As we already knew, several past few years has witnessed a great change in the world of photography. At the time when camera has become more and more affordable for anyone, we started being flooded by thousand of images each day; at the photo-sharing website, in the blog, and even simply in the facebook pages. Everyone is shooting and sharing their works now. However, most of the time, there is something lacking (or may be too much) applied; the post-processing.

Being able to process your own works is a feature of today's digital photography. You no longer need the expensive equipment to develop your picture nor going to professional to make it happen. You only need to sit in front of your computer for a while. But some people tend to overdone rather than simply done it. Stacking the layer, dodge here and burn that, experiment with blending option, and apply some sharpening. They are all okay, but not if it's too much. There's always an obvious line between processing and over-processing a photograph. I always think that overdo any kind of works is the only way to make things worse. A good example is when you eat too much to feed your hunger. Doesn't it feel bad?

Here, I share my opinion regarding post-processing. It's not a tutorial about photoshop, but regarding something that is more essential; knowing what to do.

When I finish shooting, I always take a quick look on the picture and ask myself a couple of question. Did I shoot it well? and the next is what is need to be done in post-processing to make it better (not worse)? The later question is important. We need to plan about what to do during post-processing since ones can easily lost in the world of photoshopping (you shop too much on the tools and layers). Do the only things that necessary to make it done. Think about what we need not what we want. See the problem area which can deviate people from things you want to tell in your photographs. Pretty simple.

In this post I also attach two picture of mine which applied extensive burning & dodging, layering without adding or deleting any element in the composition. I usually don't work much in photoshop, but if I need to then I do.

Let me know what you think :)

PS: here and here are the photographers who I believe did good post-processing. They did it to make it better, not worse. However they have done just enough, not more.