Photography and Photo Editing

© 2012 Wazari Wazir | Beyoglu | Istanbul Turkey | After Editing

© 2012 Wazar Wazir | Beyoglu | Istanbul Turkey | SOOC | Before Editing

When people ask me, I mean when new photographer or someone who just find an interest in photography ask me whether to edit or not their pictures, my answer will always “it depends”. Sometimes it depends on your clients requirement or maybe your own preference or simply you like to make your pictures look better than what they actually are.

For those of you who have been following my blog for awhile, knows that I like to play around with Photoshop, sometime I like to play around with textures, different color tones and black and white, I like to experiment with my pictures, it is like a hobby to me but the truth is that all those crazy editing really not necessary for most of the time when it comes to great picture or photography.

Great pictures will always be a great pictures, it doesn’t matter whether you did some kind of editing or not, great picture can stand on it’s own, if you captured something that have historical value whether to your family or your country, then it is a great picture. A picture of your children  when he or she take up the first steps is a great picture to your family. A photograph of an athlete crying in tears of joy after winning the very first Olympic gold medal for their country is a great picture, regardless of whether you edit or not that kind of pictures, it is still a great pictures and great pictures does not necessarily be perfect in its technical aspect. Some great pictures can be quite blurry, not very sharp or the composition is not that great by the rules.

Back to the photograph above, the top one, I think most people will focus more on the “technique of editing” rather than the real story of the picture, rather than appreacite the place or the location of the pictures. Most people will ask, how did he do that, what kind of Photoshop Plugs-in that he use to achieve tat effect, wow that was great editing. See, you know what I mean. Now the focus have shifted from the story of the picture to the technique on how to get that kind of look or effect.

If you are documentary or photojournalist, you really don’t need to do any kind of editing provided that you get everything right in the camera, the exposure was good, the sharpness was good, the color was good, then the editing really become unnecessary, unless you want to fix the horizon, to make it straight or to clone out some black spot in the picture which doesn’t belong there in the first place, which is caused by some dust inside your camera sensor. I think that’s the only editing that you can or have to do plus maybe some cropping to cut out  any unwanted elements that does not contribute to the context of your story within the frame.

The photograph above were taken at Beyouglu, which is a district located on the European side of Istanbul, not very far from Istanbul famous Galata Tower. Even without the HDR look like editing you still get the picture, the taxi the people, the cobblestones pavement, the shops and the old building on the each side of the road. I just need to write a little to tell where the picture is taken and that’s it, without editing, you still get the “picture”.

The second photograph is unedit picture, SOOC or straight out of camera, so if you ask me why I edit that picture, like I said I like to do some kind of editing and I think the editing picture, the top picture is much more interesting to look at. The editing does not change the story or the context of the picture, I did not manipulate the scene, maybe a little bit over enhance, maybe a little bit sharpness than what it was supposed to be and if you ask me whether I use any third party software to get the look, my answer is Not, I’m just using Photoshop to get the effect.

If I want to sell a Photoshop Workshops, then I will talk more about how you can get the look of the photograph, how you can get the HDR kind of effect with Photoshop, I will write more about the techniques than the story behind the picture but I’m not writing this to tell you that I can do that kind of editing but just to share my personal opinion regarding the photography and photo editing. It’s up to you or depends on  your clients expectation or requirement.

Enough about the editing, now a little bit story about the photograph. I did wait for the yellow taxi to come by before I take the picture, this is not an accident, I mean I did wait for that yellow taxi to appear because that yellow taxi add a visual interest to the photograph, otherwise it will look mundane or almost monotone.

I want something brighter to add contrast to the scene and yes I did get a couple of shots with the yellow taxi in it but sometimes there is also another vehicle behind the taxi, a motorcycle, van or someone wearing a bright colors in the frame, I don’t want anything that will be fighting for the attention in the frame, so I wait by the roadside for awhile until I get what I want.

Whether you like the editing or not, is not really my concern, the real purpose why I took this picture is to share with you what it look like at Beyoglu, the small road nearby Galata Tower. From this small road uphill will take you to Istiklal Caddesi, Taksim and not very far downhill will get you to Galata Bridge or Karakoy Tram Station. (From Karakoy Tram Station, you can take the tram to Sultanahmet Station where Blue Mosque and Aya Sofya is located).

Hopefully, with or without the editing you will get the “Picture”, I mean the environment of that small cobblestones road in Beyoglu, Istanbul Turkey.

Related Post : Captivating Color, a Guide to Dramatic Color Photography