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The post-processing of photographs, through Photoshop or its competitors (of which there are now dozens: Picassa, Aperture, Photo Elements, Light room, Lightzone, Capture One, Nikon Capture, Digital Photo Professional, Camera Window DSLR 5.3R2 -- just to name a few), is what has changed photography.
Digital pictures can now be processed to the point that the resulting photograph may not even seem vaguely similar to the original shot. Having undergone this metamorphism, these shots may be beautiful, artistic, and even evoke great emotion. Or they may look terrible. How many of the 80 billion pictures shot this year reside in each camp? Do all these tools and automated processes result in pictures that look any better than those of the 35mm past?
Most digital photographers today shoot enormous numbers of photographs and fix errors like poor light exposure, color balance or composition, during post-processing. What errors a DSLR does not fix automatically at the time of the shooting, image editing programs can fix in the post-processing stage. This applies for pictures shot within the camera’s capability and the photographer’s eye. But “photography” means “the writing of light.” Perhaps today’s workflow should be termed “shopography,” -- the writing of digital shop.
The post-processing programs shift light, process pixels, and compress information within the range of what the camera records. This process can be quick, easy, and infinitely flexible, but the array of editing options at your disposal can be maddening. Either way, however, the problem is such that a heavy reliance on post-processing allows the machine to dictate the results, instead of allowing the photographer to control the machine to achieve an end goal.
The ease of digital is seductive, but I constantly hear the frustration in the voices of people reviewing their results: “I shot 100 pictures, and only one came out!”
I submit that the quality of pictures being taken today are no better than those taken during the 35 mm days -- despite the 60-80 billion “practice shots” being taken each year.
There are more pictures being taken - but the percentage of bad ones taken are increasing as people rely on post processing to fix the good ones. But post processing take a lot of time and it is an art in itself and does not succeed in fixing many very poor compositions, blurriness, out of exposure taken shots.
Automated settings and post processing will not replace good picture- taking technique and camera control. The photographer must learn to use his or her eye, and to manipulate the tools and sensors available in the camera itself: aperture, shutter, EV, histogram, etc. Composition, dynamic range control and focus manipulation require a photographer’s talented touch.
The considerations necessary for taking good photographs really have not changed since the advent of film photography. As I mentioned, the lenses in digital and film cameras are interchangeable (digital lenses are actually sometimes less versatile), and their proper use requires knowledge and practice. Light meters, which measures exposure, work exactly the same way they did over 75 years ago -- a major disappointment in my mind. There should be a better way to measure light than comparing it to a built in gray color reference.
Digital cameras do have new features sets which must to harnessed. And indeed, tools like the histogram, EV setting, matrix memories, raw recorder and program modes, are all superb and offer great promise. But they also depend on non-intuitive concepts, and their usage is often poorly described in manuals. As a result, they are now, for most of the camera-owning public, engineering novelties. But this will not always be the case.
In the near future, as terms like “exposure setting” and “focal length” enter the photographic vernacular, the histogram and EV setting will become a standard descriptor of common technique.
Defining the elements of a good picture is like trying to describe an enigma wrapped in a riddle. The medium, light, color and shadow all need to be transparent to the emotion. This is not achieved through automation and a mere multiplicity of shots. Rather, artistic sophistication and technical sophistication will assuage the fears of film photographers who started warning us a decade ago that we had lost our way.
Good photographers have something to say. Better photographers find the right way to say it.
Take your time in shooting. Remember all these lessons from film photography:
 Histogram of a digital image
Know the composition
Keep in mind:
• Framing
• Perspective
• Focus
• Contrast
• Vertical of Horizontal
• Pattern; look for strong lines and shapes
• Direction of light
• Angle -- go for many different views
• Get close / far / mid-range
• The rule of thirds
Digital Camera considerations:
• Lens
• Exposure
• Understand aperture / shutter/ ISO and EV
• Understand light meters
• Understand histogram
• Color & temperature
• Understand raw vs. compressed
If you understand the ways in which each stage of the process will shape the final image, you have the opportunity to creatively control the final result.
“There are no rules for good photographs, there are only good photographs. There is nothing worse than a sharp image of a fuzzy concept.”
Ansel Adams.
 Creative Digital Photography, by Chris Golson
Chris Golson offers a four-day workshop held in the San Francisco Bay Area. In “Creative Digital Photography,” Golson uses examples from art and film to teach the bedrock principles of photography: composition, light management and color choice -- and how to apply it to digital photography. And yes, you’ll learn how to best use your digital camera.
Write Chris at
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or check out his website www.redchris.com
Article Copyright ©2007 Chris Golson
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