Post-processing (NSFW)

Post-processing is the modern term for what photographers used to do in the darkroom. Some photographers disdain the idea of post processing and use the philosophy that if you didn't get it right in the camera you didn't do the job.

Other photographers obsessively post-process everything they capture to the point that the image is no longly truly a photograph but becomes, instead, a piece of graphic art. These folks use all the tricks of the computer trade -- saturation, sharpening, Gaussian blur, three or four filters, and so much more that they spend more time working on the computer than they do taking photographs.

There is another set of photographers that take a more lackadaisical approach to photography and use the philosophy that "it can be fixed in post processing." By this, I mean they don't excessively post process, but they're not particular careful with their original image so that they have to post process in order to correct obvious flaws with the image. Typically these go beyond difficult exposure and are in the realm or poor composition and extraneous objects in the field of view.

My philosophy lies somewhere off to the side of all this. I strive to get the image as close to the final product as possible as part of the initial in-camera exposure. In general, however, almost every image I publish will have some degree of post processing applied, though it's typically pretty minor. Usually it's a touch of sharpening and saturation, and if it's a high ISO image, some noise reduction. I try to shoot RAW image formats as much as possible so that I have as much data as possible to manipulate. I am not, however, against extensive post processing to produce a more graphical art type of image. In fact, I think that it's fun and I enjoy playing around with different techniques to produce those types of images.

Usually though, I take a minimalist approach and limit my manipulations to that necessary to subtlety improve the image and I try to make the post-processing indiscernible. Too much processing can render unnatural looking skin and make the model look like a plastic Barbie doll, or it can introduce easily noticed artifacts that detract from the overall look of the image.

The purist will tell you that the best images require no post-processing at all. I'm not sure Ansel Adams, Edward Weston and the other great photographers known for their film and darkroom skills would agree. I imagine that if they were alive and shooting digital today (and I'm sure they would be), they would embrace the computer as their new darkroom and would find the ability to appropriately manipulate their images without smelly and dangerous darkroom chemicals a great leap of technology and in creativity.

Mortality

My mother died recently. It was an expected death. She had been quite sick for a very long time. She had a heart attack in 2000, developed diabletes in 2001, continued to smoke after her heart attack (2-3 packs a day), and then developed emphysema, Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease and Congestive Heart Failure. I thought I was moving forward after her passing, but my uncle died last week from almost exactly the same health issues. Then, this last Friday, a friend died in a car accident leaving behind a wife and two small children. All this death just makes me think of my own mortality and takes me back to thoughts of my mom.

Despite her failing health, my mom was a scrappy fighter. She came out to Oregon for a visit every year from 1997 until 2005 until she was too sick to travel. So I went to see her. She was living with my Aunt Joyce and had been for twenty years, and they fussed like a couple of old hens - but they loved each other and wouldn't have it any other way. They grew up together and fussed then, so it was only natural they would do it when they got older.

Over the years she made sure she visited her grandchildren whenever she could. She came for both weddings my children have had, and she loved our 4th of July cookouts. But what she loved most was sitting out on my back deck in the wonderful Oregon summer away from the high heat and humidity of the Southern climate. Once out there she would just sit and enjoy the breeze and watch all the birds fly by. She was thilled to no end once when a fledging red-tailed hawk landed on the back fence.

Sometimes she would sit on the deck and paint. She brought her oils and brushes with her and we would get her small canvases to work on. Sometimes she painted rocks, driftwood and other materials. I still have some painted rocks in the planter on my deck. She was very artistic and always came up with some new idea for a craft item or a decorative display.

She loved her grandchildren and that was the role she cherished most. She was known as Granny to them and all their friends. Heck, aftter a while even her kids started calling her Granny.

Last year, I made her an hour long DVD entitled "Memories with Granny" and I gave it to her for Christmas. She loved it and showed it to all her friends and family. In the end, she requested that it be shown at her funeral. So it was. So, for an hour, we watched a video depicting her life in photos, videos, music and more importantly, in her own words. It was a most unconventional funeral for a most unconventional woman, and I think, a fitting tribute to her.

We'll miss you Granny.