Editing Your Images

Why do you need to edit your photos?

Unedited (Straight out of Camera) Edited Image

In the past, photos were taken on film cameras. These films were then taken to the darkroom, where the negatives were used to turn them into positive images (photos).

You need to think of the digital photo that comes straight out of your camera as the “negative” you must still digitally develop.

Ansel Adams, world-famous landscape photographer, was known to spend up to 8 hours on a single print in the darkroom, making it look exactly the way he wanted before releasing it to the public.

Adams once said that the negative was like a musical score, and the processed image is the musical performance. For instance a musical score may call for violins, but you may perform the piece using synthesizers.

Anyway here is the difference between Adams unprocessed image, and a processed one:

But he didn't stop there. Over the years available chemicals changed, his skills improved, and he reprocessed some of his famous images over and over again: