Photo Editing

I come home from a photo shoot, get the pictures uploaded, and begin to adjust them.

And I get carried away with a notion in my head about how the photo should be processed. Most of the time, I push toward realism. Basic editing must be done because a photo is never totally accurate because eyes and cameras see the world differently. Perhaps the exposure is a little too dark. It probably does require sharpening and maybe a contrast boost. Well, you get the idea.

But there are times when I get carried away with a notion, spend time following my idea, only to reject the outcome later.

I did that it the following photo. I thought that it should be brightened somewhat but more importantly that the white water should be removed.

Here is the original after basic processing.

Then I decided that it was too dark and that the white part (on the river) should be removed. It was fairly time consuming to do the latter.

The result.

And I don't think I like it as much although I am still vacillating to some degree. Perhaps I like the slight lifting of the shadows around the building, but I think I actually miss that bit of whitewater.

Now I may be changing my mind again. As I began to write this, I thought that I was sure of my impressions (that I preferred the original), but now that I am looking at these smaller resolution versions I am not so sure. I think I'll keep them both on file for now and go look at them again later at a higher resolution to see what I think then.

They do say, to leave your edited image and come back later to see how it strikes you then. In my case, my preference seems to be a shifting thing.