Photo Enhancements and Post Processing for Beginners

Hello there photography beginner or I must say photography enthusiast :)

Now I would like to discuss my insights about photo enhancements and post processing.Keep on reading cowboy!

As a beginner,we are always amazed and curious looking at the crafts of professional and amateur photographers posted and shared on Facebook,"how they did that?","how they shoot?" "what are the camera settings?","how they post processed it?",this questions are also my questions when I was beginning in photography.Absolutely you will feel very jealous to also have that kind of beautiful landscape photo for yourself .You will become more inspired and you will plan a trip into a tourist spot and then you will shoot and shoot and shoot hoping to produce that kind of beautiful landscape photo of your own.You will wait for the sunset or sunrise and that is a very good plan,because most of the beautiful landscape photos were taken during that "golden hours".

Let me ask you a question photo enthusiast,do you already know how to do "long exposure shot"?

If NOT,kill your excitement having a trip and having beautiful landscape photo of your own asap.
Learn first how to shoot in manual mode and give yourself a time for research doing that "long exposure shot",this will help you to save more time in post processing and many times "long expo" need not to be post processed.

You said: "No!I'm too lazy for research and reading,I will have my trip tomorrow."

Fine,take care! But do not post or share your over saturated,non aligned horizontally landscape images.You are now becoming very amateurish using that on line photo editing sites or apps.You will add more contrast,you will sharpen it,you will add different photo filters or effects for your enhancements and you will end up in a moment that you do not know when to stop your post processing.And in the end, you already did not know if that landscape photo of yours is beautiful or not.

You said: "It is beautiful,it is my shot and look it is very colorful,and I did not research or even read about landscape photos but I did it."

I will say: That's not a photo,that is a cartoon. :) Amazing! you know how to draw Manga using that camera  xD

Post processing simply means enhancement.Make your images acceptable in human eyes.Heavy post processing may apply on doing composite photos.And as I said before,post processing are not needed on most "long exposure shot".

Let me give you an example to make myself clear
( this shots are mine)

                                                             You've shoot it like this

                                                            

                                                              Post process it like this

                                                      And don't you dare to do it like this

Most photography beginners are using on line photo editing apps for their post processing needs,just because they do not know how to use Adobe Photoshop,Lightroom etc..There's nothing wrong with those on line photo editing sites or applications,actually some of it are very good photo editing tools.Google Picasa is one of those.My point is post process your photo to enhance it,not to ruin it.
Avoid heavy vignetting,avoid oversaturating and avoid unnecessary photo filters.Just make it naturally beautiful.Okay?!

Let's go on LE (long exposure shots).
You may post process your LE shots by reducing it's "noise" in Photoshop,click the "Filter" that you will see above the work template and then reduce it.

Don't apply sharpening,"noise" will come out,but apply the tools that you think will enhance the image.Post processing needs some skills,be keen on details and most of all make it look natural but beautiful.You can also put watermark on your images,make it small.

Here's one of my long exposure shot that I don't do post processing aside from my watermark.I swear it.TIPS:by doing LE  shots you will need a tripod and if you do have a remote trigger then use it.Set your camera on M mode,turn off the VR(Vibration Reduction-Nikon) or IS(Image Stabilization-Canon) button on your lens,for the camera will seek a vibration when it is turned ON,it will result a blur on your LE shot.Use the Live View function of your camera for your comfort while shooting.And..experiment on your manual settings,learn from your own experience. :)

Taddaahhh!!!

Practice makes perfect,but nobody is perfect.So don't practice...Just shoot and shoot and shoot.LOL!

I hope that you've learned something about this blog.

Huwag mo na pagtawanan english ko,hindi ako poet,photographer ako.Hanggang sa uulitin mga
kanguso! :)  gimme five,orayt!