RAW to JPG - How much is too much post processing?

[suryad]

I have lately been playing with Adobe Lightroom 4.1 trial edition and learning more and more about RAW photography and post processing and converting to JPEG after that. It's a very interesting albeit time consuming process but in the end pictures that I thought would turn out horrible and did turn out horrible because of over exposed backgrounds etc etc now can be brought back so to speak. However, I need to ask, after a point how much is too much post processing? Is it making the picture look natural or maybe adding a bit more jazz to the image? I always feel a sort of dilemma in deciding how much to post process and I usually treat post processing as a picture by picture kind of thing? Some feel like a bit more saturation would be perfect, some feel like a bit more sharpening would make it pop, etc etc. Thoughts? Comments? Cheers and thanks in advance for all answers!

 

[Overread]

Too much post processing is when the photographer processes to the point where they lose track of their original artistic requirements for the photo itself. So in general the only limit is the effect you want to generate at the end. Note that there are exceptions - for example if you're working for a client then you've also got to factor in their requirements for the photo - and journalist work tends to have pretty strict limits on what you can and can't do.

But in general the limit is yourself -

 

[2WheelPhoto]

OP, look at a big % of the pics posted in the forum "HDR" section

 

[12sndsgood]

everyone is diffrent, and everyone wants there photos to look a certain way. so there is no one answer really.

 

[suryad]

OP, look at a big % of the pics posted in the forum "HDR" section

Haha that got me laughing a bit. I agree some times HDR is really overdone. I have a couple of HDR shots I took on a recent cruise that I went to, the colors pop and it looks a bit artificial but some times the artificial look is nice but a lot of times it just looks a bit too much.

@Overread - Agreed. But what if you are shooting for yourself...where you are the client...not only you but your friends as well? I guess rereading your comment you already said the answer already "limit yourself"...hmm. I guess the limit becomes more and more clear the more pictures one takes.

 

[suryad]

everyone is diffrent, and everyone wants there photos to look a certain way. so there is no one answer really.

Yeah agreed but if one looks at the Renaissance era painters or sculptors or along those lines...their work is universally lauded isn't it? I am thinking in a way every photographer who takes their photography a bit more seriously than normal and is delving in to RAW processing and what not is in a way striving for that ideal. At least I know I am (whether I attain that goal is a completely different matter) and so at that point I feel personally that there is a fine line where everyone who looks at your work goes "that is brilliant" vs "ok these pictures are great but a bit too overdone".

 

[Overread]

I guess the limit becomes more and more clear the more pictures one takes.

This is generally the case. The more you experience and experiment and the more you learn as well as diversify what you do the more you come to better understand your own taste. From there you'll slowly build toward a "look" that suits the photos you want to create as well as a better ability to prevision the photos before you take them - even to take photos to suit a specific look you want.

 

[12sndsgood]

everyone is diffrent, and everyone wants there photos to look a certain way. so there is no one answer really.

Yeah agreed but if one looks at the Renaissance era painters or sculptors or along those lines...their work is universally lauded isn't it? I am thinking in a way every photographer who takes their photography a bit more seriously than normal and is delving in to RAW processing and what not is in a way striving for that ideal. At least I know I am (whether I attain that goal is a completely different matter) and so at that point I feel personally that there is a fine line where everyone who looks at your work goes "that is brilliant" vs "ok these pictures are great but a bit too overdone".

I agree some of that era's painters are lauded, but are people trying to emulate them now? or have styles and tastes changed with the times? things evolve. change, return back and copy what was done and change again. I personally am taking my photography serious. but im not trying to emulate someone else. i'm trying things out and coming up with what I like, If I don't like it, for me what's the point in doing it? If I were doing things to please others above myself I could just go to my standard day job and do what they want. This for me is about making me happy. I try and take things from diffrent artists I see and like, but I don't try and copy them or strive to be famous.

To find where you have crossed the line I think you have to cross the line. Usually anytime I am learning a new process I will end up overdoing it because it's new. and then when i come back and revisit it I will end up pulling back, but it's still only for me.

 

[suryad]

everyone is diffrent, and everyone wants there photos to look a certain way. so there is no one answer really.

Yeah agreed but if one looks at the Renaissance era painters or sculptors or along those lines...their work is universally lauded isn't it? I am thinking in a way every photographer who takes their photography a bit more seriously than normal and is delving in to RAW processing and what not is in a way striving for that ideal. At least I know I am (whether I attain that goal is a completely different matter) and so at that point I feel personally that there is a fine line where everyone who looks at your work goes "that is brilliant" vs "ok these pictures are great but a bit too overdone".

I agree some of that era's painters are lauded, but are people trying to emulate them now? or have styles and tastes changed with the times? things evolve. change, return back and copy what was done and change again. I personally am taking my photography serious. but im not trying to emulate someone else. i'm trying things out and coming up with what I like, If I don't like it, for me what's the point in doing it? If I were doing things to please others above myself I could just go to my standard day job and do what they want. This for me is about making me happy. I try and take things from diffrent artists I see and like, but I don't try and copy them or strive to be famous.

To find where you have crossed the line I think you have to cross the line. Usually anytime I am learning a new process I will end up overdoing it because it's new. and then when i come back and revisit it I will end up pulling back, but it's still only for me.

Agreed. I am not saying to emulate them necessarily. What I am saying is in my mind, it seems there is a fine line where something whether it is a picture, or some piece of art and what not is universally appreciated. I think that is where I want to get to. But yeah I see what you are saying about crossing the line and then overdoing it and then learning from mistakes and refining your own 'style' so to speak. Thanks for all the insightful posts fellas.

 

[cgipson1]

in the JPG, could an outsider viewer tell it has been processed? YES? That is too much!

 

[unpopular]

any amount of processing is too much when applied to a JPEG.

 

[bratkinson]

In my opinion, my only "limit" on post-processing is a compromise between what I actually KNOW HOW to do with Lightroom and PS Elements (I've only had 'em for 6 months or so, so there's still lots to learn!), and what I WANT to do. Being a guy, I'm not much for reading instructions, so I do more do-what-I-know and then a little experimental tweaking from there. If I don't like it, that's what the Edit/Undo function is for!

As far as practical limits, I try to get some "pop" in each of my pictures. Sometimes they do, sometimes they don't. I've successfully salvaged others work with point-n-shoot disasters in a church, yet floundered on my own photographic disasters (I plan on re-doing the post when time permits). There's soooo much to learn in PS Elements and Lightroom. And for what it's worth, sometimes I feel like really 'messing with the white balance' on a shot or two just to really wake up the viewers!

So, what should your limits be? Whatever you can do, and whatever results you want to achieve! Unless you have a paying audience for specific results, the limits are whatever you want them to be.