I went digging through the archives and found this photo of Carrie, complete with post-processing. In my new book, Taking Your Portraiture to the Next Level II, I talk about how post-processing is “part of the art” and it always has been. In digital photography, there is no such thing, technically speaking, as no post-processing. In the days of film, it was common to manipulate photos, too. I remember watching a documentary about James Nachtwey called, War Photographer, where even he, a photojournalist on a mission to document the realities of war, is practicing the art of selective exposure via dodging and burning techniques, etc. It’s wet darkroom “Photoshop” in action. See it here.

Of course, post-processing can be limited to the near necessary tasks, like RAW conversion, white balance adjustments, and some tonal adjustments. Or, you can take it further to turn an image into anything you like.

The image above is an example of some post work I did on a photograph I shot of my friend, Carrie. Here, she’s standing on a neighborhood street in Austin.

My post-processing on this image was pretty straight-forward and I think mostly obvious. I altered the color of the foreground elements (Carrie and the dress) to give them a monotone, almost otherworldly look. Distracting elements were removed from the background. Garbage cans and street signs weren’t looking great in this shot. I added in some texturing, and vignetting to achieve a sort of vintage quality about the whole picture. I also messed around with the background blur to make it look a little more like something I’d get out of one of my old film cameras. The lenses on those things have a very interesting bokeh that I wanted to duplicate to some degree.

You can see what the original scene looked like in the test shot below. I used position and angle to block out some of the distracting elements, Photoshop to take care of the others.

Now, even though I like to experiment with some heavy, image-altering post-processing and manipulation every now and then, it doesn’t mean I prefer it to more straight-forward work. I wouldn’t want to do this all the time because it does take time, and the “effects” can get old and boring. Really, overdoing anything too extreme can take the fun and novelty out of it quickly. Things can start to look very cheesy and contrived, less artistic and more played out.

I think it’s true that you can accomplish so much more, in general, by shooting creatively, trying to make each shot count, and trying to get things right “in the camera,” as they like to say. Going for good exposures that only require fast, standard batch processing through your Lightroom or Aperture software is usually the best approach. When dealing with high-volume situations, like weddings and portraiture sets, it’s necessary. Can you imagine trying to “fix” individual images when you have several hundred to work with? I realize it’s easier said than done, but strive for an ideal of no fixing in post. Enhancing is another story, and great to do if you have time.

Retouching, Liquify? Don’t get me started.

Image Info: ISO 200, 50mm, f/2.8, 1/1250 sec.

This article originally appeared in the newsletter.