I have come to the realization that it would be very useful to document the equipment and software that I am using. Plug-in scripts are becoming extensive and I should keep track of what I’m using.
If you like my photos, or the way that they are processed, maybe you could find some tips here. I don’t use photoshop because I don’t have hundreds or even thousands of dollars to spend on software. I’ve chosen to go the free route with GIMP–it has a little more of a learning curve and the interface is trickier to learn, but is incredibly powerful software. It’s also highly customizable with a wide user base that writes plug-ins or scripts.
My editing philosophy in a nutshell:
- Keep the colors real.
Most of the time this means just adjusting the white balance, sometimes it means increasing or decreasing the saturation. A lot of the time this means relying on my memory, which isn’t perfect and the computer monitor, which are all calibrated differently. As far as style is concerned, when it comes to choosing between warm and cold, I go with warm. - Keep the exposure true.
I’ve dabbled in HDR, but most of the time I don’t like it. It’s overused and almost never creates an image that looks like reality. I occasionally use a tone-mapping plugin that produces varied results. Lately I barely do more ‘light’ editing than exposure, contrast, or gamma correction. I occasionally adjust the levels or curves to get the right dynamic range. - Don’t add or remove things.
It’s cheating. - No overzealous cropping
I often break this one with wildlife because I don’t have a great lens.