Processing

I added a rather long page on processing which you can find HERE.  It’s yet more thoughts from a completely amateur perspective, this time on why it makes sense to process your photos instead of just copying them off your camera.

When I started that page, all I intended to say was “at least use Google Picasa (especially if you’re a  JPEG shooter or want something free), but I personally really like Adobe Lightroom”.  Then I realized that anyone for whom that was a useful piece of advice might not know what processing entailed, and I got a little carried away (considering how much is out there on the Internet already).  In any case, the end result is probably more than most fellow amateurs will want to read, but hopefully helpful nonetheless.  Processing makes a big difference!

There’s a few example pictures in the article itself, but I’ll share another example here of what was a pretty boring shot of a playground we visit that at least seemed to become worth keeping with a little processing.

I definitely didn’t remember feeling like things were that yellow, and maybe I had the white balance wrong.  And no, I wasn’t carrying a grey card, and if I was, Leo would probably have eaten it – he’s pretty good with destroying any kind of cardboard.  Plus the little monkeys were just off to my left.  In any event, what I remembered was a little more like this:

That was during the brief period during which I had a D700 – a very nice camera, even if it’s somewhat big and rather pricey!

Note: For this and future examples, I’ll set the image you see on the page to link to a larger copy, in case you’re interested.