Some Advice To Kids Just Getting Into Photography.

cwphoto:

Stay away from Photoshop. 

I know, I know, this sounds like a pedophile asking people to stay away from his favorite daycare, but I’m telling you that you won’t regret it.

The big “in” thing right now seems to be loading a shot into photoshop and boosting the fuck out of the contrasts and adding an old photo texture via the “Multiply” tool in Photoshop.  The idea is to create the effect of a shot being fifty of sixty years old, with lots of grain and a thick vignette around the corners of the photo.  And if you work on the setting of the photo, the effect can be wonderful.  However, there are times to use photoshop and times to leave it alone.

The kind of shots this effect does not work in:

Portraits

Close-ups look particularly bad with this effect because it creates the illusion that the subject’s skin is blotchy and uneven.  The eye immediately attaches the focus to the way the shot was edited and not of the person in the photo.  To me, this is the first major fuck-up with the effect.  The editing should never be the primary focus of a shot.  Remember, less is almost always more.  If you shoot a photo that crops from the breasts up, stay away from this effect.  What I would suggest, if you have to edit, is bring out the colors that the mood of the photo represents.  We all have our own ideas of what color means to us, but bringing out a few midtones and subtle burning / dodging around the areas of focus will create a much better end result.

Landscapes

I sat and thought about this one for a long time.  I can’t ever think of a reason to use the effect in a landscape photo.  It’s just…not good for the medium.  I have no real reason why except that it’s a giant eye sore to me when I see it.

Photojournalism

These kind of photos lose their appeal entirely when they are over-edited.  The idea of photo journalism, to me, is to document a story.  To capture the essence of a time as it happens.  Editing a photo in this medium should never go further than adjusting the levels or converting a photo to black and white or something.  I will never understand the mentality behind editing a situational photo.  The photo itself should be good enough first.

If you do love this effect, as a lot of people seem to, the best advice I could really offer is to shoot in settings where the effect makes sense.  It looks surprisingly alright if the subject isn’t draped in logos and the fashion of the right now.  I’m not saying to dress your subjects in overalls and dresses, but I am suggesting to stay away from distracting elements.  Shoot from a distance so there is no primary subject.

To me, a photo is ruined when you can easily tell how somebody edited it.  I use this same philosophy when I can pick out a font on an advertisement or a billboard.  Editing is an artform in itself, I think, but the real trick is learning how to use it in a way that people won’t notice.  Or at least in a way where it’s not obvious what you’d done.

I’ve never taken any college courses in my life, but I follow these little things and thought that maybe they’d be helpful to other inspiring photographers.  I get e-mails all the time about my editing techniques, and this kind of scares me.

Be a good photographer first.  If I had learned that when I was sixteen, I would be a hell of a lot better than I am right now.

And if you want a shot that looks fifty years old, buy a Holga or something.  Nothing will create that look better than that, and you’ll become a better photographer afterward.

This is great advice. For adults just getting into photography, too.