Rethinking My Post Processing

Some of dA Crazies and I did a little exercise this week where we all processed the same photo (an image I took at Sandy Beach) and it was really interesting to see the different interpretations of the same image. Some of the guys talked about why they made certain adjustments and some delved into the different processing techniques they used. There were differences in colors and tones and you could almost get a hint of the individual personalities of the photographers who were processing the images.

I processed the image by doing my normal set of adjustments in LR3 and then I used the NIK plugins in CS5 to finish the image and this is what I came up with...

While viewing my image next to the others I noticed that mine seemed to have a kind of cold souless quality to it...it was definitely missing something, but technically it looked okay. I came to realize that I don't feel anything when I process my images...or I'm not paying enough attention to how I feel as I manipulate the image. The other images seemed to have much more life and energy in them.

This seems to confirm the fact that I've been concentrating mostly on post processing techniques rather than artistic expression. And the fact that I process every image almost identically probably doesn't help matters much...I'm processing the image without taking the image content into consideration at all and I think I'm finally beginning to realize that I can't keep processing my images like this anymore. 

Luckily for me I just happen to be reading a tutorial by Tony Kuyper where he talks about image editing workflow and in it he says "The first thing I will say about workflow is that every image, especially in nature photography, is its own creation and will require its own approach. No two images are the same. The sequence of steps to develop an image in Photoshop changes with each image and also as each image develops. The important thing is to be able to figure out what the image needs and then to find a way to respond to that need."

Wow...talk about getting a swift kick in the pants right when I needed it. Yeah, I'll admit that I don't assess each image to see what I need to do to get it to where I want it to go. But then I also don't know where I want each image to go to begin with. This is definitely something I need to work on as this involves the artistic side of photography instead of the technical. If I want my images to invoke feelings in others I think it would probably help if I actually felt something about the image too. 

 So what do I need to do now? I know I need to take photography a little more seriously and put more effort into it...but lets just stick to the post processing side of things for now. For starters I think I need to slow down and really look at the image I plan to process and see if I can come up with an idea of how I want the image to look like when I'm done. My Photoshop skills are pretty limited right now, but I think this new awareness will help push me into learning new editing techniques that will eventually help me to create the image I see in my head. And I really need to learn how to pay attention to how each image makes me feel and to process each image on it's own terms...no more cookie cutter processing steps in the future. This will probably mean I won't be processing as many images as I used to...but that's not a bad thing.

Wow, all this just because other photographers post processed one of my image files.