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Archive 2016 · Done Editing

  
 
mustafa604
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p.1 #1 · p.1 #1 · Done Editing


I download trial for lightroom, Capture one, Dxo Optics and leaning more towards the Dxo optics in terms of purchasing one. My question basically is how does one know to stop editing and the photo is finished? No matter what i do im never happy with the results of my editing.


Jul 07, 2016 at 07:41 PM
Peter Figen
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p.1 #2 · p.1 #2 · Done Editing


I don't know if anyone can answer that but you. How do you know? When you look at it and it feels done. That'll be different for different people. If you're never happy with you edits, either you're way too picky or perhaps you need to work on your post production skills. One thing you might try is to take the same raw file and have several people give it a go. Seeing where other people take your image can open the door to thinking about your images in a different light. I see that you're not including Ps in your group of possibilities. That alone might be a limiting factor. For as much as the others can do, some image manipulations are just best done in Ps - hell - a LOT of them.


Jul 07, 2016 at 07:58 PM
nolaguy
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p.1 #3 · p.1 #3 · Done Editing


It certainly can be a problem of being too picky - or uncertain of what is good enough - and/or you may simply enjoy a huge variety of looks/results. The possibilities are so endless that if you don't have a vision - a predetermined goal in mind, or if you don't hone in on it pretty quickly during editing, you can make yourself batsh*t crazy.




Jul 07, 2016 at 10:13 PM
Ho1972
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p.1 #4 · p.1 #4 · Done Editing


When I did graphic design, I called this designer's disease. I could work on a project, tweaking and tuning, until the deadline forced me to stop. Maybe give yourself a time limit and then move on. With the photo tools we have available today, it's all too easy to spend hours cranking out endless iterations without making any real improvements. Revisiting an image after some weeks or months have passed is a good way to see it with fresh eyes and maybe take it in a new direction.




Jul 08, 2016 at 04:45 AM
jforkner
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p.1 #5 · p.1 #5 · Done Editing


When the last tweak you made didn't make it better, undo & stop.

Jack



Jul 08, 2016 at 07:08 AM
tntcorp
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p.1 #6 · p.1 #6 · Done Editing


imho, the stopping point should be dependent on the category of the image, i.e. landscape, portrait, pj, abstract, etc...

for examples, landscapes editing should reflect what you observed, while portrait should clean up minor skin blemishes and visual flaws to provide a flattering view of the subject.



Jul 08, 2016 at 07:35 AM
Tim Knutson
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p.1 #7 · p.1 #7 · Done Editing


Your going to be done when your trial expires.

If you put down some cash, your on your own.



Jul 08, 2016 at 08:40 AM
DesertFoxPhoto
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p.1 #8 · p.1 #8 · Done Editing


This is a question I deal with quite often whether I'm editing a RAW file, doing graphic design work or finishing a digital painting. if I question whether the piece is truly done, I'll leave the image on the screen, then go for a walk for roughly half an hour and think about it. When I return, I'll take a look at the screen again and see if the image evokes the emotion and impact that I want it to. If not, I'll continue editing. Otherwise, I consider the piece done and move on to the next one.

Taking the perfectionist route can elicit some fantastic results, but there's always that risk of committing too much time or over-editing a piece where it actually looks worse than before. Finding the right end point is such a subjective process that is hard to master, but I've found that walking away and coming back helps me clear my mind and get me to the finish line more effectively.

- Matt H.



Jul 08, 2016 at 08:44 AM
mgrayson3
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p.1 #9 · p.1 #9 · Done Editing


Much good advice in the thread so far!

One thing that helps me is to go overboard. Don't creep up on a perfect adjustment, go way over. That way, you quickly slide back and forth until you find what looks right or natural. Of course, different adjustments interact, so you may have to tray a bunch of variations, but the point is to consistently overdo it.

Other things that help are to look at the image from a distance with deliberately unfocussed vision - then you see impact that doesn't depend on details, but perhaps on overall levels, composition, and places that need deemphasis.

And then there's put it away for a few days and then see what impression it makes.

And finally, my wife tells me what to change. She's usually right. (dammit!)

Best,

Matt



Jul 08, 2016 at 08:57 AM
OntheRez
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p.1 #10 · p.1 #10 · Done Editing


mustafa604 wrote:
I download trial for lightroom, Capture one, Dxo Optics and leaning more towards the Dxo optics in terms of purchasing one. My question basically is how does one know to stop editing and the photo is finished? No matter what i do im never happy with the results of my editing.


Hate to say this, but there's no way to know. (Good call on DXO - I'm using it more and more.) Somewhere in the artist's mind is a great portal to perfection. What most of us don't see is the sign over it: "Here lies madness." I have a potter friend (whose work I really admire) who decided one day that his stuff wasn't good enough, so systematically destroyed everything he had. Whoa!!

For me, it depends on my audience, my perseverance, my current skill level, and just how important the image is to me, not to anyone else. I've got some remarkable pix that I've come back to over several years as I felt I just didn't get it right. On the other hand, the things that help me are: (1) perfection is a process, not a goal, (2) step back, walk away, leave it alone for awhile, (3) consider/remember my original vision, sense, feel, smell, etc., when I took the photo. This can really help, (4) if it's a critically important work that I'll hang in a juried show, I always get a second opinion, not from a photographer, just someone with good taste.

The last and final choice is: I just get tired of the d*** thing, and it's - as they say in horseshoes and hand grenades - good enough

Robert



Jul 08, 2016 at 02:33 PM
Dustin Gent
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p.1 #11 · p.1 #11 · Done Editing


tntcorp wrote:
imho, the stopping point should be dependent on the category of the image, i.e. landscape, portrait, pj, abstract, etc...

for examples, landscapes editing should reflect what you observed, while portrait should clean up minor skin blemishes and visual flaws to provide a flattering view of the subject.


As much as a "naturalist" as i am in my editing style, i don't agree with this (in regards to landscapes). I believe many factors play into editing. It tells a story in a sense. Just look at the landscape forum. I doubt 94% of the people posting there keep it in the realm of natural. The nature of the beast. people follow trends (most people). i am hoping at some point keeping it real is a trend. sorry for the rant

So back to the OPs' question, a lot of times for me, i will marinate on a photo for sometimes a month. i usually never post a photo right after i edit it. sometimes the next day (or even the next week) i will feel it isn't quite dialed in. there are many factors that play into editing. one reason i got a new laptop, so i can edit in different places - then dial in the color later. i have to feel inspired to edit - and in my editing, i hope i convey the emotion i was feeling when taking the photos. Also music plays a factor into it as well. I am weird, i know.

again, this is what i do.




Jul 13, 2016 at 08:49 PM
John_T
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p.1 #12 · p.1 #12 · Done Editing


...the first question that comet to mind for me is how is your monitor and is it properly calibrated. If your monitor isn't telling you the truth, you will always be trying to fix a lie.


Jul 14, 2016 at 04:49 AM
Ho1972
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p.1 #13 · p.1 #13 · Done Editing


John_T wrote:
...you will always be trying to fix a lie.


On the other hand, if you get good enough at this kind of "fixing" there might be a future for you in politics.




Jul 14, 2016 at 07:02 AM
tntcorp
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p.1 #14 · p.1 #14 · Done Editing




Dustin Gent wrote:
As much as a "naturalist" as i am in my editing style, i don't agree with this (in regards to landscapes). I believe many factors play into editing. It tells a story in a sense. Just look at the landscape forum. I doubt 94% of the people posting there keep it in the realm of natural. The nature of the beast. people follow trends (most people). i am hoping at some point keeping it real is a trend. sorry for the rant

So back to the OPs' question, a lot of times for me, i will marinate on
...Show more

editing style; it's a personal preference :-)




Jul 14, 2016 at 07:39 AM
butchM
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p.1 #15 · p.1 #15 · Done Editing


mustafa604 wrote:
I download trial for lightroom, Capture one, Dxo Optics and leaning more towards the Dxo optics in terms of purchasing one. My question basically is how does one know to stop editing and the photo is finished? No matter what i do im never happy with the results of my editing.


That's a purely subjective issue that has no correct answer.

Start by placing a deadline of time consumed to process a single image and stick to it. Soon you will force yourself to learn to work quickly and methodically to get quite acceptable results. Keeping mind, you'll never reach true perfection no matter how long you work on an image.

I'm a photojournalist/event/commercial photographer with extensive wedding experience ... all those clients want their images yesterday ... deadlines made my current workflow possible ... along with doing the best job possible when I depress the shutter release ... that will smooth out your post processing a great deal.



Jul 14, 2016 at 08:58 AM
chez
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p.1 #16 · p.1 #16 · Done Editing


For me, it really depends on the image I'm processing...some images just take more time than others. For example:

The first image was a quick process...maybe 10 minutes while the 2nd image took me probably 12 hours over a 2 week span. I have no set time limit and know by experience when I am done processing an image.

















Jul 14, 2016 at 10:32 AM
Alan321
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p.1 #17 · p.1 #17 · Done Editing


Consider all of the advice so far, but also give yourself a fighting chance of getting a good outcome by calibrating and profiling your monitor and use proper colour management. Editing is so much more productive if you can see what you're actually doing. Put another way, if your monitor has the brightness too dark or too bright even for a correct exposure, or if the monitor colours and contrast are too high or too low, then you'll be applying edits that are not really needed - and when you print that image file then you won't get what you saw on your monitor and so you'll do even more editing.

I presume that you are somewhat serious about making things look right or else you would not have asked the question about knowing when enough is enough. Therefore you must invest the time and/or money to do colour management correctly.

It would be so much easier if, like so many of my friends, you did not really care about getting it right so long as you get anything at all to look at. Cheaper too It drives me crazy that they can care so little about image quality with even the simplest of edits would make a big improvement. If their dinner was cooked as badly as their photos are then they'd be very upset with every meal.

- Alan




Jul 15, 2016 at 01:09 PM
Paul Mo
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p.1 #18 · p.1 #18 · Done Editing




jforkner wrote:
When the last tweak you made didn't make it better, undo & stop.

Jack



For sure. It's like cooking/seasoning - you learn when to stop.




Jul 16, 2016 at 04:12 AM
johnvanr
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p.1 #19 · p.1 #19 · Done Editing


In my professional life, I write: same thing, it's never perfect, but you just have to stop in order to move on to the next thing.

Luckily, I don't really like post-processing, so I tend to not go overboard but rather underdo it. I just don't have the patience for it and it's capturing the image that I enjoy most anyway.



Jul 16, 2016 at 06:06 AM





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