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Archive 2014 · Retrospective Editing

  
 
ricardovaste
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p.1 #1 · p.1 #1 · Retrospective Editing


Well, I have finally become one of those people who leave their personal photos untouched, in RAW (except the odd individual print).

Up to, say, August 2013, I always just used film for personal stuff, which naturally meant I'd send the images off and get them back and be able to view them in their (more or less) completed state, ready to go. Now, I have 12 months+ of digital images of personal life which aren't even processed, apart from the odd individual print (but very few). My project involved creating an album, which I guess is a saving grace of sorts, but it still means everything is left until the point of creation.

I think at some point I intended to gradually edit and put pages together as I went along, but that never happened. Maybe I thought things would be more consistent, as a final output, if they were all editing together - perhaps. At the same time, even when using film, it would still involve one final effort of culling and assembling and choosing.

My dilemma, or question, lies here:

1) Can you lose some of the connection or intention if reviewing several months down the line?

2) Or is this in itself the test of time? Whether the images still convey what they intended to you, when you're not as connected to the moment in time itself.

p.s. this post was written whilst looking at alt gear.



Oct 28, 2014 at 10:05 AM
millsart
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p.1 #2 · p.1 #2 · Retrospective Editing


I can lose intention and/or connection with an image I took yesterday, if it isn't a strong image.

Likewise, I can discover images I shot 10 years ago, stored away on some external HD, and suddenly view them anew, sometimes due to the speed and power of modern processing software like LR and Silver Efex. There are moments where I"m like "wow, this was a great shot, why didn't I do anything with it before".

Of course there is also plenty of crap that makes me wonder why I even stored it in the first place

Overall I think it sounds like your thinking way too much about it. They are just pictures after all. That doesn't mean they aren't some of life's most precious memories of course, but ultimately the amount of editing they receive really shouldn't make much difference.

Look at it this way, most of my life's memories were done using film, and I have albums (novel concept these days) of prints that are very special to me. The experience of looking back at those albums wouldn't be any different had I been able to post-process those shots.

Its not an issue of "Oh, well this is a nice shots of my son's 5th birthday party, but if only I could of adjusted the black point a little and adjusted the color balance slightly cooler", know what I mean ?

Client pays me for work, I edit and try to deliver "perfect" files. For my own life, well its often messy and imperfect, so my personal images documenting can be as well



Oct 28, 2014 at 10:22 AM
ricardovaste
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p.1 #3 · p.1 #3 · Retrospective Editing


Hear, hear on there being plenty of crap that I wonder why I ever took at all

What I'm leading more towards is including/using an image at all, rather than if it's been editing "well" or not. So not about thinking the colour balance is off a little bit. But more "Oh, I wish I had included THIS image".

You see I try to be as ruthless as possible with such things as I don't want any "filler" images that I don't care about in there.

You are right that it's over thought. It was something I was pondering this afternoon whilst getting back to actual work, so just thought I'd post. It's of no great concern or trouble!



Oct 28, 2014 at 10:27 AM
formula4speed
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p.1 #4 · p.1 #4 · Retrospective Editing


I try to process my image pretty quickly after I take them. I also print a lot of 4x6 photos (13 cents at Costco, why not?). I like going back through physical albums and seeing the (mild) progress I've made, and sometimes just laughing at myself when I get to certain sections like when I learned how to create a vignette in PS. I feel that the processing is intertwined with the photo itself in that sense, so I like having my processing match the timeline of when I took the photo.

I don't look back through my digital files very often, almost always go for the prints.



Oct 28, 2014 at 10:29 AM
millsart
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p.1 #5 · p.1 #5 · Retrospective Editing


ricardovaste wrote:
Hear, hear on there being plenty of crap that I wonder why I ever took at all

What I'm leading more towards is including/using an image at all, rather than if it's been editing "well" or not. So not about thinking the colour balance is off a little bit. But more "Oh, I wish I had included THIS image".

You see I try to be as ruthless as possible with such things as I don't want any "filler" images that I don't care about in there.

You are right that it's over thought. It was something I was pondering this afternoon whilst
...Show more


Given that most younger folks (and older ones too) feel the need to supply a running photo stream of every 5 minute increment of their daily lives via social media, I wouldn't worry if your selection "filter" isn't strong enough.

Given you didn't show me 5 pictures of your breakfast this morning tells me your doing just fine



Oct 28, 2014 at 10:52 AM
goosemang
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p.1 #6 · p.1 #6 · Retrospective Editing


nothing wrong with waiting. particularly if they're going into a finished body of work and you want to have some processing cohesion. doing them all now will let you come from the same place w/r/t processing. i'd argue more time between shooting and selecting is better. less immediate emotional response to the images. easier to weed out the crap.

a good image has good "bones", if you will. you can see it on the contact sheet. (printed or digital) that doesn't change. you'll be able to spot the good ones, even if time has passed.



Oct 28, 2014 at 10:57 AM
goosemang
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p.1 #7 · p.1 #7 · Retrospective Editing


some stuff is impossible to edit right away, even if it's just selecting the best images. never mind the processing.

i've shot things that have left me with a bad (or cynical, or whatever) taste in my mouth, and looking at them objectively the next day is damned near impossible.



Oct 28, 2014 at 10:59 AM
curious80
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p.1 #8 · p.1 #8 · Retrospective Editing


ricardovaste wrote:
Well, I have finally become one of those people who leave their personal photos untouched, in RAW (except the odd individual print).

Up to, say, August 2013, I always just used film for personal stuff, which naturally meant I'd send the images off and get them back and be able to view them in their (more or less) completed state, ready to go. Now, I have 12 months+ of digital images of personal life which aren't even processed, apart from the odd individual print (but very few). My project involved creating an album, which I guess is a saving grace of
...Show more

At one point, I had the same problem of RAW files piling up without being processed. And these were mostly folders full of family pictures from say a trip to Disneyland etc. Eventually I realized that I am never going to be able to keep up with the processing work for them. I am not accomplished enough in my processing skills to say process 200 pictures in a 2 hour session. Then I switched to RAW + JPEG for a while with the intention that I could go with jpegs for most pictures and use the RAW only when needed for challenging ones. That may actually be the right route for you as well. Personally, though I have switched out of even that and now I typically use RAW only for my "serious" photography endeavors and use jpegs for most casual family pictures.



Oct 28, 2014 at 11:07 AM





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