you can’t figure out a way to do either in both but they r purpose built imo.

I understand why you'd think that, but it's a bit of an oversimplification. I still use lightroom a lot and I'm very comfortable there but there's some complex masking tools in photoshop that offer an opportunity, particularly with exposure blending and making selective adjustments, that I think can be used very well to overcome some camera limitations.

 

[weepete]

Around 2012 I switched from Photoshop and Adobe Camera Raw to Lightroom 3.6, and that was a huge turning point for me. Although I had about one year in which it was difficult, I soon realized that Lightroom was what I had been searching for for over a decade. We used to have a member here who constantly repeated that Adobe Camera Raw and Lightroom used the same developing engine, but it's much more than just the engine ... Lightroom has a simple interface and the rapidly adjustable adjustment brush system makes it super easy to quickly edit hundreds of photos in a day. I think the Lightroom preset idea is really good too.

Perhaps you need to change things up a bit. What that means to you is really up to you. On this forum there are quite a number of people who still edit the vast majority of their photos in Photoshop,but there are others who have taken the time to learn and explore different tool sets, which is what Lightroom really is- a different set of tools than is found in Photoshop. For those who are accomplished at Photoshop, there is no need to learn a new way to do basic things and many relatively complex operations in Lightroom are easy in Photoshop, but the reverse is also true.

I think the degree and complexity of adjusting and editing that one thinks each photo deserves is typically different, with people who edit in Photoshop often doing extremely complicated pixel level editing, while those who edit in Lightroom are more typically less focused on making minor adjustments. There is a difference between photography and digital imaging, and if you like "straight photography" done with a digital sensor instead of film, then you are often less concerned with making complicated pixel level Improvements. I can almost anticipate the posts in reply to this post that I am making ...

I think with some reflection you can come to a realization about what it is that you wish to accomplish, and how best to arrive at that. There is no one single path.

Thanks mate, I agree with you on lightroom, I do find it intuative and easy to use, much more than ACR. I think you might be right in terms of spending a bit of time thinking about how I get to the final image, though at the moment there's a lot of grey.