I sometimes get asked, if I process my photos. And the answer is yes. Since I'm photographing in RAW format there's no way around it.
My aim when taking photos is to capture as much information of a scene as possible and less to take the one photo that I can upload to the web or print without any processing. This would never work for me. When it comes to photography I'm too much of a perfectionist and I also like to process my photos.
During a photo shoot it's quite common for me to end up with 5 - 20 photos of just one scene. Especially if I'm shooting in harsh, fast changing light or at the coast where the scenery is in constant movement it's hard to capture one perfect photo.
Instead I take several photos, amongst which I can later select the best ones for blending. During the shoot my camera is usually mounted on a tripod, which allows me to photograph the exact same frame again and again until I have all the information I need for the processing.
But how much processing do I really do to my photos? Although I might work on a single photo for up to two hours, most of that work goes into the details. The overall look of the scene doesn't change that much between a RAW photo and the final piece.
As an example I have a photo of Elliot Bay in New Zealand for you. The first image is the final processed photo. The second image below shows one of the RAW photos straight out of camera.
I always try to recreate the atmosphere, which I perceived when taking the photo. I work on colors and contrasts and I try to guide the viewer through the frame. For this image I started with six RAW photos, which I used for focus stacking and exposure blending. After this initial step I brought back some punch to the photo, which the RAW files were lacking.
To guide the viewer and to balance the photo I then used dodge and burn, a technique I show in my latest Youtube Tutorial.
So I hope this example gives you a good impression of the changes I usually do to my photos during editing. If you liked this little before and after, let me know in the comments. Then I'll show a few more in the future.
