To Photoshop or not? (No photo)

I was in South Lake Tahoe early last year shooting in the Taylor Creek area.  Maybe it was the year before.  While shooting, I came across another photographer.  We ended chatting for about half an hour, maybe more.  One of the topics we ended spending quite a bit of time discussing was the use of Photoshop (insert Lightroom, Aperture, or any other post-processing program here).

Now granted, the other photog and I both post-process, as do most photogs that shoot digital.  And I’ll admit that I occasionally even take those photos from my P&S (cellphone camera, old compact Canon SD750) and post-process them too.

The comment that started off the “Photoshop or not” discussion was he had seen a local photog’s booth at one of those Tahoe craft and art events specifically mention the fact that the photographs were not Photoshopped.  I suppose I get the marketing hook here.  I once thought about entering the world of big advertising agencies and there’s something to be said about things being organic as being more “pure”.  Maybe there are sales to be made with that approach…to people that don’t dabble in photography.

There is no nobility in not using Photoshop.  It is as though this photog is standing up and shouting that he is the only clean player in baseball’s steroid era.  But that would be a misinformed analogy.

But let us try to look at this objectively. If the photog is using any camera that is pro-sumer level and above, they are probably shooting in RAW format.  If they are not shooting in RAW, well, I have some concerns.  On a simplistic level, shooting in JPG format means you are applying Canon, Nikon and any other manufacturer’s engineers’ algorithm to your photographs.  You are letting someone else determine the final output, especially in the areas of color cast and contrast.  So in theory, some engineer in a lab has post-processed your photograph by some very common denominators.  So while the photog has not put the photo through post, by shooting in JPG, it has been in post through a computer algorithm and the final photo has been “unneeded” data (as determined by the algorithm) removed from the photo.

Now if the photog is shooting in RAW, there is a reason there are specific computer profiles in Lightroom, camera RAW profiles for Photoshop, but they are by not means perfect (as some profiles are proprietary) and a reason why there are different profiles for every camera manufacturer.  Yet here’s the thing.  RAW Photographs straight out of the camera and viewed on the computer screen look VERY different from what reality is.  Perhaps after applying camera profiles and some work in post, you can get an photo close to what was seen by the eye.   Post-processing for digital is the very thing the camera darkroom was to film shooters.  Otherwise it would be as though you shot film and sent it off to the local Fotomat or corner drugstore for prints.

Everyone has their preferences when comes to their approach to photography, but implying your art is better/more pure/organic because it has not been altered is disingenuous.

Mather Field (CA), Paint Shop Building, Door, Monochrome

Mather Field, Rancho Cordova, CA

I broke from tradition, at least when it comes to processing B&W / monochrome photographs. It has been a couple of years since I converted an image to B&W exclusively in Adobe Lightroom. The standard has been to export a barely touched image into Nik Silver EFex Pro 2 to do the heavy lifting (read: edits and processing) and re-import into Lightroom for final touch-ups. Not today.

(Click thru the image for the 700px view)

Perhaps it was inspiration from starting Piet Van den Eynde’s eBook “The Power of Black & White in Adobe Lightroom”. Or it might also have something to do with my workstation slowing to a crawl each time I use Silver EFex lately. It is probably a combination of the two.

As suburban subdivisions continue to expand south in the city of Rancho Cordova and into the land of the former Mather Air Force Base, various outlying structures not longer used by the current Sacamento Mather Airport are left to decay. Yet these structures more now accessible as new roadways are built throughout previously open grasslands to service the new homes.

EXIF data: Nikon D7000, center weighted metering mode, ISO 100, 40mm, f/13, 1/20 sec

Mather Field (CA), Paint Shop Building, Door, Monochrome. Rancho Cordova, California. August 30, 2013. © Copyright Steven Tze – all rights reserved.

South Yuba River, Old Hwy 49 Crossing, Tilt-Shift Simulation

South Yuba River State Park, Nevada County, CA

So for today’s post we are going to have a little fun creating a simulated tilt-shift photograph since I really don’t want to spend $1100-1600 on a lens for this purpose.  Though it is possible to produce something similar in-camera using the Nikon D7000 I am now shooting with.  The original photo was shot in May of 2009 and sat in my archives as it was NOT a very good day for shooting with the sun beating down during mid-day.

(Click through on the image to see fake tilt-shift in 700px)

Anyhow, the purpose of a tilt-shift is mainly for controlling perspective in architectural photography.  Unless you are far enough away and perfectly straight on with a building, there will be convergence or divergence of lines on the building.  For instance, if shooting from the ground, the building will seem as though the sides are converging while looking up.  A T/S (Canon) or PC-E (Nikon) lens can prevent that.

Of course, there are other uses such as keeping objects in one focal plane in focus and everything else out of focus.  When cityscapes are shot from high above, it can appear as though the city is a toy miniature city.  (See this video.) (A bunch more here.)

Since I do not have PC-E lens, I can always simulate it through Adobe Lightroom, by adjusting the image through use of graduate filters functionality.  Obviously the higher you are above a city or the object, the better the results.  This photo is not great representation of T/S, but is passable.

The bridge is the old Highway 49 bridge crossing the South Yuba River.  Built in 1922 and last used for vehicular traffic in 1993 when the modern bridge was built.  I was standing on the new bridge to shoot the old bridge.  During the summer, local kids will jump from the bridge and into the swimming hole below.  And this particular stretch of water is considered an expert run for kayakers especially during spring run-off.

EXIF data: Nikon D50, patterned metering mode, 26mm, ISO 200, 1/40 sec, f/11

South Yuba River, Old Hwy 49 Crossing, Tilt-Shift Simulation.  Nevada County, California. May 14, 2011. © Copyright Steven Tze – all rights reserved.

Point Reyes, Shoreline, Clouds, B&W (2 processing versions)

Point Reyes National Seashore, CA (converted using Adobe Lightroom 3)

Point Reyes National Seashore, CA (converted using Silver EFex 2)

A comparison of photographs from the same source file but processed differently.  For photographs I leave in color, Adobe Lightroom is the primary application I use for processing.  On the other hand, for B&W conversions, the primary weapon of choice has been Nik’s Silver EFex Pro and now the recently released Silver EFex Pro 2.

The biggest mistake photographers make in B&W conversion is simply believing all that it takes is a click of the “Black and White” in Lightroom or any other processing application being used.  Or maybe even just desaturizing to B&W.  While it is entirely possible to convert in Lightroom (or Photoshop, Elements, and Aperture), the level of control cannot be as finely tuned as a dedicated application or plug-in.  Also, many dedicated conversion tools use specialized algorithms that allow you to easily achieve the results that you want.

The top photograph looking down the shoreline at Point Reyes National Seashore toward the lighthouse was first processed in Adobe Lightroom and then simply converted to B&W with a click of a button.  A few more adjustments were made, but this was the best photograph I could achieve with the skills that I had.  Despite pushing the Recovery slider to max and working with both the contrast and tone curve sliders, I couldn’t get the clouds to pop.  Even testing out the onOne Perfect Presets volume 1-3 couldn’t generate the pop in the clouds I was looking for.

The second photograph was exported into Silver EFex 2, adjusted, and imported back into Lightroom for final tweaking. The difference in results is vast.  While Lightroom has single brightness and contrast sliders, Silver EFex 2 has four (4) sliders each for brightness and contrast.

I know there is a school of thought that processing a photograph excessively, and this may be considered excessive, is sacrilegious.  There are even photographers that emphatically state they do not Photoshop their photos because they only want exactly what comes out of their cameras.  Great.  They should be aware that if they shoot in jpeg format, the processing and image compression is done by the camera based on calculations and algorithms the photographer has no control over.  If they are shooting in RAW format, it is likely the computer and application being used is not calibrated to that camera model or manufacturer and tend to come out of the camera a little flat.  RAW formats by Canon and Nikon are proprietary and different from each other so there’s not even standardization there!  Even selecting a specific white balance setting has an effect on the image.  And then you have to remember that photographers such as Ansel Adams processed their photographs in the darkroom by burning and dodging to achieve their vision.

There is not a right or wrong way to process photographs, nor is it right or wrong to process photographs at all or leave them in their “organic” state.  Just know that you should have a vision for your photographs and if you choose to process to that vision, there are various methods and techniques to get there.

As for the scene itself, what captures my eye are the clouds obviously, but also the haze at the shoreline caused by the high winds blowing the crashing wave mist onshore.

Previous Point Reyes posts:

• Point Reyes (Boat), Point Reyes (Location), Sunrise Clouds, HDR
• Dock, Point Reyes, Tomales Bay
• Storm Clouds, Surf, Footprints, B&W

EXIF data: Nikon D50, patterned metering mode, 62mm, ISO 200, 1/60 sec, f/11

Point Reyes, Shoreline, Clouds, B&W. Tule Elk Reserve, Point Reyes National Seashore, California. March 27, 2011. © Copyright Steven Tze – all rights reserved.

Sand Pattern, Paw Prints, Plants

Morro Rock Beach, Morro Bay, CA

A somewhat abstract photograph for today’s post after 3 days of seascapes from Pfeiffer Beach in Big Sur.  Usually I’m alone when on a photography trip.  Either I bore the person I’m with since I can spend a very long time in one spot or I’m annoyed that they keep wanting to hike or explore further.

On this particular trip up the Pacific Coast to get home, I have my dog with me.  It’s a new experience for both me and him to tote him along.  He seemed to enjoy his first trip to the beach a few days prior so he’d be happy to stretch his legs and walk around.

The wind is constant at Morro Rock Beach and causes these sand patterns you see so often at sand dunes.  On the walk back to the car after a round of him sniffing seaweed and me pulling him away from sniffing the occasional dead seagull, I noticed the paw prints he was leaving in the sand patterns.  With him patiently sitting off-camera even though the wind and sand was blowing in his face, I snapped a couple of compositions.

In post processing, I brought the photograph from Adobe Lightroom into Silver EFex Pro for final edits.  Normally after I take a photo into Silver EFex, the result is a B&W photo, but I somehow liked maintaining the beige sand color.

The alternate B&W version would look like this:

Morro Rock Beach, Morro Bay, CA - B&W version

EXIF data: Nikon D7000, center weighted metering mode, 28mm, ISO 100, 1/80 sec, f/11

Sand Pattern, Paw Prints, Plants.  Morro Rock Beach, Morro Bay, California. December 30, 2011. © Copyright Steven Tze – all rights reserved.