Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

I quit editing photos

jamesbaker.uk

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

131–140 of 160 posts

Re: I quit editing photos

#131

Post by coldtea »

chromacity wrote: post #34

I don't want to dunk on people who are discovering the charms of retro tech, but as someone who started with film and spent a fair amount of time in the darkroom, I was delighted to discover the hassle-free simplicity and dependability of digital photography, so it is a bit mind-boggling that people want to go back to the old way of doing things for their everyday snaps. It reminds me of people buying vinyl, using VH…

>I was delighted to discover the hassle-free simplicity and dependability of digital photography, so it is a bit mind-boggling that people want to go back to the old way of doing things for their everyday snaps.

The OP didn't go "the old way". They made it even more about "hassle-free simplicity", with a digital Fuji that shoots great out-of-the-box colors that they don't correct.

That said, the problem with the "hassle-free simplicity and dependability of digital photography" is that it cheapens everything and takes the fun and skill out of it.

Re: I quit editing photos

#132

Post by ebbi »

I'm mostly the same now, but leaning more towards a hybrid flow.

My Fuji is set to JPEG + RAW. I will apply the sim most suited to the occasion, and only edit the RAWs when I've got a shot that I think is worthy of editing - i.e. something that will end up as a wallpaper/printed out/a feature shot.

I got tired of editing photos, and I ended up editing them sometimes years after the photos were shot.

As for my phone, I just use an app called Analogue on my iPhone for everyday shots (the built in LUTs are beautiful), and then for shots I think may warrant some editing later, I'll use the new Moment cam app.

Re: I quit editing photos

#133

Post by jhbadger »

chromacity wrote: post #34

I don't want to dunk on people who are discovering the charms of retro tech, but as someone who started with film and spent a fair amount of time in the darkroom, I was delighted to discover the hassle-free simplicity and dependability of digital photography, so it is a bit mind-boggling that people want to go back to the old way of doing things for their everyday snaps. It reminds me of people buying vinyl, using VH…

I'm just waiting for daguerreotypes to come back into fashion.

Re: I quit editing photos

#134

Post by dpark »

coldtea wrote: post #131
chromacity wrote: post #34

I don't want to dunk on people who are discovering the charms of retro tech, but as someone who started with film and spent a fair amount of time in the darkroom, I was delighted to discover the hassle-free simplicity and dependability of digital photography, so it is a bit mind-boggling that people want to go back to the old way of doing things for their everyday snaps. It reminds me of people buying vinyl, using VH…

> I was delighted to discover the hassle-free simplicity and dependability of digital photography, so it is a bit mind-boggling that people want to go back to the old way of doing things for their everyday snaps. The OP didn't go "the old way". They made it even more about "hassle-free simplicity", with a digital Fuji that shoots great out-of-the-box colors that they don't correct. That said, the problem with the "ha…

> That said, the problem with the "hassle-free simplicity and dependability of digital photography" is that it cheapens everything and takes the fun and skill out of it.

Takes the skill out? Kind of. Accessible cameras make it easy for people to take acceptable photographs. Most people cannot take a great photograph with any camera.

I do think accessible cameras have made it harder for mediocre photographers to pass as good. The days when simply carrying an SLR gave an aura of competence are gone. Democratization of quality cameras closed the hardware gap for a lot of photography.

Re: I quit editing photos

#135

Post by robertclaus »

I went through a similar transition. Used to spend hours in dark table each shoot, but for a hobby it got tedious. Eventually I got my in-camera configuration right enough and haven't touched a raw in months. I'll still sort and crop; but no need to fiddle with things the camera is good enough at already.

Re: I quit editing photos

#136

Post by qsera »

packetlost wrote: post #62
qsera wrote: post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I am not a professional. But I had done some film photography in its last days. The photos that I took during the time, just casually, tops any photo that I take now a days with by DSLR. It is not in raw "quality". But what are we trying to capture when we take a picture? Is it raw pixels? or is it some emotion that we originally got when we were looking at something. For some reason, I think film captures and regene…

That emotion is nostalgia, whether real or perceived. It's not a bad thing, some of my favorite photos are on b&w film. Film has a texture and (inaccurate) colors/tones that aren't really reproduced in digital cameras but are all over the place in media we consume and personal/family photos, usually from an older time.

It is not nostalgia. It was the photo of a stray dog on a beach, and a bunch of fishermen drawing in a big fishing net..so nothing personal or long lost to be nostalgic about...

Re: I quit editing photos

#137

Post by qsera »

hootz wrote: post #76
qsera wrote: post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I am not a professional. But I had done some film photography in its last days. The photos that I took during the time, just casually, tops any photo that I take now a days with by DSLR. It is not in raw "quality". But what are we trying to capture when we take a picture? Is it raw pixels? or is it some emotion that we originally got when we were looking at something. For some reason, I think film captures and regene…

Have you tried putting your digital photos through a film simulation software such as Dehancer?

I think so, but the results does not appear same. Did you get a chance to read the post I shared in my comment. It explains why this could not give the same results.

Re: I quit editing photos

#138

Post by arvinsim »

mcdeltat wrote: post #124
arvinsim wrote: post #14

My process is to take a lot of photos, then ruthlessly cull them before I do any editing. I usually keep around 10% of the total photos for editing. After that, I do another round of culling and keep only the best. I also follow a philosophy of "good enough". If left to my own devices, I would probably endlessly edit photos. I edit a single photo for around 3 minutes. That way, I will not feel stuck.

I used to take a lot of photos and then cull them afterwards before editing. It worked, although I was often loving shooting and dreading editing, because before doing any actual editing, I'd have 200 photos to sift through. After a lot of practice, I became better at culling in my head, before even taking the photos. This has shifted my relationship with photography to more of a cognitive exercise, with a different…

I find it much easier to cull photos quickly now by thinking that a bad photo will unlikely become a great photo just because you edited it.

If it doesn't catch my attention on my first culling pass, I just delete without regrets.

Re: I quit editing photos

#139

Post by eqvinox »

rusticflare wrote: post #103
chromacity wrote: post #64

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Come on. This article isn't about the joys of doing things the hard way. To quote: "Then, at the start of 2022 I got my first analogue film camera: a Leica M6. (I know... I dived straight in the deep end.) This was my first introduction to how editing could be easier." It isn't easier. Film is pain. Pain can be good, but this is selling a mirage.

Hello, original author here. What I meant by “easier”: Consumer film is designed to be developed and scanned/printed by your lab. You then get a finished image. Most modern interchangeable-lens digital cameras are designed for you to shoot RAW and edit in software like Lightroom. Because I first started photography around 2010, I was taught at school to take pictures, then edit them on a computer. Shooting film for t…

> Most modern interchangeable-lens digital cameras are designed for you to shoot RAW

I don't think I agree. The photos straight off my GH4 are perfectly fine as-is, it's quite a bit of work to get the same thing out of Darktable, let alone something better. I do still shoot in RAW, for those 1% where I do want to go in manually. (The GH4 isn't great in low light.)

> I wish I’d stopped shooting RAW sooner. Trying film led to that realisation.

I mean... yeah. But don't blame the camera for your personal habits ;)

Re: I quit editing photos

#140

Post by [deleted] »

tartoran wrote: post #122
dpark wrote: post #117

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Taking a shot becomes a deliberate action since you don't have unlimited frames. It's a different experience. It’s a very different experience. Whether you enjoy that depends a lot on why you are engaging in photography. Do you prize the ritual, the act of taking photographs in the moment? Then you might love film. Might also love working in a dark room and doing your own development and prints. Personally I don’t…

I used to do that when I was a teenager and it was truly wonderful. I had my own darkroom and was even developing my own film (BW only). As tech evolved I moved on to digital but took so many photos that somehow I stopped caring about photographs at all. It even became a bit overwhelming to look at photos and to some extent it still is to this day. I took on many other hobbies so it's not a huge loss for me. But I ca…

[deleted]
Post reply on HN