Let's Develop A Photograph

I still have the occasional discussion with a student about the "validity" of developing photographs. They seem surprised but not moved to learn that all the great photographs they see are developed to some extent, some a great deal some just a little. Read on and see why it's the other half of photography.

Example: Canada goose with wings extended.

I love me some birds. In this photograph I got the focus point I wanted and the sharpness and the exposure worked. exposure data: 1/1250 @ f/8, ISO 800, Av, spot metering with the Canon EOS 5D Mk2 and my good old Tamron 200-500mm f/5.6-6.3 lens at 500mm.

Once I open this image in Adobe's Lightroom3, however I really start to make a photograph that looks quite different.

Lightroom's Develop module is Adobe's Camera RAW editor in a different interface. Here's where I adjust the contrast, color intensity, shadows and highlights and generally tweak the image until I like it even more than originally.

Here I mute some colors and intensify others and crop. This image isn't as realistic as the original but that's the point. I like to take some images to a state in which the natural contents have unnatural bot not extreme qualities.

I want an image that looks like it was taken in such a way that the colors were enhanced and the lighting made dramatic and the framing was just right. Much of that must be done when shooting. Some of that can only be done in developing.

If you think about film photography you'll see why some people whom I respect say it's not a photograph until it's developed and printed. If someone wants to buy one of my artistic photographs they'll want it as a print, not as a digital file. Developing isn't just about how the file looks. It's about how it will look in print.

Whenever I hear someone say they don't develop their images because they work to "get it right in the camera" I suspect that the person hasn't been in photography very long. That whole idea only applies to digital photography. If you shoot film you must develop that negative and  print or you won't see a positive image.

It's a matter of taste and intent but once you get familiar with whatever developing software you have, even that which is shipped with the camera, you'll have a much wider range of possibilities for your images.