If you abstract away from photography as a whole object and decompose it into its components, you will find that at the heart of any photo there are two components:

The Tone Component
The color component

The main task of processing comes down to understanding the problems of tone, the problems of color, and realizing what you want to see in the end.

Experienced retouchers or photographers process the tone component first, then the color component. This reduces the risk of processing defects, the strength of their appearance, and keeps the color cleaner.

It cannot be claimed that you have to process only in this sequence. There are always exceptions. But it’s better to stick to this order of processing.

Where to start processing photos
Consider the selected photo until you understand what you want to make of it.

No need to rush to move sliders or search for the next set of one thousand and one presets for beginners.

The main point of any processing is the artistic intent, which is embodied by the processing itself.

Can’t you get it right?

Leave that shot and consider another.

As I was learning, I noticed that I couldn’t figure out how to process simple walkthrough shots.

After I realized that I wasn’t interested in them myself, I stopped wasting my time on them by eliminating processing.

Weed out the uninteresting shots. This is the second thing you have to learn.

Don’t waste your time processing pictures that are obviously boring. It is better to take pictures that are interesting and that look good after processing and retouching.

The post How to learn to process artistically appeared first on Yes FixRed.

The main stages of processing:

Step 1. Transferring photos to a computer disk and viewing all the footage in a special program (I shoot in RAW format, only certain viewers can open this format)

Step 2. Removing defects and selecting photos for further processing

Stage 3: Initial processing of the selected material (also called color correction). This includes:

• correction of white balance (so that the photo does not yellow, blue or green);
• Correction of exposure (so that the picture is not too dark or too light);
• contrast enhancement;
• saturation enhancement.

Step 4: Author’s processing – as the name implies, this is processing of photos based on the artistic vision of the author, which in turn depends very much on the aesthetic level of the photographer and his taste preferences.

I do not like to paint the grass blue or heavily retouching people into mannequins, so I take a natural approach to processing. I approach each shoot individually, and sometimes it takes me a long time to find the right processing for each particular series.

This includes:

• framing or correcting the horizon line (so that the posts are vertical and the tables are horizontal (unless the reverse is a deliberate artistic intent:) );
• more detailed work with color;
• skin retouching;
• teeth whitening if necessary, and even silhouette correction;
• removal of unnecessary objects (if they disturb the harmony and overall composition of the photo);
• adding special effects (working with textures and brushes), if the idea requires it;
• sharpening.

Step 5: Conversion (turning an already processed RAW into the familiar JPEG), creating mini-copies for web publishing, and recording the finished material on disk.

The post Basic processing steps appeared first on Yes FixRed.

The camera is not just a device capable of capturing what is visible to the eye. Today it should be perceived as a unique tool that enables us to look at the world around us in a new way. Photography, in turn, has become a means of expressing inner states, ideas and thoughts.

When the world saw digital cameras that take pictures of the highest quality, the interest to photography as art only increased. The audience of photographers and connoisseurs of contemporary styles of photography has expanded to unimaginable proportions. Thus, photography today has a significant impact on many areas of life and various forms of art.

Photography as art is presented at various kinds of exhibitions. Most often such events are thematic in nature, so the works presented to the public are usually in the same style.

The style of photography corresponds to different characteristics. These include thematic interpretation, use of colors, shooting technique, composition, tone, mood, which the author conveys, and much more. It is together all of these indicators and form a single style. By the way, their set has no clear boundaries. A photographer can introduce something new, and this style will have exactly his handwriting.

Others, on the contrary, may decide for themselves to work in one direction, which is already widespread among professionals. For example, in the style of retro, pop art, glamour and so on. The style chosen by the author of the photo can be influenced by various conditions, among them processes relevant to modern society, new trends in human activity.

The most popular styles of photography are black and white photos, black and white photos with color highlighting, sepia, glamour, retro, grunge, high key. Note that the list of in-demand styles does not end there. Let’s not forget: photography is art, which means that it has no boundaries. We can conclude that the photo is a kind of stylization of a realistic color image in the author’s chosen technique.

Photographers often deceive their viewers, but this deception can be called pleasing. For example, a bb photo that is completely devoid of natural hues can take the most advantage over a color one.

Many creators of images often favor a certain style, which forms the unique handwriting of the photographer. Different styles can be combined with different genres, which makes it possible not only to show the picture, but also to convey the mood, emotions and thoughts.

The post Development of styles in photography appeared first on Yes FixRed.

Work with pictures only on a computer with a high quality screen

The monitor is the photographer’s eye. Correct, unbiased color reproduction is very important for retouching. Very often on inexpensive monitors (and even more so on TV sets) the manufacturers artificially increase the contrast and color saturation, and the picture looks unnatural because of it. If you choose a laptop to work with the image, the decisive criterion must be the display. Well-proven are the screens based on the matrix IPS.

View the result of retouching on different displays

Not all of your viewers will view your images on a screen with impeccable color reproduction. That’s why I try to look at pictures on other, non-perfect displays before publishing them. I make sure to open the pictures on my smartphone and television so that I can see how others will see my picture. Often I make corrections based on the results of such testing so that the picture looks good on any screen.

Develop your own scenario of working with your photos

The technological process of creating a photo begins with generating an idea, planning and organizing the shooting, making arrangements with the model, or buying airline tickets. The moment you press the shutter button is important, but far from the last. Here’s a sample list of the stages of creating a finished photo, which are done after the shoot, on a PC:

selecting and cataloging the footage;
RAW conversion;
retouching and color correction;
resizing and preparation for publication.

Make a plan of action

Often a photographer, after opening an image in an editor, does not know what he/she wants to get as a result and starts turning over all the settings. This approach is probably a good one at first, when you are exploring the functions of photo editors. But later it will have a negative effect on the result: the processing will turn out unnatural, pictures will look different.

A high-performance computer is comfort and efficiency when working with photos

Of course, the screen is the main detail of the laptop for a photographer. But I know by experience how difficult it is to work (especially with “heavy” RAW files) on a slow, outdated computer. Programs often slow down or even crash on weak PCs, so you have to start processing all over again.

The power of simple office laptops is hardly enough for serious work with graphics. Here it is worth paying attention to specialized models. On the market there are options for content creators: photographers, designers, videographers.

The post Tips for good photo processing appeared first on Yes FixRed.