What is /p/'s thoughts on post edit?
I just started getting into Photography, got my first DSLR and took some shots today but found very few of them hit the mark without editing in Lightroom.
This pic is post edit, I will post pre-edit right after. Any tips to get better shots? I know it's gonna take time and practice but again. Total Noob so advice and help is welcome.
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Camera-Specific Properties: Equipment Make NIKON CORPORATION Camera Model NIKON D3200 Camera Software Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 5.6 (Windows) Maximum Lens Aperture f/5.7 Sensing Method One-Chip Color Area Color Filter Array Pattern 802 Focal Length (35mm Equiv) 78 mm Image-Specific Properties: Horizontal Resolution 240 dpi Vertical Resolution 240 dpi Image Created 2016:04:07 18:54:06 Exposure Time 1/1600 sec F-Number f/16.0 Exposure Program Manual ISO Speed Rating 800 Lens Aperture f/16.0 Exposure Bias 0 EV Metering Mode Center Weighted Average Light Source Unknown Flash No Flash Focal Length 52.00 mm Rendering Normal Exposure Mode Manual White Balance Auto Scene Capture Type Standard Gain Control Low Gain Up Contrast Normal Saturation Normal Sharpness Normal Subject Distance Range Unknown
This is the pre-edit shot, Longer exposer or higher ISO?
[EXIF data available. Click here to show/hide.]
Camera-Specific Properties: Equipment Make NIKON CORPORATION Camera Model NIKON D3200 Camera Software Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 5.6 (Windows) Maximum Lens Aperture f/5.7 Sensing Method One-Chip Color Area Color Filter Array Pattern 802 Focal Length (35mm Equiv) 78 mm Image-Specific Properties: Horizontal Resolution 240 dpi Vertical Resolution 240 dpi Image Created 2016:04:07 23:21:53 Exposure Time 1/1600 sec F-Number f/16.0 Exposure Program Manual ISO Speed Rating 800 Lens Aperture f/16.0 Exposure Bias 0 EV Metering Mode Center Weighted Average Light Source Unknown Flash No Flash Focal Length 52.00 mm Rendering Normal Exposure Mode Manual White Balance Auto Scene Capture Type Standard Gain Control Low Gain Up Contrast Normal Saturation Normal Sharpness Normal Subject Distance Range Unknown
>>2810946
Anyone serious does editing in post.
Even for film. It's a naive attitude to say that only the pre-edit version is the real version. There is no 'real' version except for the actual photons that went into your camera.
>>2810946
people used to pp film as well, just in a different way. also, make sure you fix your horizon and remove that fucking watermark.
>>2810971
Well, as you already know, correct exposure helps. Use Aperture Priority is my advice. It clearly demonstrates the effects of aperture, shutter speed and exposure bias. Full manual mode is useful for when the meter is not doing what you want, but otherwise it just results in misexposure like in your shot above.
You should probably just get used to post though. Shoot in RAW and you'll have so much control over your results, especially with a good sensor like the Nikon's.
>>2810972
Thanks. This picture was shot in manual and in RAW format, with a nikon d3200 and the stock 18-55 lense.
The aperture priority is a term I have heard frequently over the last few days and I know how to adjust my aperture but not entirely sure what I should be doing with it for different effects.
Sorry I am a total noob when it comes to this stuff and just picking up on the hobby (Mostly interested in Astrophotography)
>>2810972
I should really clarify this.
>but otherwise it just results in misexposure
...when you don't know what you're doing because you're new. The automation of Av shows you how those three variables relate in a nice intuitive way that beats reading about it then trying to apply that knowledge to M.
Another important factor in making things look good straight out of the camera is lighting. Photography = 'light drawing' so light is unsurprisingly important. You can bump the contrast and such, but a better-lit shot will still be better in many ways.
>>2810976
>You can bump the contrast and such, but a better-lit shot will still be better in many ways.
Exactly, I wasn't trying to say that people don't edit, obviously that would be nuts. Simply that I want my pictures to look cleaner from the camera so editing is both easier and smoother.
>>2810985
Well, another way is to shoot at base ISO. I'm not sure about the specifics of it, but when you increase the ISO you lose information and gain noise which makes your editing process more difficult.
RAW+Post editing is great if used wisely and knowing what you do.
As an example you can overcome your lack of dynamic range without needing a pre-planned HDR shot with a tripod, an static subject and several shots with different exposures.
Imagine you are shooting street hanheld and get a keeper (perfect moment and composition) but something is too dark and another thing is overexposed: simply adjust the exposure compensation and then either bring up the dark tones or lower the bright ones until you have compressed the histogram enough.
Then a little bit of contrast, brightness, white balance and color adjustment (used really wisely, with good taste) and you just saved a great shot that would've been lost in the first place.
If you need to I can go to the pc and show you an example of the above.
And then you have crazy shit like movie posters or advertising effects in which you simply must go nuts and use a ton of post processing to achieve something like that.
Mastering post pro is a solid 40% of shooting, specially when you lack a professional gear, and taking it in account when shooting just as you keep in mind the exposure triangle is definitely part of a good photographer. You can go ahead and don't lose a shot just by knowing it'll be perfect once retouched, even if the exposure was wrong.
>buy fuji
>set it up correctly
>enjoy a pp-free shooting experience
thanks fuji
>>2810946
You need to edit your images. You can do it by shooting JPEG, and setting things as you want them in camera, or you can shoot in raw and do it yourself when you get home. But either way, you need to give input. Your camera has no brain. It doesn't know what you're pointing it at. It doesn't know what you want it to do. You have to tell it. All it's going to do is try to catch as much information about the scene as possible.
Even if all you want to do is make the photo look like the scene looked to you while you were there, you need to process the image to get it there.
When you're looking at a scene, your brain is adding contrast, interpreting dynamic range, adjusting for color and reflections, adding vibrance, calculating depth and scale, etc. Your camera can't do any of this without your help.
>>2811053
>Mastering post pro is a solid 40% of shooting
Absolutely correct.
>>2811086
The only struggle becomes - with so many aspects of the image to change, it ends up being difficult to get your settings changed in time from shot to shot. I have five custom profiles set up (street, travel, shady portraits, sunny portraits, and B&W) to try to have something to switch to quickly, but when you go to take a photo you weren't expecting to take, and want to get in and adjust the highlight tone, the shadow tone, the grain, the white balance shift, etc. You can lose shots. I find that I usually just end up using my custom sets, and then shooting raw+JPEG and still doing work in post, usually.
>>2811102
I shoot raw+jpg too, mainly of old habit since I was a canon shooter before going fuji and relied heavily on post processing. It's no joke that fuji produces some fantastic sooc jpegs, especially the xpro2.
>>2811130
Same. I was giddy when I realized how great the Chrome preset looks for bright portraits and fashion stuff. I still take stuff into processing for skin enhancement and touch-up, dodge and burn, frequency separation, etc. But it's a great base, and for less demanding stuff, I'd be pretty happy with just leaving it there.
>>2811130
So far I have been shooting in Raw and editing with Lightroom.
If I understand the right the benifit of jpeg + raw would just be that the jpeg is just an already "Finished" image from the camera, but my camera skills as of now are pretty shit so I dunno if that would benefit me or just fill my SD card faster.
>>2810975
the aperture controls your depth of field, want the stuff ahead and behind your subject to be blurred? use a large aperture (low fnumber)
Having trouble getting the entire subject in focus? Need to have everything in the scene in focus? use a small aperture
That is the main function, but there are a few other things to keep in mind, using a small aperture will let in less light so you will need to raise the iso or lower the shutter speed
the opposite is true with using a large aperture,
also most lenses arent super sharp when the aperture is wide open most have a "sweet spot" for getting the sharpest pictures, usually it is f8, below that you lose sharpness for reasons I don't fully understand, above that you lose sharpness due to diffraction. so, for my d3300 with the kit 18-55 I keep it between f5.6 and f11 for most things, while sometimes you will find yourself needing to use lower f numbers to blur backgrounds, you will almost never need to use anything higher than f11 on your camera even if the lens will let you go to like f22
>>2811086
>Buy Fuji
>Forced to shoot jpeg
Ye, real great purchase.
>>2811292
Raw + JPEG is so that if you shoot a shot that doesn't need processing, you can just use it, right away. The Raw side is so that if there are shots that do need processing, you have the file there to use. Or you can go back later once you learn some new technique, or if you submit the photo to a publication that wants to see that you didn't do too much editing, etc.
