It seems that when i take family pictures, and edit them on the computer, they always look better...?

Question

you know, adjusting the contrast, color saturation, sharpen, etc. Is this normal, or do truly good images need no adjustment at all.....what's your view? thanks

Answer 1

the source image is the key, if its sharp and well focused, with good exposure and lighting then its so much easier to brush it up in photoshop or the such

if the source image is crap its alot harder to produce something better

im a photographer whos paid to get the source images, some are photographers/digital darkroom people, some i would hardly call either.........I hand over raws and then others do their magic on the images, most images have some form of editing or post work done, digital produces C/A and purple frindging and niose and things film doesnt so some editing helps most digital images, as you are finding out

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Answer 2

Boy is this a hot topic. Some degree of "lack of quality" is sadly inherant in digital camera design. Even in the best cameras. I would say that you should strive for the best possible image that you can get with proper focus, exposure, lighting, etc., and count on being able to tweak it that extra 2% in post processing to make it better.

Go see this sample. View it at "All sizes" or even "Original" to see the improvements. If you did not see the 2nd or 3rd versions, you'd probably accept that the untouched image is fine the way it is. The 4th version is probably overdone for screen viewing, but might print okay. There are no adjustments made other than sharpening in this sample, but playing with levels or saturation would probably tune it up even more. Once again, if you did not have those options, the original version really looks just fine.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/samfeinstein/1753537048/

I went through my Flickr site a little while ago and tagged anything that had "No Photoshop" help. Yes, I admit that I allowed a touch of unsharp mask to remain in the "No Photoshop" classification, but there are no adjustments to levels or saturation or anything else in these images. I am pleased with most of them the way they are.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/samfeinstein/tags/nophotoshop/

Answer 3

Any and all images will require adjustment depending upon it's end purpose. It may simply need to be properly cropped or framed or ?
There's a question for ya'.....
Isn't framing an image an editing tool as well?
Is it the same as adjusting the image in Photoshop or another program?
It certainly effects our perception of the image. eh?

Answer 4

Art is a construct, and the sense of vision is at best a mediated sense of reality. A digitial camera is just our version of representational art. The ivory carver of 10000 years ago also worried if he had gotten the sense of the carved bear just right too.

So feel free to tweak your pictures! Make them look how you want them to look.

Just remember that if you replace your evil Aunt Jane with a cut out of Brittany Spears, some art critics may suddenly appear from your family...

Digital images have information that can only be revealed by tweaking them, since the camera records data that your eye may not notice. The art is in the tweaking, just as much as it is in composition and selecting the exact moment to take the picture.

Answer 5

I think they look better sometimes -- like the contrast (I don't have an expensive camera though - if I did, the contrast would be good already). I use mytheme.com and it does help you see the people in the picture, etc. when you adjust different things.

Answer 6

I wish, I could you send myself photographs, me, to you... my dear friend, away in USA....., WISH YOU A 'DEEPAWALI', God Bless.....

Answer 7

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