I Edit-- So Deal with It!

I shot my family golf tournament on Sunday. I got a few shots of every foursome, and then got some really good tee-off shots of each person (could really use a faster FPS than the T3!). I then took the kids around for lunch at the clubhouse and got everyone coming in and putting at the 9th. I spent several hours Sunday and Monday night editing and I think they turned out really well. For someone who does not shoot people as a first choice, it was a very successful day. I posted them on Facebook for everyone. At least 8 of my family members are currently using my photos as their profile picture (who has a really good crisp action shot of their golf swing if they're not a pro?). And soooo many comments - "You have an amazing camera!" "My pictures never look like that!" "I need a camera like that!"

Of course, I'd love to tell them all, actually it was the several hours of editing that made them stand out. But they wouldn't care, or believe me, and a good chunk of them would probably assume that that means I'm not that good. So I just keep it to myself, bite my tongue (yah, my Canon T3 is just amazeballs, thanks). I got ONE compliment on my actual skills - from someone who owns a 5Dii and has never gotten anything but snapshots. "You've really worked hard at this photography thing, you're doing great."

So I vote "Don't bother showing the SOOC stuff." Most people won't get it.

Edited to add - Oh, and I'm still happy I did it, since the reason I was shooting it is to make an album for my Grandfather. It was his 85th birthday, and he's been putting on this golf tournament for our family for 10 years. He pays for all of us, and buys all the meat for a BBQ after. So he and my Nana are the only ones I'm trying to please in this event. Having other people like their pictures is just a bonus.
 
When I got my first SLR, I shot slide film to prevent the lab from doing adjustments. Different films exposed differently so there was some "pre-editing" you could do when purchasing film. Labs varied a little too, so there was some control there as well. Everything else was in camera, and you had to compose because there was no cropping.

Now, I shoot raw, edit with Photoshop, level, crop, manipulate, resize, dodge, burn, adjust tint, and so on, then post on web pages, or print. Over time, life has definitely improved!
 
We live in a world where photography is no longer an art form. It's an app on your phone, and everyone is a photographer. Let your work stand on its own merit without pulling back the curtain.

Amen, my friend.

I get moderately annoyed at those vaguely accusatory comments and questions about the “smoke and mirrors” of post processing, but for the most part I try not to let it get under my skin.

I think that once you step out of “cellphone snapshot hell” and into the world of true “hobbyist photography” and beyond, you start to see what tools are available and what kind of control they afford you in the finest details of your work. At that point, you realize that post processing is not cheating at all, but rather, just a step along the way from conception of idea to shutter press to result.

The real world is a completely different medium than a 2D image for presenting a scene. All kinds of “changes” happen when converting something from the former to the latter, so to draw the “cheating” line at human intervention via Photoshop seems arbitrary. I think to do so really hints at a lack of understanding of the big picture (no pun intended, but I’ll take it).

I’d be willing to bet that most “cheating accusers” wouldn’t even understand how something as basic as the crop tool can be used to strengthen the composition of the result, without so much as changing a single pixel. If they don’t get that, there is probably no point in even attempting to “justify” or “defend” the practice of image processing in the myriad ways that are possible with modern digital tools.
 
Lots of good points in here. Thanks for all the responses [emoji106]


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
Lots of good points in here. Thanks for all the responses [emoji106]


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Mine was the best. It's ok, you don't have to tell everyone here.
 
Lots of good points in here. Thanks for all the responses [emoji106]


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Mine was the best. It's ok, you don't have to tell everyone here.

Your humility is awe-inspiring. [emoji108]


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
Your humility is awe-inspiring. [emoji108] Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Some times I amaze myself.

Please re-post that heavily edited shot you made of the big ball of belly button lint you pulled out after you wore that new Pendleton Woolen Mills plaid button shirt that whole week last winter! Now THAT was an amazing shot, runnah!!! A JPEG SOOC just would not have done that lint ball justice. RAW all the way man, RAW alllll the way!
 
Please re-post that heavily edited shot you made of the big ball of belly button lint you pulled out after you wore that new Pendleton Woolen Mills plaid button shirt that whole week last winter!

Shut your mouth! We only wear ll bean chamois shirts here!!
 
Please re-post that heavily edited shot you made of the big ball of belly button lint you pulled out after you wore that new Pendleton Woolen Mills plaid button shirt that whole week last winter!

Shut your mouth! We only wear ll bean chamois shirts here!!


You two are a riot.
 
My bad, my bad! I got my Portlands mixed up! Portland, OR is Pendleton and those scrathcy, thick wool shirts; Portland,ME is LL Bean and those sissy chamois shirts!!!!!!! Company Fact Sheet Logo.gif About L.L.Bean: Company Information images-15.jpg

Psh Portland OR is for wimps. They get rain...ooo my soy latte might get wet boo hoo. Oh the damp ruined my smiths vinyl first edition!

We get the...the -20 temps froze the diesel in the truck. Give me a chamois shirt, thermal under shirt and a blanket lined carhart jacket and all is well.
 
Lobstah....versus dungeness crab.... Pacific salmon versus God-awful codfish...giant razor clams versus dinky little buttah clams...

runnah...buttah clams....lobstah....ahhhhh.I get it now!
 
Lobstah....versus dungeness crab.... Pacific salmon versus God-awful codfish...giant razor clams versus dinky little buttah clams...

runnah...buttah clams....lobstah....ahhhhh.I get it now!

Gihhhhve it to-ahhh bub!
 

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