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Photographers who use Photoshop...
I am curious as to how many photographers are using Photoshop and to what degree, kind of a poll if you will. Are you a photographers who: 1. Uses Photoshop extensively 2. Uses Photoshop occasionally 3. Doesn't use Photoshop on principle 4. Photoshop? What's Photoshop, precious (gollum, gollum)? I'll start. #1. I use Photoshop extensively for raw conversion and color corrections to extreme compositing and scripting automation. No image goes untouched by Photoshop in some way shape or form. Aug 09 05 12:10 am Link I use photoshop, but I dont do any heavy corrections/alterations to my photography. If its digital, i'll usually crop it to a 4x6 dimension. I do auto balance/contrast/color if I think its needed, and i'll prep the image with a simple frame (white or black depending on the image) with title/year/name for uploading onto deviantART. Aug 09 05 01:08 am Link May change contrast or fix a blemish and that's it. Aug 09 05 01:11 am Link i try to spend just a couple of minutes on a photo in photoshop. i honestly don't know how to use it all that well. i know the basics. contrast, hues, levels, and curves. i know how to clone out a blemish. i just learned how to use the burn tool today. but when it comes to layers and airbrushing, i am totally lost. i like to play with light and filters, it's more fun.  Aug 09 05 01:16 am Link My motto is: It should be done right the first time. If I can do it in the darkroom, I'll do it in photoshop, but generally I like to leave my photos minimally retouched. If I'm a photographer, I should know how to photograph. I will however, use photoshop if neccessary. If I'm doing a shoot for a skin creme ad, the skin better look freakin flawless. If I don't have 50 bucks or more an hour to blow on a makeup artist, I'll resort to photoshop. If I feel like doing some digital art, that's a different story. At that point I don't really consider it photography. It may involve photography, but most of it has to do with design. I think your list of options is a bit vague. Do you mean to measure by the frequency I open photoshop? If that's the case I'm #1. If you mean by how much I alter the image, then I would be #3. Aug 09 05 01:16 am Link I'm a #1. I think of it as my darkroom, burn/dodge color correct airbrush. Anything a Pro using film would have used a lab for. I still sometimes use a lab for the same things as they are Pro's and do it better than I do. BTW most of the labs I know now do it in photoshop too. Aug 09 05 01:17 am Link I'm a #1. I shoot RAW, and Photoshop is my conversion tool of choice. Then, there are always blemishes to fix, skin to soften (Gently!) and every digital image needs sharpening. In that regard, every photo gets touched somewhat. But I'm willing to do whatever it takes to make the image as good as it possible can be. For example, there is one photo in my current portfolio in which I plucked the head from one photo and plopped it on the shoulders of another photo. I liked her expression in one and her posture in the other, so I composited them without the slightest hint of compunction. For my part, it's the product, not the process. ***Mad kudos to the first person who can point out which photo is composited. And not Pearls. That's obvious.*** Aug 09 05 01:20 am Link Lesley Slenning wrote: I am with ya', I only Occassionally use photoshop. I look at images now and try to achieve the same results without photoshop. I even give my models a copy of images right after a shoot. That way they see what I can do. I just feel that TOO many photogs are now 100% reliant on Photoshop. It, no doubt, has billions of uses and the importance is great; however, lets get back to basics prior to photoshop. That is my 2 cents, what about a penny for your thougths? Aug 09 05 01:27 am Link dynamo wrote: Damn, I have to learn how to use this keyboard.lol Aug 09 05 01:28 am Link Every image on my port and website has been through PS. Mainly to adjust levels and fix zits. Paul Aug 09 05 01:44 am Link infinite lux co wrote: I respect you opinion and agree with your logic. But I also believe that if Ansel Adams had Photoshop he would have used it to it's fullest extent. Aug 09 05 02:07 am Link I try to do all I can with my lighting, composition and my camera first. Then it all depends on the final goal for a project. If I'm doing portfolio work for an agency I will adust the color balance and exposure in the Raw files. I might fix a zit or blemish if it's obvious it just popped up that morning. That's about it. Stuff that is obviously photoshopped is a big no-no around most land based agencies. Sometimes I have to turn around images within hours. Anything else is based on the final results. It doesn't matter to me how you get there, but if the manipulation looks amatuer, it shows. Instant red light. in most cases i like to keep everything subtle. If I take it into an artisitic direction I may get pretty radical, but most of my images can hold up without manipulation. The fun part is when you can't tell what I played with in shop and what is straight out the camera. That's the key. I guess what I'm saying is if your images are so bad before photoshop manipulation, you're doing someting wrong and need to get back to basics. There's a fine line between using PS as a crutch or as a tool. -George Diego Aug 09 05 02:22 am Link Many roads to Oz, as the saying goes. I have a great respect for photographers that really push themselves and don't use photoshop as a crutch. It is, however, a tool. While I do what I can to make the shot "perfect" the first time, the image I have in my head isn't always possible without photoshop. I see the image first, then do whatever it takes (photoshop/no photoshop) to get it. Shouldn't matter in the end. Aug 09 05 04:34 am Link I find that quite often in glamour the difference between a good picture and a great one is determined largely by PS skills. It's less so in other types of photography. That said, I'm not a master of PS at all and I don't really like it. I never really liked the darkroom either. I like shooting and I wish I could be like Jay Maisel or one of the other pros who just shoot and have others do the post-processing for them. For my glamour shots I pay somebody to prepare shots for Web display, but that would be too expensive for print quality. Which means I still have to learn more about PS, if I ever want to deal with the backlog of RAW files on my hard drive. Aug 09 05 06:19 am Link It seems like most are just getting by with photoshop but don't really understand it or want to take the time to. I would like to hear from more of you! Aug 09 05 11:09 am Link AlbrightCreativeImagery wrote: I'd venture to say that the same goes for people not wanting to understand or take the time to learn all that could be done in the wet darkroom. Laziness under the guise of purity is nothing new. Aug 09 05 11:17 am Link I use Photoshop the same way I used the b&w darkroom, but now I can work with color images too. The best part is not having to deal with Spotone. Aug 09 05 11:22 am Link I shoot RAW+Jpg. I sort through the Jpgs and narrow them down to the final "cuts" then those go through CS2 for color, lighting, and conversion. I'm not overly smart by no means with PS. I can do basic stuff like levels, contrast, curves, sharpen, blur as needed, use an action or two, clean up a stray hair or two/blemishes but that's about it. I'm always picking people's brains to learn new tips/techniques to make my post processing easier/faster/better. But I do agree with Infinite....it should be done right the first time. HALO Out! The Crazy Army Guy Aug 09 05 11:23 am Link Definitely a #1 user/junkie. I can't get away from that program sometimes. And it won't be a single image. I'll take 20 images a night and just mask and layer and filer and saturate and blur and fix and sharpen and crop and colorize and brush and.. ect. The majority of the images on my current site are not that extensively PS'd. Aug 09 05 11:27 am Link I consider myself a good B/W printer, but after digital arrived, I changed lanes, I often print B/W on fiber paper for some client or galleries. I can't live without Photoshop. I left behind interminable hours making developer, fixer, focusing, cleaning, drying. I sit in front of my comp in underwear, all lights on, and while I am working I am chatting with a friend in Jacksonville and smoking. Yeahhhh...I am a technology lover. T.T Aug 09 05 11:37 am Link Chris Hansen wrote: I think this is great! You have tried to use a little of everything. And you are open to learning more. Aug 09 05 11:48 am Link Every image gets photoshopped to some degree... some just cropping, blemish correction (only distracting ones) and sometimes color-balance. If I'm trying to get a more "glamour" look I'll use layers and filters, and sometimes I'll play with an image for hours to change it into something else like I did with "Speed of light" which I just removed form here, but it's still up on my dA page. Aug 09 05 12:17 pm Link Silwia in Marilyn, hand on chest and looking ot the ceiling... Brian Diaz wrote: Aug 09 05 12:20 pm Link Brian Diaz wrote: Carlos Arturo Velarde wrote: Nope, she's pretty much straight from the camera. Aug 09 05 12:23 pm Link I've been using Photoshop since version 4 but shooting images since 8th grade. I can't call myself a traditional photographer, I'm more of an artist. In my images you'll see flashbacks to 80's glamour, the warm soft look just gets into my soul. I have a deep respect for all the photog's I've had the pleasure to learn from and I find I'm continually learning. I use photoshop as a tool to express my creative side. My clients love the work I do but more importantly, I can finally say I love my work as well. I tend to be extremely self critical, hehe! Rich Aug 09 05 12:34 pm Link PS CS2 is awesome. It's the digital camera's darkroom. (and I work in an industry that still doesn't accept digital mostly and film is the standard). I think that those that don't like it or use it's power might possibly not taken the time to learn it. It is such a powerful program that one cannot learn it quickly and without some serious education. Old school - darkroom techniques were not learned in 5 minutes, same with advanced PS techniques. I'm with those that consider the end result as the goal. If digital techniques weren't part of todays culture what kind of films would we have (knock out 95% of todays films!). Glamour/fashion - what percentage of any images in magazines and commercials are not heavily digitally altered these days? Lots of respect to those photographers that can shoot a perfect digital image without PS changes but for the 21st century PS seems the darkroom standard. Besides all that - it's a fun program once you learn it well. Cj Aug 09 05 12:36 pm Link Brian Diaz wrote: First one - Anya? Aug 09 05 12:49 pm Link LiteFocus Studios wrote: No, for her I fiddled with the color balance (almost all in Adobe Camera Raw) and cropped out a lot of negative space, but it's all one photo. Aug 09 05 12:52 pm Link Brian Diaz wrote: Wait, wait, I know this one! The answer is D, none of the above. Aug 09 05 02:03 pm Link Brian Diaz wrote: So it's Theresa or Self Portrait with Mirrors... Aug 09 05 02:11 pm Link I have been using photoshop since before it was called photoshop...Adulus Photostyler..early 90s... I use it for what i want to use it for!! Fixing blemishes.Sharpining..or totally changing the look of the whole photo.. Its a very good tool and yes i do alota shiite to some of my photos.. Untill they bring out a law that says i cant..... Knowledge is a blessing.. Learn it or Lose it!! Aug 09 05 02:12 pm Link I even use other programs.... Probably a dozen..and im trying new ones eveery day.. And i will keep trying new ones... I am an artist and a photograher.. When i want to be these things is up to me... No one else!!!! Aug 09 05 02:16 pm Link I was cleaning up digital images years before digital cameras came out. When I finally went digital every image I print or use is modified in some way. Usually it is to touch up minor blemishes that make up didn't cover but somtimes it is to completely change the image (like my avatar) just because I can. Aug 09 05 02:18 pm Link Hugh Jorgen wrote: Photostyler was launched in 1991. It was the first true image editor for Windows. Aug 09 05 02:22 pm Link AlbrightCreativeImagery wrote: I'm a 1, 2 and 3 kinda guy. Depends on what I'm going for in an image. Most images I provide for models go untouched except for adding a dark border and my watermark. Aug 09 05 02:24 pm Link XtremeArtists wrote: Do you ever get any work done? Aug 09 05 02:25 pm Link A lot of my photos (taken as a photographer) are pretty mundane shots of things that jumped out on me on my road trips with Hugh. Therefore, I photoshop them heavily in an effort to make the ordinary look extraordinary. But when it comes to a model, whether it is myself or a friend or someone I've worked with...I just go straight for the zits and the black circles under the eyes, then I do my best to get the whites white and the blacks black, and then I ask Hugh if it looks good. He's got the professional eye, and if something is overdone he will tell me. Aug 09 05 02:29 pm Link I used to use PS a lot in the beginning. But it gets to be tedious sitting in front of a computer all day/night working on the photos. So, now, I set up the shots the way I want them and use PS only if I want to. And when I do it's usually to do stuff like vignette, BW, Sepia or a special effect or two. But, I really love PS. It can make a boring photo really interesting. Aug 09 05 02:32 pm Link DawnElizabeth wrote: Look at my post count. Aug 09 05 02:34 pm Link I use PS Elements on essentially every set of photos that I take. I do believe, however, in a minimalist approach and I don't use any of the "auto-fix" tools. To me, PS is best used for slight adjustments, not major fixes. If i can't make it happen for the most part in the camera, I will probably not be interested in using the photo. I do not use the file management system in PS, which I find to be very cumbersome and annoying. Aug 09 05 02:35 pm Link |
