I shoot JPEG and I refuse to post process my images - Can I still be successful?

[Student]

Photography is all about capturing an instant, an emotion, a personality or an idea. I know how to use photoshop and if I wanted I could make my models look perfect and adjust all the colour and all that but I don't. I want to shoot JPEG and I want to produce natural images with natural landscapes, natural people in order to make all my pictures 100% natural. Can one be successful and produce beautiful images without post processing? Discuss...

 

[mjhoward]

News flash... JPEG's are processed.

 

[JAFO28]

Beat me to it!

 

[xjoewhitex]

I would really hope to think so, I completely feel your opinion on wanting to keep a natural looking picture. This business is so competitive there's no way to say you would be successful if you did edit, let alone not. But as I can see there always has to be a "little" editing to remove blemishes and what not, but I wont touch skin texture and make models look plastic. Ive always shot JPEG fine, and probably always will. All the effects I do, are done with camera.. alot of people disagree with how I feel, but thats how I roll.

 

[Josh66]

Define successful.

If all you care about is 'recording a moment', then sure - who cares if you edit anything.

BTW - if you're shooting JPEG, the camera is still doing some editing to it.

If you want zero editing done to them, shoot film and after you finish a roll stick it in your sock drawer instead of developing it.

 

[Student]

News flash... JPEG's are processed.

It doesn't feel as dirty, it is more natural, more artistic!

 

[CCericola]

I think it is an interesting learning technique. In fact I think its a typical Photography 101 first assignment.

It could be your niche in the photography world. It all depends on what you think success is. Is it money? Critical acclaim? Personal satisfaction?

There has always been post processing. Think of it this way. Remember the days before photoshop? Any adjustments would be made by developing the negatives a certain way, adjustments in the dark room or after they were printed (airbrushing)

 

[white]

Obvious troll is obvious.

 

[Big Mike]

It doesn't feel as dirty, it is more natural, more artistic!

It doesn't feel artistic to have the camera apply some preset adjustments, which were designed by some engineers in Japan, to my images automatically.

I'd rather get the unadjusted date from the camera (RAW file) and take full control over the process of 'cooking' that raw data into the image I envisioned.

Of course, you can choose to do a minimum about of processing. There are still a million things you can do before the shot, to capture that natural moment the way you want.

 

[xjoewhitex]

I am curious tho, shall we see one of your 100% natural photos?

 

[mwcfarms]

News flash... JPEG's are processed.

It doesn't feel as dirty, it is more natural, more artistic!

Lol and some would say that Dave Hill is more artistic because of all the envelope pushing he does. Does that mean when we use strobes, we are cheating since its not natural light.

I mean this poor horse of a topic has been beat to death a million times. If you want to see the discussions there's a search button in the top right portion of the screen.

 

[Trever1t]

1) machines do not create art.

Definition of Art from wiki

Art is the product or process of deliberately arranging symbolic elements in a way that influences and affects one or more of the senses, emotions, and intellect. It encompasses a diverse range of human activities, creations, and modes of expression, including music, literature, film, photography, sculpture, and paintings. The meaning of art is explored in a branch of philosophy known as aesthetics, and even disciplines such as history and psychoanalysis analyze its relationship with humans and generations.

 

[Overread]

Photography is all about capturing an instant, an emotion, a personality or an idea. I know how to use photoshop and if I wanted I could make my models look perfect and adjust all the colour and all that but I don't. I want to shoot JPEG and I want to produce natural images with natural landscapes, natural people in order to make all my pictures 100% natural. Can one be successful and produce beautiful images without post processing? Discuss...

Define "natural" and then we might get some headway in understanding each other. Otherwise with the automatic editing settings applied to JPEGs I can't see how they are more natural or less natural than a RAW image.

A part of me also says "stop being lazy and learn to edit properly and then edit your work" :mrgreen:

 

[Dominantly]

oh shut up

 

[Overread]

oh shut up

but but but