Color Correcting

Amanda, originally uploaded by PhotoGraphicGirl.

Clearly you'll know you've been doing a little too much color correcting when you walk outside for lunch and the world looks too blue.

During my leadership as the organizer of the Long Island Photography Meetup, I heard a lot of photographers say, "I don't worry about the white balance, I just fix it later in Camera Raw / Lightroom / Photoshop.

At the time I thought, "Oh, ok that's cool." But after one brief, nerve wracking lesson with a professional shooter friend of mine, I'm now leaning toward, "That's so NOT the way to think."

The other day an awesome photographer friend of mine said, "Stop being lazy." I'm not sure if he realized he said it, because it was in the middle of some other juicy tidbits of knowledge that he was imparting upon me, but it stuck.

It stuck because I knew he was right. I was being lazy. And up until that point I was being lazy about white balance as well.

Our photographic society and digital world has taught us how lazy we can be and still get away with it. Most people - and even most other photographers - won't even notice if we correct images during post-production. And in order to make ourselves feel better we all congregate and talk about how easy it is to fix in post-production.

But OMG do we really WANT to?

Time, effort and sore eyeballs are already making me realize the importance of my friend's words. Don't shoot and fix afterwards. Just shoot. Shoot like you mean it.

I tried an assortment of lighting techniques with Amanda. I didn't bring lights, umbrellas, or assistants. I'm fixated on working with what I have. This photo may not be perfect, but it's closer to what I was looking to accomplish.

I've seen too many photographers buy endless amounts of equipment, thinking that the next biggest camera will fix their lack of laziness.

It gets tiring hearing photogs talk about the newest gadgets / lenses / bodies when in reality they really just need help with their methods. Who's got the money for all those equipment upgrades anyway? And if you don't know your equipment, how will you ever take good shots?

Now, I'm not saying I don't still have a hankering for the latest and greatest. I'm just saying I'm going to try to get the basics under control before I make the next massive purchase.

Happy Shooting!

Adrienne



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