Conceptual post-processing idea 01 from Freemans Mill
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Have you ever gone to scout out a new location and just gone hog wild with snap-shotty junk? The reasoning behind it (for me) has always been that since I’m not “seriously” trying to get that perfect shot to promote, that the shots don’t really matter. Its just to get a lay of the land, decide where to shoot when you’ve really got your “game on.”
This is was my mindset when heading out to a local park. I didn’t get there early enough for many long-exposure shots, I just did the run-and-shoot through most of it. And then, I packed it up to see what I wanted to come back and shoot later.
Freemans Mill Dam - Conceptual 01
Above is a compilation of a shot of the dam at this park.
I went through all of this stuff, and amazingly, had some not-so-bad stuff. Maybe it was because I didn’t really expect anything much, honestly. And I think that is exactly what helped.
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I’ve noticed that many times if I’m trying real hard to get a photograph just perfect when out in the field, I’m much more rigid and uncompromising about how it could be improved in post. I get in my head that I’m not being “honest” to the image. Now, when I’m plopping down to a bunch of images that I frankly just didn’t get attached to when taking them, I don’t have that guarded approach.
I don’t mind changing things around, adding layers, filters, distortions, changing tones, removing a few things. I tihnk this is because I’m not wedded to what I “saw” when taking the exposure, and more “aware” of how I felt when taking the photograph. Well, at least sometimes anyway. Because frankly some weak images really can be turned into something spectacular during post-processing.
Below is a short video of the ways this image changed from original
So, what do you think about the changes? Do you prefer the black and white? The conceptual version? I’d love to hear your feedback on which you prefer (or hate.) And feel free to supply your own thoughts and links to work you’ve added some conceptual effort into.