Post Production Editing

I have been preparing my photos to turn in for review and part of the process is to edit them. I am not a huge fan of doing a lot of drastic changes to my photos, and really, sometimes I sort of feel like its cheating. My photography teacher says it is absolutely necessary to do something to almost every photo. I have a hard time with this, how much is too much? Some photos I look at and think I don't want to do anything at all. It is nice to crop or straighten out lines, make a few corrections. I have a professional photographer friend who does some editing to almost all of her photos and I wouldn't ever say she was cheating by editing her photos so why do I feel so conflicted? Here are some of my edits, both before and after so you can see what I started with and what I ended up with. Is it cheating?

                                     

The above picture is the original. Nothing wrong with it really, the butterfly is pretty sharp and in focus. The right side of the photo is so bright it is washed out so that is no good.

This is the same photo, cropped and given a border. I feel comfortable with this sort of editing, nothing too drastic was done. I'd have to use a giant lens to get this photo without cropping (or find a way to get the butterfly to sit still while I get incredibly close).

This is the original photo. I shot this thru a trash can with two holes in the lid for the garbage used as the frame. It is uneven because I had to squat down to see through and it was super uncomfortable.

Here it is post editing. I cropped and straightened only. No other changes were made. Now looking at it I wonder if it is straight or if I need to go back and redo. I should have used the grid tool...

Original photo, taken in Copenhagen. Must have been bright afternoon sun because the colors are a little washed out.

I added some color vibrance, not a ton, just a touch, better? Cheating? Maybe.

Editing software can also be used to change your photos to black and white. I haven't used this function yet, just wanted to show the different possibilities. Fun to play with.

Also you can play with the color hues and get a totally different picture.

Original photo, another bright sunny day...

I like this better. Nice greens, bright yellows. Cropped it a bit to get a closer look at the bird. You can increase hue saturation, lighten or darken shadows, so many options! It is easy to spend a few hours going over photos and making changes. Just be careful to keep a copy of the original unedited version.

I liked this viewpoint but the colors are a bit washed out and the Art Science Museum (structure on the right) has dirty lines running down, not so cute. What is that dark spot in the bottom right corner?

I cropped out the dirty stuff and made the sky more blue. This is sooo cheating, but it looks great!

Great shadow, bad composition. I should have zoomed in a bit more to get that bottom line out of the shot.

Fixed!

So I am still not sure about the editing software and if I consider it cheating but I do think it is so fun to play with. I guess not all of it is cheating. Maybe none of it is. You still have to start with a good photo. You can't fix everything. 

Happy Friday!

I've got wheels!!!

My birthday is Saturday and my wonderful hubby gave me my present a little early. I have a new bicycle and I love it!!! I haven't ridden a bike in maybe 15 years. Everyone rides bikes here, it is a very popular mode of transportation and recreation. Since we live so close to Gardens by the Bay, I thought it would be fun to ride my bike over, put my camera bag in my basket and have a fun time, and I was right! It is soooo fun. This morning I ran 6.5km at the gym and then I jumped on my bike for my first ride. Here are some pictures, enjoy!

Look at that gorgeous bike! It has one speed, mud guards, a basket, a bell, headlight and taillight, handle bar breaks and a small rack on the back for extra stuff. This picture was taken at the Marina Barrage, top level. Great skyline pictures to be had there. I was pretty worn out by the time I got here and I had to push my bike up the ramp. Totally worth it, great picture. In the skyline you can see from left the tall blue buildings are Asia Square and the Marina Bay Financial Center, which is right in front of our condo, then the Marina Bay Sands is the three towers with a platform on top. You can see the Super Trees and Flower Dome at Gardens by the Bay. Feeling very lucky to have so much space to ride my bike so close to home without having to ride on streets or through traffic. That makes it much more relaxing and fun. If I had to ride on the street I don't think I would like it as much. 

Here is a view of the Marina Barrage from the bottom looking up. The first picture was taken from the top. See what I mean about being tired after pushing my bike up the ramp? When Geoff and I go for a run we usually run up the barrage ramp, good hill workout!

Nice long stretch of sidewalk with no people to crash into, love it here before 11am. Once lunch hour hits it is much busier by the mall. I am not so steady on my bike just yet and I am sure I frighten pedestrians if they see me coming. I am steering all over the place and sort of giggling because it is just so fun, must look like a crazy lady!

Kids often play in the water fountains here and I have to admit I really wanted to ride my bike through but I didn't. It would have felt sooooooooo good!

Not many pictures this week but I will try to make up for it next week. The Mid Autumn Festival is coming up and lanterns are going up all over town. Hopefully I can get some good pictures. The rain has been pretty heavy this week, hard to get out with out getting soaked.

Happy Friday!