Avoid this! My photography was bad, and it didn't need to be.
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- Äas pĆidĂĄn 20. 03. 2020
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Lately I've been spending some time perusing old photos (seeing what I can give a retouch update, see what hidden gems I overlooked). In that process I've realized two things I seriously regret about the way I worked in the pst.
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This is one of those things that probably applies to every discipline. Particularly when people get started when theyâre younger. Youthful cockiness is a thing. But, youthful cockiness can be a helpful thing too. If I had realized how crap my early photos were, I might have given up on it. The key is to get through that stage where you think your shit doesnât stink and then realize how little you actually know and do the hard and deliberate work to develop the skills and creativity.
My three main regrets in photography are that I ditched film so early (2005), that I didnât shoot exclusively RAW from the very beginning, and that I tried too hard to follow the trends instead of focusing on the basics.
I wish there was more emphasis in the photo community on learning how to just shoot and develop or edit straight first and THEN experiment with the quirky stuff. I think itâs absolutely worthwhile to get into alternative developing and printing processes and funky digital editing and shooting at weird angles and playing around with HDR, etc., but itâs far, far more valuable to nail the basics first. Quirkinesses and such has become a stand-in for skill and creativity and that has hastened the devaluation of photography. If an image isnât good enough without making it funky itâs not good enough period.
Excellent points!
I agree.
I now shoot raw+jpeg, external backup and cloud save final edits. My post processing is very minimal using the Fuji film simulations as a base with minor adjustments. It only took 15 years of shooting to get there.
My regret is full HDR. I thought it was so cool, once upon a time.
I still like the fade colour. Funny how everyone's taste so different.
Hope you donât look back and say why did I gel the backlight.
I was thinking about that too haha,
But I think CZcams Videos are less about emotional mementos and more about the public trends.
Kind of like the radio,
you want to have some good bases, be a decent human being while you're on air,
but the music played changes from year to year and that 's fine.
It just makes it interesting to look back on it once a few years have passed
...plus the Cap & White Hoody...going for the 1980s Disco look! Sorry Andrew!! Thanks for the laugh in these strange and difficult times...
Great Work Andrew- Stay safe and well
Hey Andrew, really liked this video, very interesting and can relate a lot to these regrets. Stay safe with your beautiful family, man.
Great advice. Thank youđ
great stuff, very wise advise and topics
Those are nice looking! In ten more years you will feel nostalgic for them looking that way. It tells the story of that time for you! I bet your kids would love them when they are older even with those grades.
The photos yes. The grading? No.
0:35 I actually like your original edit more. Has a cool vintage vibe going for it. To each, their own.
Too much clarity and vignetting, and a blue cast
I really don't mind the crushed blacks.... for the right photo. Not on everything, but it can look really nice on a few one offs.?. If it calls for it
@@AndrewGoodCamera haha you mention two of the things i apply to all my photos: Clarity boost and vignetting :D i really have to check up my taste
Often I find the saying âless is moreâ to be quite good advice. Stay safe.
Very mature photography perspectives right here. I like this video. Many thanks!
Amen!!! I spent nearly 3months retouching all my old keepers and now when I see an old version online I cringe in disgust.
Great advice! I DID KEEP ALL MY RAW'S THOUGH ;)
Here's another: Don't be stubborn with your retouching choices. I wish I had listened to an old friend who told me that I overdo it. She said that my photos were very good without having to accentuate and push things too far. Subtlety is the game!
but yeah....I DID KEEP ALL MY RAW'S THOUGH ;)
NEVER DELETE YOUR RAW FILES
3:18. Nailed it. As Iâve grown I do very minimal editing and color grading. Just minor tweaks
I went through my old Kodachromes . Waddya know? I didnât change a thing
Nice videođ I think in all walks of life we make choices based on current styles and fads. I truly believe that mistakes make us better, so do not get too hung up on them rather than what I can do now and the choices I make now. All said and done the choices we made then were based on what we thought was right so cannot have regrets about that. Iâm not just talking about photography Iâm talking about everything from clothing to home furnishings to jobs and careers. Be happy and learn from your mistakes. Great video đ
Totally agree!
Great message. Going through old shots... âsomehowâ 10 or 12 megapixel cameras got the job done, ha!
I so appreciate you saying this!!
Everyone: Spent too much money in gear
That is one thing I do not regret. :)
@@AndrewGoodCamera đđ
I agree..... as I click my new RF 70-200 into place...... but I canât help myself!!!!
My big two regrets are ...
1, I threw away 100s of transparencies and negatives because I had no way of scanning then in the 80's. I didn't get my Nikon Coolscan until the late 90's.
2, Not being able to shoot digital and not taking my SLR on my first trip to New Zealand in 2000, but I did have a Yashica T4 and a wider range of film stock than you can only dream of now.
A bit harsh on yourself here sometimes. I've just been scanning and digitising slides and negatives from some 45 years back. I've learned a lot over the years (not as much as I ought to), but old photos shot on Kodachrome 64, Agfa BW slide film etc are what they are. They might look "old", but for me they are the story of a part of my life. And that's what photos always used to be, when we had the prints in our hands and we couldn't edit and tinker with them, literally snapshots of the time and place they were taken. And in those days we took photographs, not made them. All photography is documentation to some extent.
While we could not edit slides for direct viewing, but we (for some) could use the darkroom to create edited prints. While I recognize this video is more toward to photography as a profession, rather than the camera as an imaging tool to capture life moments. But it has to be included as well and here, I agree with you that it is about documentation to some extent. IMO, re-editing old photos for exercise is fine, but otherwise, it can erase the memory of one's experience at that time or what that period was about. Also, what is missing in this (and other similar) video is the yet-to-publish POV after another decade or two, that some of us, the old timers (four decades of photography myself) already know. đ
nail on the head. SPot On statements on what REAL photography is and was. Most extremist photographers obsessed with photographs editing using Photoshop.
Very interesting video! I dont see the point in using an expensive lens and camera and then using Instagrams filters to make a complete mess of your image! If your a cellphone user then maybe ok. I mostly only ever adust the exposure a touch if needed otherwise i leave images original!!! So years later they still look ok
At least you didn't get into selective color where everything is black & white except for a patch or bright red or green. Also, your black & white cat photo at the :31 mark in your video reminds me somewhat of the very famous Daido Moriyama photo entitled "Stray Dog" from 1971.
I've not quite gone full circle, but I definitely appreciate the overbaked or misguided choices of the past to just be part of learning. Trends definitely come and go and we'll still look back at photos we made now and think "Yeah, that's super 2020." Though I am pretty sure I'll never miss those extreme texture/foxhole/Flickr edits. haha. Still, some people enjoy laser backgrounds again ... :)
hey hi I love your videos. You are a fantastic photographer. I esp loved your video on fuji lenses thanks. I have a fuji x100f and love it but am looking at xt4 as ill be able to change lenses...what are you thoughts? are you happy with it or wou you recommend the xt3 with the huge price slash? Thanks so much K
I'm lucky. Shot raw from day 1 of digital photography (2012 for me) and kept most of the files. Great idea from Omar and you to go back and look over old images. I started with PS Elements so to go back and process in LR and PS would be interesting. Especially to see the difference between Nikon D700 and D800 files and my Fujifilm ones :-)
In day three of my light room catalog review. Going back to not only look for hidden gems, do new edits, but also to add KEYWORDS I should have been adding from the beginning. :D Going to be so organized!
Roberto Valenzuela is who I believe youâre talking about. He speaks about sucking badly, until he learned how to balance flash and ambient light in his wedding photography business.
Also, I believe that getting it right in camera trumps so many other aspects of photography and I appreciate that philosophy of yours. Iâll watch your channel more than most, because it is ridiculous how much photoshop many of them apply, when they could have just used something simple like fill lighting or better positioning of their models. It seems like some shoot with the sun at their subjects back, and then paint away the shadows (using actual color samples, not just dodging and burning), and I feel like this discourages many beginners who donât see the same results.
Great video. Can you recommend a good company or person to buy post processing pre-sets? I already have Affinity Photo on my computer. I looked at the Mastin Labs website but it seems they only have presets for Lr and Capture One.
old B&W photos on medium format camera is great.
Early, and even not so early, on my Photography journey, I was using a fairly extreme look (I never got into HDR but I might as well have) that wasn't even in style or anything! For whatever reason I decided my photographs were going to look like that - I do think it was because I wanted them to be eye-catching or immediately spectacular, as you mentioned. Fortunately, a few years ago I settled on a far more neutral look and I don't think I'll be as disturbed by any of my subsequent work in the future.
I'm also fortunate to have all my RAW files since 2007 (with the exception of one folder which somehow went missing) albeit with many of them still being on CD-R and DVD-R (again, storage wasn't always cheap) which is something I really need to sort out before those formats become even more obsolete, but is a task I don't greatly look forward to. Could be something to do while we're on lockdown, mind you.
All the best to you and your family, Andrew. Stay safe and well.
I'm still not saving my RAW files but I have looked at some older images and wished I had the RAW. I do have a RAID device in the house but the backup to an offsite service is painfully slow with the large RAW files. I think I might start keeping the RAW for the ones I really like.
Interesting that weâre doing similar âin-houseâ housework by revisiting older photos and re-editing. Iâm also finding that Iâve been sucked in to some trends and moved away from âgetting it right in-cameraâ first.
I definitely like my classic work better.
This is very useful, I do it from time to time too.
But in addition to all the gaffes (many), I sometimes also find myself being impressed by some stuff I did years ago and get inspired by it. It's a useful tool if you ever feel uninspired.
Very true.
The second advice, the regret of kinda looking to a bunch of different photographers photos, I really felt it. It's my main issue. I never erased raws, I never overdid processing (well sometimes but I don't regret it) but I still process every photo like is a single work. I'm not programming a style and it kinda make me sad.
I have been using different versions of PhotoShop for more than 20 years. Sure glad I never got into colour grading. Few regrets on looking back at my archived files.
"How do you commit to a style when you're not even sure what you like?" Wow, that is something I was thinking about today. I took the X100F on a walk in a nature park and I was flipping the in-camera settings all around, not liking anything I did. (Note: I am not a professional photographer and I do not like to edit, so I enjoy Fujifilm for the ability to essentially have in-camera "presets"). I tried high-contrast, low-contrast, more color, less color, and I just didn't like anything. I like a lot of different styles that I see from other photographers, but I think that part of that is that they are consistent, they have a "look". Since I don't have one style that I love for my own pictures I can't settle on something and focus on making better pictures.
You could always shoot black and white. :) Took three years of shooting Fuji before I arrived at a look that became my standard. My advice: take RAW files taken in really amazing light and work with those ones in FUji RAW studio to figure out the "recipe" that works best for you. I found it easier to figure out the color profiles I enjoy the most when I'm looking at a photo that was just shot well. When you're trying to make a photo that is just ok look better by applying different color profiles, it's just a frustrating experience and not as helpful in deciding what you actually like.
Denae & Andrew that sounds like a great topic for the Fujiversity đ
I see a future "regrets video" that talks about purple back-lighting...
But seriously, this has me wondering about my love of the high-contrast BW output of my Ricob GR. It's been a few years and I still am drawn to the harshness of the images, but there is always the voice in the back of my head saying "are you sure this isn't just a fad?"
And your head-shots are great too. Personally I think it's more important that they all look good, rather than the same.
Anyway, great video.
You are too harsh on yourself. I get what you are trying too say, but some of your presets are the best I ever seen for a fuji camera
There was something more direct in the way you look at your followers recently. Oh, the big glasses gone! Good feel
LOL I understand you so much. I still cannot start printing album for my children (now 5 and 2) because I cannot fix my postprocess style. Not speaking about type of paper :-)
I'm just an amateur with a camera, but this video speak to me in so many levels! I've been struggling to find my own style and sometimes I feel like I'm just copying my favorite photographers. I hope I'll be able to edit a picture in a way that it feels truly mine. Thank you so much for the tips!
Ah yes. I have many photo equivalents of a mullet and Members Only jacket.
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2:30 is a cool memory for me as well! I took a very similar image when I was there last and I took it originally with my medium format camera. I took the liberty of taking it and modifying it and editing it into black and white for a artistic point of view!
Practicing with old files has help me see the mistakes I made with too many settings one has on digital camera vs on film! The mistakes I have made on film has taught me how and when to shoot certain images that look and reflect on the look I want from the scenery I'm shooting from.
My style of editing is not for everyone. It's what sets me apart from the trends you see everyone is following. Why would I follow a trend because its the popular thing! I see it more of a Utah thing that everyone falls victim too! Don't let yourself fall into a style that is only trending for social media and popular likes!
It's why my IG account is below average with following... Hahaha! I love what I'm doing and welcome those that think likewise when it comes to editing and documenting their journey through social media as means to an endless journey.
I saw my pictures shot in summer 2017 in Spain with a Canon sx60hs. They all suck! Unfortunately, shot only in JPEG. I didn't know then the existence of RAW files or how to process them.
Clarity 100% đ€Łđ€Łđ€Łđ€Ł Looking through some of my old photos.?. Yikes I was guilty
The faded look was the best time of photography.
I will like your comment, but I do not agree with it. ;)
When I came back to photography in 2014, the first 6 months I was shooting only in Jpeg, no RAW, đđđđđđ
That's ok. As long as you kept the original JPG, that's still better than what I have. :)
Took me a while to get through the "HDR hole" and I regret some of the "Ultra-shallow DOF" choices I made as well.
very informative and thought provoking.... but the purple light on your light set up ... is that a trend or creative style?
More time creating than editing, ohH man storage is always my problem, I shoot jpeg for now since I can't afford to buy an external hard drive, I know I need to invest but right now I can't.
I actually like that faded film appearance. Just me I guess.
Not just you... #ShamefullyPutsHandUp
JP Stone Nothing wrong with the faded film look. It just got real popular and overdone for a while. If you like it, and it suits the atmosphere of the photos, you should absolutely do it.
I dont think you should regret this edits, hardcore editing is very good for learning, itâs like testing the limits, its just a learning stage
Great for learning? Yes. Ok with the fact that can't make those shots look better now? No way.
I like the faded images lol
just because something was the in thing does not make it bad when it goes out of style, I actually like that film look and still use it sometimes. but in the end I try to keep it minimal editing these days
No. it was bad. And deep down inside I knew it even then. There is "timelessness" and then there is just bad taste. And in the world of photography, doing something heavy-handed where you go out of your way to destroy data (in this case, the blacks) is a horrible idea. It's subjective sure. And I could be wrong. But I'm not. :)
Damnn boooiiiiiii that moon shot is fire
Thanks!
I do not think your grading is bad, even people say it is not trendy anymore I still like that film-like, washed-out look. Maybe it is kitsch, but I do not think it is bad.
I do not regret deleting my raw files as those photos were so bad I cringe every time I look at JPEGs, however your photos are good no matter the grading.
That pink light, are you making a statement? WhoÂŽs your lighting assistant?đ
Just mixing it up
Non-destructive photo editing is the only way to go! You can always undo a mistake or bad choice, you canât undo a JPEG.
Iâm an amateur photographer who doesnât prescribe to a particular style or genre of photography. I may be in the minority on this, but I believe the composition and edits should always serve the final image. To me, photography is about capturing a moment, using sound fundamental techniques, but never being afraid to experiment. Why would we bother trying to fit art into a streamlined box?
Thanks for the video and for allowing others to share their thoughts!
I do not destroy source files, they are the hardware version :)
Just scan and file in the top shelf folder
The "faded film" fad was a weird thing even to us film shooters, film doesn't look like that. Badly exposed shots and crappy pharmacy prints do lol.
I definitely have a ton of old pics that I really question wtf I was thinking when I edited them.
Haha. Yup
those film-look edits are beautiful man to be honest with you.. and i just keep my edits simple and don't care when people call it boring or simple..lol
edit: i know people hate honest people nowadays but i love your channel for being honest and keep safe to your family..
There are no stupid mistakes, just learning experiences. You need to find your own path and what works for your own eye, not just to fit in with what is the current monthly trend. I go back over my old work from time to time, 20 to 30 year old images, and all I see is how my taste has changed over the years. Chances are the re-edits of the images that you're doing now you won't like again in a few years time.
All those photos are excellent, and where their technical quality is lacking, the composition more than compensates. Stop beating yourself up over the choices you made, especially when money was tight and harsh decisions had to be made. Wallowing in guilt like this isn't healthy. You took some great shots. Enjoy the memories they bring you, and stop agonizing over the fact that you can't change them to suit the current processing meta.
đđ
Not shooting raw and sqaure space
Jerry Ghionis by chance?
For me it was HDR landscapes and a faulty hard drive that wiped out many of the raw files.
:(
THIS is what pissed me off about shooting digital. You shoot 600 stills. Go home and try to create a look in software. Then I just started shooting color film. LESS to think about. Shoot. Develop, scan. Now I have the actual raw negative in my 3 ring binder. Same thing for Large Format. Shoot. Develop at home. Scan. Do some color correction and dust removal in Gimp 2.8. DONE.
Everybody does things differently. Some pro some not. I'm not a pro. I could though. I use all open source software. I get why people like Adobe.
As for styles and color profiles: my style is not having one. I prefer to use whatever each specific photo wants, and not trying to force an overall look on everything I shoot. Of course, I'm neither professional nor particularly good probably, just someone who enjoys capturing moments and trying to make "art" with their own means.
I agree so much with this because for me a ton of pictures with the same color profile is sooo boring and trendy. I prefer instead to bring out what is best in each picture and using the same color in each one is a horrible idea. I would only do that just for a work portfolio but that would be it. The only thing i agree with in this video is to keep your raw files.
Talks about the ugly faded film look.......me who actually shoots on ugly faded film đ
maybe the next thing to regret: this pink light in the video ;)
Sorry but the faded look still looks good to me. Probably depends on how much you apply it.. Taste is different for everyone and changes over time.
No need to apologise. We all have different tastes. :)
Enhancement is a friend. Exaggerate is the enemy.
It makes no sense to store all. I only save the pictures I really like.
I'm not advocating storing bad photos. I said store the RAW for the ones you like.
... and crucially; avoid Instagram filtersđ
"It's akin to looking back at regretted lifestyle choices or a bad tattoo".
"a bad tattoo"? That's a redundancy isn't it? There's no raw fixing or deletion with that. Have 'em scribble on a scrap piece of paper, and it won't even be noticed when it's mislayed.
I was hesitant to watch at first, because the title made it sound like it might be real downer. Spoiler alert: it's not that bad. ;)
đđ of liiiiiiiiiggggghhhhttttt
One thing your regrets show - it's minor things you are complaining about. As you are a pretty awesome photographer!
May I say the gist of the video is the loss of quality after stylistic decisions in post. I bet every photographer will be profoundly unhappy about these style questions.
However - why don't you consider the old shots like pages of a diary. Would you rewrite personal notes for stylistic reasons? This would aly take away a lot of the texts' authenticity!
The colours, possibly the answer of a professional photographer to a Instagram incited rave of retro style / colour treatment!? Something you liked at a point of your live when these kids were a bit younger.
Being far older than you I somehow indulge in the memory of old times. Awful colours, fashions and hairdos. Strange cars, houses and paraphernalia in the background. Your family and friends as personalities they no longer are
Then - some developments of style are the product of thoughts, serious conversations and much trial & error. Others are things we at pushed to by social media feedback, current fashions, shortcomings as photographer in my case. Analysing old photos, their faults and great points, is a way to further develop
That is certainly one way to look at it. But for me it's just a reminder of feeling I needed to make my photos stand out and then realizing later that I didn't need to, and regretting that now, if I wanted to go back and make a body of work, the photos would be jarringly inconsistent.
@@AndrewGoodCamera Andrew, you have this strong experimental side. Don't swop it for consistency - is my view
raid5 in 2020? lol what?
Is there a problem?
@@AndrewGoodCamera it could be. both from performance and data recovery perspective. It's a legacy technology, it doesn't have any benefits today (and didn't have at least 10 years ago) when storage is so cheap.
Thanks for the feedback
You're too hard on yourself. Some of those shots that you are now hating on, are actually quite nice. Styles come and go, but a process style doesn't necessarily ruin what is a great shot, no matter how you look at it.
Just shoot film
I do that too.
I thought your regret might be the video in which you pretended you didnât speak English so you wouldnât have to take their picture and now you say do good with your camera.
Haha. Good one. Nope. I have no regrets there whatsoever. Im not pretending to be perfect. Don't expect me to just because I believe you can do meaningful work with cameras. :)