If Only I Think More....

Hey there :) Recently I am thinking a lot about building my own website. The reason is simple, I need it and it will probably will open some opportunity in the future. Also some friends asked me frequently regarding this matter. So finally I put my choice in a hosting service while at the same time I design my own web. Especially about the design, it is finished already (because I'm using a template :D). So what's the problem now? I can simply selects some photographs, the good selections for sure, put it in and there it goes.

However, it is not that simple. There are thousand of pictures in my hard-drive. Pictures from the last 3 years at least, not counting the shots from the earlier years. Here's the problem, aside from displaying my selections of single photos, I also want to put a section filled by photo-story and photo series.  But, what I have mostly is single photos, some stories that I want to publish remain unfinished while others are craps.

Compared to making singles, photo story is more difficult to be made. There's no guarantee for ones who are able to shot compelling singles can actually be able to build a good photo story. It is not different, but just more advanced. Just like comparing writing a sentence and writing a novel. You need more time. You need better approach. You need the ideas about what to cover. You need this and that. More and more, but above all you need to think more.

Yes, that's how we should work. We should think as much as we shoot. No good pictures are produced without a good thought within the process. That's what great photographers do. It is applied both to create singles and photo story.

And then, at this point, my mind goes back to the time when I travel to India & Nepal. I just feel that I wasn't there with full of ideas. Instead of thinking about what to photograph, I just made a check list of interesting places and lived with it. For sure it was o.k since my objectives during that time was 50% traveling and 50% taking pictures. But, if only I think more then I will have no difficulties of arranging better photo story. I got some, but I should have got some more. I was in those two countries for 4 months, so pretty much to do, if only I ever wanted it.

A lesson learned.

No regret.

And the website will be launched very soon, no matter what.

P.S: the photograph I attach has nothing to do with this post. It just a bit weird to see a post without any photograph. So I prefer to display at least one :)

Realizing the Overdone

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.