LocalNavy433 Photography

Hello and how the hell are you?  If this is your first time here thanks for stopping by.  In this blog we are going to talk about why you should be editing your images.  The simple fact is by not editing your images in my opinion you are not putting you into the images.  The biggest thing that I have heard from others who are purists in the photography community is by editing your images you are taking a way from what is real.  This is something that I have a hard time taking as truth in this community.  They will try and make you feel bad for editing your images and that is just not right.  Photography is art and as such you should do what you want to the images.  Now if you are going to end up being a photo journalist then you should not by any means edit your images.  

With all the being said let’s get into why you should be editing your images.  The first and foremost is by doing this you will put your soul into your images with your style.  Creating your style is something that will come with time don’t get stuck on trying to get that just yet.  Editing your images will be easier if you are shooting RAW and that statement is something that had me nervous when I first started as well.  This is normal because of the unknown of what may happen to your image right.  That is the reason that you have all these gate keepers in photography is the fear of messing up an image.  This is why you should be using a program that is nondestructive for your editing.  Lightroom is a great tool for this fact.  There are other programs that are the same as Lightroom in this regard. 

For example, Capture one edits your images in the same way so the fear is just that fear.  By not editing your images to me makes you a lazy photographer.  I know that sounds so harsh but it is the truth and that will hold you back in the long run.  Growing is part of photography and by you not editing you are not growing.  You have to have the right of passage of going too far with the sliders creating so many issues with your images.  The problem is you are going to have people that love the bright over saturated colors and never learn to control that.  Hell I still have that issue with a lot of my images.  

The other reason and the most important reason for editing your images is you don’t want the OEM’s of the camera you are shooting with to say how the images should look.  You see you are giving up so much control of your images by not editing it’s crazy.  The fact is the algorithm the camera manufactures put into them to show what the blue hue should look like is totally different from the way that you saw it when standing there.  Hell I could stand right next to you and my own eyes will see a slightly different hue to the colors than what you are seeing.  The fact is you should be editing your images to your taste and not the taste of others.  

I always see online where people are saying #nofilter, or there is no edit to this image it is straight out of camera.  This again is something that drives me crazy because they are taking the moral high ground like they achieved something and the only thing that they have achieved in my opinion is fear.  They don’t edit because they don’t know how or they just are not willing to edit the photo.  There is nothing wrong with getting as much as you can right in camera while you are standing there taking the photo but if you think about all the time you took to learn how to take the photo you then have to put in as much time learning how to edit an image.  Taking the photo is only half of what it takes to be a photographer. 

The way that I see it editing is a form of expression just like taking the photo and to stop someone from expressing his or her self that is just wrong.  One thing that will help you with your editing is finding a style that you like and try to do that as close as you can.  I did this for a while and it helped me to understand why someone would do a certain thing to an image.  The best editing tip that I could give you is to just have fun with the edit.  You know what you like and you know what looks bad.  Just take your time and remember less is more when it comes to editing.  

Go out there take the photo the way that you want and edit them the way that you want.  Forget the gate keepers trying to tell you that you have to take a photo this way and by no means should you edit the image.  You do you and f**k them all I say.