[Recovered Thread: 111053]

[Contriver]

With dSLR cameras, is it necessary to post processEVERY photo you take using Photoshop (or some other comparable application)?

[eric s]

No. Your results will be better (I guess that is sorta obvious) but you don't have to.

If you shoot in JPG mode, you can adjust sharpness, contrast, saturation (and maybe other things.) The same way you can in a DSLR. And then you'll do less work (if any) in post-processing.

The risk is that if your settings don't work well for the scene you're shooting, you'll probably make the image worse by trying to *remove* the effects those settings did. Especially sharpness, removing sharpness (say, to smooth the skin on someone's face, or to get rid of the effects of sharpness in some patterned clothing) will usually look quite bad. You'll loose detail often in an unnatural way.

Eric

[msantos]

Post-processing is a choice of every individual photographer. You can do it or not. It doesn't matter if you use a Point & Shoot, Semi-pro or DSLR.

Certainly, DSLR gives you more control on all the settings (and less noise); if you know how to use them, you can get better pictures than using a Point & shoot

In fact, all DSLR I know have the PictBridge function. This function lets you connect a printer directly to your camera and print your pictures without a computer. That means, no any post-processing.

[Contriver]

OK, I guess its just that itgoes with the territory that most dSLR users will tend to take things farther to acheive a better picture when compared to a PS user; thus, the reason why you hear more dSLR users doing their own post processing manually.

Thank you both eric and msantos for your comments!

[Ronnie948]

You can let the people at Walmart or wherever crop and process for you. They will have all of the control of how your pictures will look. If you remember when you took a roll of film to get printed you let the person doing the printing to adjust your color and croping. It is not any different with digital files.

I do my processing, color correcting, cropping and size my photographs using Photoshop and save them on a DVD or CD disk. Then when or if I take anything to get printed at Sam's, or Walmart they come out just like I wanted them.

With film most people were at the labs mercy. With digital you don't really have to be.

Ronnie

[meanstreak]

Contriver wrote:

With dSLR cameras, is it necessary to post processEVERY photo you take using Photoshop (or some other comparable application)?

I hate to do this but the answer is yes and no. It depends on many factors. In the beginning I did a lot of post processing but I am doing it less and less as I became familiar with my camera. I set the camera to add what I want and that takes care of 95 percent of my photos. Part of it depends on what you plan to do with the pictures. I don't print that many so I find most of what I shoot adequate as is. When I need to print a shot I sometimes tweak it just to brighten it up or adjust contrast and color. Very rarely do I need to adjust sharpness. 99 percent of my tweaks are minor. Occasionaly if I get the white balance settings wrong, I adjust that too. Some will suggest that the pros post process a lot but think about it. Can we really believe thatpros who shoot weddings and such really have the time to process all or most of theirphotos? Of course the types of photos you see in magazines are heavily processed but that is often done by people who post process and touch up for a living.