My First Attempt at Photo Processing

By Carrie on February 11, 2008

This photo was taken at the local fish market in Shinggang Harbor, Chenggong. It’s my first attempt at photo editing. What do you think?

Posted in Photography, Taiwan | Tagged Canon 400D

Carrie

30 responses to “My First Attempt at Photo Processing”

Jim
February 11, 2008 at 2:18 pm | Permalink

Hey, nice job. The building really pops out at you with the processing. Wow those mountains behind are sure rising dramatically. Can’t wait to see more of your trip, kiddo!
cfimages
February 11, 2008 at 4:29 pm | Permalink

Nice work. Not bad for a first attempt.
jeff
February 11, 2008 at 7:06 pm | Permalink

Nice job Carrie ! Good exposure and contrast after processing, really. I love it ! Maybe blue color on vehicles at the foreground seems to be a little bit too much saturated. ‘Had the same problem recently with a pic full of deep blue shades. Considering I’m not a photo editing expert, I still have to improve ! Anyway, good first try ! Waiting for more !
Ron Boyd
February 11, 2008 at 9:30 pm | Permalink

So, how was the original “edited”? Is it a jpeg that was processed by your camera? How was the final image processed? (for instance, what software was involved?) Did you start with the Original or from a RAW image? Lots of questions.

In any event, the “final” image is, of course, much more pleasing than the Original. A (very) good first draft.
Todd Alperovitz
February 11, 2008 at 10:55 pm | Permalink

Looks nice! My only editing experience is sadly limited to playing with the sliders (mostly just exposure and saturation) on iPhoto.
globetrotteri
February 11, 2008 at 11:27 pm | Permalink

He he. I’m so new to this guys, I think I should have used the term photo processing instead of photo editing. At the risk of sounding like a complete idiot, is there a difference between the two terms?

Up until this point, I was using a Canon point and shoot. I never played around with the finished product. I just posted them as is.

I’m playing around with the software that came my camera and I can’t really get into specifics because I have no idea what I’m doing. I’m just going by feel at the moment.

When I become a bit more savvy, I’ll be sure to post more specifics. Anyways, thanks for stopping by and commenting. Much appreciated!
aphextwin
February 11, 2008 at 11:39 pm | Permalink

….very good 1st attempt

i would think that some form of “correction” is needed for digital photos to fit what was observed or to enhance it. preety much photo processing rather than editing.

but then again, dont take my word for it (hehe).
globetrotteri
February 12, 2008 at 12:13 am | Permalink

Hi AT,

I love it when you stop by! Thanks for clearing that up for me.
knitplaywithfire
February 12, 2008 at 5:36 am | Permalink

Both are nice but the editing does make the market pop out. And I like how the market is shaped like a boat.
cfimages
February 12, 2008 at 8:33 am | Permalink

Carrie (and Todd too), are you shooting RAW? I am an advocate of shooting everything in RAW, especially if you think you may ever want stuff published in magazines, sold etc. Even stuff shot now that you don’t know how to properly process can be redone in the future when you do know how to do it.

Anyway, my advice would be to download the 30 day trial of Adobe Lightroom from Adobe’s site (www.adobe.com), shoot a bunch of RAW shots through the week (if you don’t have time, just spend 10 minutes shooting your apartment), load Lightroom onto a laptop and bring it to MJ’s meetup on Saturday night. I’ll give you both (and anyone else interested) a brief tutorial in how to use it.

If you’re not going to the meetup, I’ll probably be in Taipei on Sunday as well so we could arrange a time then, assuming you’re interested, that is.
Todd Alperovitz
February 12, 2008 at 11:25 am | Permalink

Thank you for the offer Craig, I have been shooting jpeg since day 1. I won’t be here this weekend [job interview in Nantou] but would definitely love a tutorial at a later date once my move is complete. Maybe I’ll make a stop at the next Kaohsuing Flickr meetup you attend.
globetrotteri
February 12, 2008 at 10:29 pm | Permalink

Craig,

You mentioned this before. At the moment, I’m playing around the camera and have shot most of my photos in JPEG. I’ll look into shooting some RAW photos this week when I have time.

That’s one heck of a nice offer! I might have to see if John will let me use his laptop for the night. I’ll let you know. I’m looking forward to meeting you in person.
de
February 12, 2008 at 11:52 pm | Permalink

So awesome of your photo!!! Really can’t to buy DSLR soon, hehe.
oceanofstupidity
February 13, 2008 at 1:12 am | Permalink

I’m curious which model of canon do you have. I prefer canon too. Now I’ve got PowerShot A95 and I’m dreaming about EOS. I’m not good at editing photos but both pictures are fine. Second picture in technique looks very nice. It’s very lively. So your first attempt was very successful. Sorry for all my mistakes. There are my first attempts at English comments. Greetings from Poland.
Peder
February 13, 2008 at 7:40 am | Permalink

Nice image. When I first saw it, I thought your editing was to attach a mall to a ship …

I like cfimages’ recommendation to pick up Adobe Lightroom. I often like to play with images in Photoshop, but have heard good things about Lightroom as well.
globetrotteri
February 13, 2008 at 10:47 am | Permalink

Ha ha Craig,

I was dreaming of shooting RAW images last night for this weekend and couldn’t get any of the pictures to turn out. Yeesh. Someone’s got photography on the brain.
globetrotteri
February 13, 2008 at 10:51 am | Permalink

De,

You’re great for stopping by again. Thanks so much for your encouragement.
globetrotteri
February 13, 2008 at 10:55 am | Permalink

Oceans,

I just bought a Canon Digital Rebel XTi 400D (EOS 400D). So far, so good. I just took a few photos yesterday that I’m happy with. I’m finding that it takes a little getting used to, but overall, I’m thrilled with my purchase and I can’t wait to see what I’m going to be producing a few months from now. I’m anxious to learn.

I still use my Canon point and shoot for everyday use and it produces great pictures.

I hope you’re able to get your camera soon. Thanks for dropping. I’m an English teacher and mightily impressed that you left a comment. I know how hard it is to write in a second language. Don’t be shy!
globetrotteri
February 13, 2008 at 11:00 am | Permalink

Peder,

Hey, hey! It’s nice to see a friendly face! Yeah. I realized I should have used the term photo processing. I think I explained that one up in the first comment or two. I’m brand spanking new at all of this and I decided not to change the title to remind myself where I began when I look back on all this.

I don’t know if you noticed while you were in Asia, but they really seem to like buildings modeled after ships. Do you remember the ‘canoe’ building in CC? I’ve noticed a couple of fish markets here are held in old ships and even some of the malls look like giant cruise ships. The architecture here is fascinating and always makes for a great day excursion.

Craig is full of good suggestions. Have you checked out his website? His travel photography is out-of-this-world!
Stevo
February 13, 2008 at 12:13 pm | Permalink

Great job, Carrie.

I agree with Craig, shoot RAW. I just started (shooting for a year+ as JPG). Now that the price of CF cards has fallen there’s no reason to shoot JPGs. There is so much more you can do with RAW.

There are some great “Learn Photoshop” computer tutorials from Lynda.com (you buy a CD and learn at your own pace). I highly recommend them if you want to learn the ins and outs.

Can’t wait to see more!
globetrotteri
February 13, 2008 at 11:47 pm | Permalink

Stevo,

I started looking into this last night. John’s been laughing at me because he says this is the first time he’s ever seen a woman sit down and read the instruction manual. To date, I’ve shot everything in JPEG but I’m going to shoot the next batch in RAW.

What are your thought on shooting in RAW + JPEG?

I’ll check out the link you provided. Thanks and might I add, your blog is looking tremendous these days. I love everything you’ve done with it!
cfimages
February 14, 2008 at 8:32 am | Permalink

Tienlong bookstore has quite a few Lightroom and Photoshop books. They’re on Chongqing S. Rd, near 228 park. Their website is http://www.tenlong.com.tw It’s Chinese only, but half their books are in English and you can search by English title. I recommend Martin Evening’s books.

Other LR resources are.

http://www.lightroomkillertips.com/

http://inside-lightroom.com/index.php

http://www.lightroomextra.com/

http://lightroom-news.com/

http://www.seanmcfoto.com/lightroom/

There’s also a Lightroom Flickr group with lots of discussion.
MJ Klein
February 14, 2008 at 11:15 am | Permalink

Craig, fortunately for me, Digikam (linux) is RAW aware, so it’s no hassle to shoot RAW. i just rarely do, mainly because i don’t like to post-process. but i would like to see a good demo and learn something new.

Carrie, flickr is crammed full of “amazing” shots that win all kinds of “awards” and get the “oooohhs” and “ahhhhs” but i remain unimpressed with Photoshopped photos. anyone can do that. but not anyone can take a good photo to begin with. i recommend concentrating on the photo taking aspect. it’s my personal opinion that many of those faked color photos are nothing without the fake colors (and that’s why they are processed as such).

i bought an expensive Nikon camera so i wouldn’t have to futz with the damn photos to get them to look good later! i use the zoom and try to frame what i want for the final shot.

Carrie, about your photo, i think:

1. the photo looks better in it’s natural state. that’s just how i am
2. if you are going to bother processing for color, then go ahead and crop it while you’re at it. i would have cut out the annoying post in the upper right hand corner. wait, no i wouldn’t. i would have taken another shot and cropped it in the viewfinder. to heck with processing on a computer – who as the time?
oceanofstupidity
February 14, 2008 at 8:32 pm | Permalink

I envy you. If I were you I would be thrilled too. It’s a good camera. Someday I will have the same model, I hope.
There isn’t nice weather in Poland now. World is grey so I wait every day for spring and more interesting views.
Thanks for encouraging words. I’ll try not to be shy, but it’s a bit hard. I write every word very carefully. I just need a practise.
cfimages
February 15, 2008 at 10:58 am | Permalink

MJ, the beauty of RAW is that you can set the software to automatically convert the file to the cameras JPG settings (or any other settings you want) upon import, so no post-processing is needed, but you still have the flexibility to change settings later if you want, all in a non-destructive way (downside is file sizes are bigger than JPG). This gives you a lot more options for printing, or publication. If the shots are just destined for the web and will never be published or printed bigger than 8 by 12 or so, then JPG works well. But if you get a once in a lifetime shot that you want to print to poster size, or a magazine wants to pay you a lot of money for, RAW is the best option. For me selling stuff professionally, I have no choice – it has to be RAW.
globetrotteri
February 15, 2008 at 11:50 am | Permalink

Craig,

What about shooting in RAW and JPEG? My camera has that option. Any reason why I shouldn’t use this setting?
cfimages
February 15, 2008 at 3:01 pm | Permalink

RAW + JPG is good if you need to get photos online very quickly, but also require RAW. An example would be a newspaper photographer who needs to send JPG to a newsdesk in time for tomorrow’s paper, but also wants the RAW for possible magazine use. Other than that, I can’t really see the point in it, considering that you can set the RAW editor to automatically create JPGs on import.
globetrotteri
February 16, 2008 at 12:45 am | Permalink

Craig,

Have I mentioned you’re awesome? Thanks for the links. I spent some time with them tonight. Unfortunately, I won’t be able to bring the laptop tomorrow night, but it’s going to be really nice meeting you in person. I’m looking forward to it.
globetrotteri
February 16, 2008 at 12:53 am | Permalink

Thanks MJ. Cropped and cropped! I left it uncropped at first because I was just focusing on the photo processing but then I realized that was a stupid thing to do since I’ve posted it as a photo that has been edited.

It’s amazing what I can find to waste time on when I could be focusing on more pressing matters (like moving to my own domain!). I tried out Flickr’s editing software to crop the photo especially for you. It took way longer than I thought so I don’t think I’ll do that again. I’ll be sure to follow through on your suggestion!
jorees
February 16, 2008 at 7:17 pm | Permalink

Wow Carrie great job!

I usually play with the levels, colors, and contrast in Photoshop. It looks like you did the same. Great work!

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