Fixing Photos - Are You Old School?
If you’ve been reading recently, you’d know that I’m a bit obsessed with photography at the moment - taking photos with my new baby and playing around with post-processing on the computer. A huge part of taking a great photo is obviously setting it up right - lighting, exposure, composition etc and I still have A LOT to learn about this. Obviously some people have a great idea for a beautiful photo and I’m not sure I have that but there’s still things I can teach myself to improve.
What surprised me though when I started looking at photos on other blogs and playing around with Photoshop was how much you could do in the post-processing stage to turn a good photo into an amazing one, and Sarah and I have been discussing this by email. That’s not to say that everything can be fixed on the computer - you still need to get the basics right, but some of the fixes, touch-ups and effects out there are beautiful and I’m now starting to look at these photos in a new light. Before I would just think - well I’ll never be able to do that, but now I’m keen to have a go. Maybe my average photos could be turned into something special?
Don’t get me wrong, I don’t have aspirations (or illusions) to be a professional or award-winning photographer - I’m just talking about taking better photos of my kids.
But it’s interesting to see other people’s reactions when you break down the process that went into creating a great photo. The other day I took a photo of Chiq and I liked the expression and depth of focus and beautiful clear eyes, but she happened to be eating a biscuit at the time (as she often does) and had oh so charming mushed up bits in her mouth. Plus she had a bit of a crusty nose (as she often does) so, straight out of the camera I wouldn’t have rated the photo very highly.
I have a lot of extreme close-up photos of Chiq - she’s always trying to climb onto my lap as I’m taking the photo!
However, I thought I’d have a go at re-touching the photo to see if I could salvage it and using the clone stamp and healing brush I managed to do an alright job of removing the nose crusty-ness and the biscuit.
I was pretty happy with the result. Sometimes I think her tongue looks a bit funny but I think that’s just because I am looking for the bits I corrected. Over-analysing maybe and its probably not noticeable to someone who hasn’t seen the before shot.
So I showed it to Rocky and said “Look at this photo I took of our youngest daughter!” He liked it. Then I showed him the before and he was all “Meh. I’m not as keen on the photo now”. I did feel a bit deflated, I admit, but just to clarify - he was appropriately impressed with my Photoshop skills and ability to retouch it (he knows what’s good for him), it’s just that he’s Old School.
I guess he’s more of a purist. Someone who took his first real interest in photography before the digital age. He had (still has) a film SLR and put a lot of effort into taking photos, all without the benefit of digital post-processing. He may not put it in so many words, but he believes in truth in photography - the image is what the photographer sees, nothing more. (Which puts a lot of pressure on the photographer to take the perfect shot. Eek!)
I am most definitely New School when it comes to these things. Not that it’s a source of friction, but its an interesting difference in opinion for us. I am happy to re-touch photos, remove blemishes, lighten them up, fix contrasts, crop and have fun with effects.
To a point, though. I joke about photoshopping out double chins or why not go the whole way and put my face on someone else’s body, but I wouldn’t actually do it and I despise the practice of re-touching photos of models for magazines because of the unrealistic images it shows our kids (I actually posted on this way back in the early days of my blog).
So, it got me thinking - are you Old School or New School when it comes to fixing photos on the computer? Do you think we should be photoshopping out nose-crust to make a better photo (or perhaps I should have just wiped her nose in the first place?) 
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Excellent topic and one I should probably explore in more detail myself! Because I studied photojournalism and ethics my personal beliefs used to be quite old school. I prided myself on cropping in-camera and creating good photos without any need for post processing, but as technology improved my opinions have changed too. Recently I edited a photo of Amy and my Mum and sent her the pic, I thought she might be horrified but in fact she was amazed and requested I do some touch-ups on another pic which she preferred! Its not something I make a habit of, mainly because I don’t have the time but its certainly an interesting dilemma! In the interests of full disclosure I will post the before and after pic of the bubbles that I wrote about yesterday!
I think I am a bit of both. I love thinking about the photo and setting up the shot and I like having the lighting right but I also love that you can change things if need be. Especially if you don’t have time to set up the photo or your subject is moving fast (read toddler fast). It’s good to know that you can go back and fix the lighting and shadow to get the most out of your photo.
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I would love to have the software and the skills to fix up some of my photos. It would be just the little things like crusty noses and my little ones have always been massively dribblers. So I would have a gorgeous photo of my baby with literally dribble dripping off the chin! It would be great to remove that in at least on or two of the photos. I would of course keep some dribbly ones so they see photographic evidence of what they used to be like.
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Oh interesting question….
I am totally new school on this.. surprise surprise! I guess the main reason why is that I like the look of what you can do with post processing digital. I like that you can make the photo of a total hack like me look half way decent.
I am all for learning and becoming a better photographer and taking better shots to begin with but I also think you should use the tools you have at hand. In the ‘old days’ that might have been things like studio lighting or nifty processing techniques, or fancy film… I don’t see that it is all that different today except that our tools of choice are often a computer and software and I guess that makes it accessible and possible for a lot more people than the tools of old. All in all not such a bad thing I think.
But… (and you knew there’d be a but right?) as much as I will touch up the snot on my kids photos every now and then I think it is often the ‘flaws’ or ‘quirks’ in our photos, especially of people, that make them special and meaningful. One of my favourite photos is of Izzy with her finger firmly up her nose and a look of utter bliss on her face… not exactly beautiful but it’s real and a real ‘moment’ captured which to me makes it special.
So I guess maybe I am a bit of both after all.. all things in balance yeah?
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Sarah - Interesting how your views have changed (and loved your before and after bubbles post)
Tiff - I think that’s a good way to be - Photoshop will never replace good composition and lighting etc and concentrating on those things is really important. But it is nice ot be able to improve on it in the computer.
Planning Queen - Oh, I’ve got lots of dribbly nose and drooly chin photos of my 2. I do fix them up a bit, but you do have to keep some au natural, don’t you, to remember what they were really like!
Kate - I agree on the balance thing and I don’t want to change my photos to make them into something completely different. I love unposed shots, even when they are capturing something like a nose pick, they are definitely the most natural. You’re right about photographers always using their tools - I was just thinking the other day about the old stocking over the lens trick for soft focus - maybe Photoshop is not much different than that?
I’m completely new school on this. If being able to edit my photo’s mean that they come out a bit better then great.
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If I could Photoshop well, I would. But I’m hopeless at it.
You, on the other hand, are excellent as your photo shows. I say, go for it.
Regarding magazine images: I think our children will, hopefully, grow up understanding about digital enhancement and come to regard all photos with a critical eye in the same way they need to learn to read the articles with a critical (in the literary sense) approach.
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Bettina - me too. I don’t want to end up with a photo that looks nothing like the original but I’m all for improving the final product.
M - I was surprised that it wasn’t as difficult as I thought, particularly when you follow one of the many tutorials there are out there on blogs and websites.
That’s a good point about magazine images. I grew up at a time where the fantasy of beautiful models in magazines were taken at face value - we never realised how much they could and did do to alter the pictures. I think you’re right that our kids will be much more savvy about these things and so much more aware about the power of technology to change perception.
I would photoshop if I could … but for now I wipe their noses and wash their face first … when I can catch them
I think as long as it just a bit of dirt/ mushy biscuit that is fine but I guess when it comes to other stuff I think we need to keep it real (like zits -or else teen might think they are unacceptable as they are).
I would love to fix lighting ang colours though.
I love your photos fixed or straight out of the camera.
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[...] was interested in your opinions on Old School vs New School Photography. One of the blogs I have been living at visiting regularly is The Pioneer Woman - specifically her [...]
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