Time is passing, and as the days go by I feel more committed to the process of creating photos. We don't take pictures, we make them and I truly feel this as I dive more into this hobby. I don't post my photos or blog from the angle of being a professional, someone with years of experience, classes under their belt, or a full knowledge of the depth of this art. I create these posts from the viewpoints of someone who is learning day by day about visuals, lighting, personal style, and what I would like to contribute to a community where there are millions of other true photographers more talented than I may ever become. Today's post circles around gathering details as a novice photographer. In the photos I'm sharing the two aspects I will emphasize are the following:
RAW Capture
In one short sentence, a photograph is simply the collection of light information in a camera. The images that we are used to seeing from cell phones, point and shoot cameras, and the well known "Auto" modes on higher end DSLR cameras are images which are captured AND processed within the camera itself. One well known format is .jpg. You see what the camera "thinks" the best image should be, yet you lose a bit of creative freedom in doing so. Most editing tools will give a whole picture edit, the format is "lossy" meaning over time the quality degrades, but for regular photography it is just fine. I love taking photos with my cell phone, and image sensors in these devices are getting better and better year by year. With all of that being said, when I take my Sony A6000 out, I shoot RAW ONLY. The files sizes are larger, and images can look a bit rough around the edges coming out of the camera. This frustrated me as a novice photo enthusiast because I simply did not know what to do next. This is where this blog was born from. On to my next aspect:
Sharpening
Because I didn't have a great source to put everything together, the detail of sharpening photos has never been apparent to me even until recently. RAW photos can have high noise (variations of brightness, color and a "static" appearance). Using Adobe Lighroom, or Google's Nik Collection (these are my two favorite sources for image processing) I now apply corrections to my photos both before and AFTER I have made the adjustments I want to my colors, crop, style, contrast, smoothness, etc. (I will return to these in the distant future), I will not get into how to do this, as I feel the most important steps are to understand that these steps are almost always necessary. Numerous tutorials are available on RAW photo sharpening. Check the link below for one!
Sharpening Images in Lightroom
To complete this long post (apologies), The photos I am posting have gone through the necessary rounds of pre and post photo sharpening, One is in my favorite HDR format which will be discussed in the future, and the other has been processed via the NIK Collection. I focused on the aspects of composition, hoping the viewers eyes are attracted to the details I tried to emphasize. Please enjoy the images of Roosevelt Island, a gem in New York City! Like, comment and share if you feel the urge. Also, please view my images at Sean's Photo Bridge.
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