Admittedly I do some post, I try not to go overboard, but as I rarely use a flash I either try to expose for the sky, meaning skater can often be bit shadowy so pull what’s needed back, or if skater is exposed try to tweak it so sky has some exposure (unless it’s an overcast day).
There are some I do nothing to though, but very rare I’m good enough to get it all on point out of camera at the moment.
I’m just loving the feedback here so far as when it’s a photo you take yourself you don’t always see the flaws.
I’ve got no idea what im doing really, I know how to use the light meter in the camera and would be useless without it.
I shoot vary sparingly because I dont want to spend too much on film so most tricks I’ll shoot maybe 4/5 photos tops and just hope they turn out ok.
Rarely do any post, unless something is super over exposed/edit some dust that got scanned if I cant be arsed to re scan.
I did use Lightroom but Adobe kept nobbling my patches so I gave up.
There are very good open source alternatives these days so Adobe can pretty much be forgotten about as a hobbyist.
I like the crew/people in the background too, specially when its a simple trick.
Its nice to look back at a photo and see what was going on at the time.
Sadly as I use my phone for all editing lightroom mobile is the better option for me (Snapseed is ok but find I prefer lightroom mobile). If I ever move back to a Windows device I’ll give GIMP ago rather than pay for adobe
Gimp is OK as a Photoshop alternative but more specifically aligned with Lightroom is Darktable.
The open source stuff, if you have a background with Adobe, takes some learning to become familiar with their tools layout, operation and naming conventions.
Other than that, they’re powerful enough and most importantly, free.
I think post stuff is fine if you have an artistic vision for a certain pic otherwise ideally get everything right in the shot as the result will be far better than trying to clean up after things. Minimal corrections in post will get better results. I know I always compare this to music but many people record poorly, bad gain staging, bad mics, placement etc and then try and use software to sculpt into something polished, it just does not work that well, if you learn ways to get the best result on it’s way in then you have no need to mess with it, just minor EQ and compression to make it work in a mix, same as lighting in photos.
Not crit for anyone just my take on post stuff in general.
I’ve always used Gimp and always on jpegs so getting any results with shadows/highlights eluded me for years. Curves, then maybe some brightness and contrast, a bit of sharpening and of course straightening, then crop.
Now I’ve gone to JPEG+RAW with the full frame I’m dipping my toe into more exotic stuff but I did start on film bitd so agree with above and usually try and shoot the final image in camera.
Once you start looking, the artefacts of over editing start to grate
He’s not filming or shooting a photo, he’s retrieving his board from his last run lol. There’s at least one other skater in at this time as well. Heavy snake session, shot from the hip.
Speaking of makes, generally I do only post makes, but have been tempted to post non makes (but obviously make that clear), what’s others thoughts on this, interested to know tbf
It’s a grey area sure enough. For many years I was 100% makes only but this harks back to the days when a ‘new learn’ meant it was on lock and reproducible on demand for the camera (just needed added style and even then you only get three tries!).
Now I still shy away from it, if someone really wants to post a big stunt or non-make then I’ll caption it attempt or similar.
For me, the bottom line is … Grant Brittain says …
The trick has to have been a make during the session that the pictures are being taken.
If a good shot comes of an attempt that wasn’t a make, I’m fine with that, so long as it did happen some time during that session.
There are questions within that though.
Someone can fling an amazing looking trick, say a big air/flip etc and not land it the way it’s portrayed, they could land a lesser exaggerated version and claim the styley one.
I’d hope the photographer would call that out though unless the success of a published photo is too much of a pull.
I’m not getting published so it doesn’t matter that much I suppose.
Even having my own little rule as a once in a blue moon hobbyist might be a bit over the top.
That’s some interesting answers tbf, along the same lines as my thoughts, I’d rather post something that had been made than not, have a great shot of a BS blunt which looks great but wasn’t a make sadly, just one of those motivational moments that makes certain you want to go back
Yeah I don’t mean normal people, I agree with what you say really but just adding that there could be issues within it for people who have some gain from their photos.
