Well this photo made me smile. And after you’ve finished laughing you can head over to Craft & Vision, where you can get all their ebooks for half price today and tomorrow, including my Light & Land, and Exposure for Outdoor Photography. It’s Craft & Vision’s fourth anniversary sale. There’s no discount code – everything is marked at the reduced price.
— Michael Frye
You and Craft & Vision has great stuff. This to me is where the proverbial rubber (of photography) hits the road (of real world)!
I read the suggestion about giving a week’s rest to our processed image before we look again and shock ourself into that “what have I done?” or “what was I thinking?” feeling… It can never be totally eliminated, but here are two suggestions to try to reduce it (where “it” could be either the time, the effect or both).
#1 When you interrupt your work and leave the house for a shoot or dinner etc. leave the image
on the screen, so that it will hit you when you come back home. The reaction will be “what is this?” and it lets you catch something that might not have otherwise emerged until after the resting period.
#2 Is a bit more labor-some, but in my view worth the effort. When “I am done!”, I don’t stop. Rather, I do four better-or-worse comparisons, looking for both global and local differences:
• Processed vs. original – it brings me back to earth… often when I find I went too far – overall or
in spots I blend back a little of the original, locally controlled by mask
• Warm or Cool – I do a Stamp Visible > Blur > Average >Invert and blend it Soft Light at low
opacity (unless it’s pure gray) and compare. Might try Photo Filter adjustment layer as well.
• Subtly increased (decreased) contrast – I Multiply the image with itself and set it a low opacity
where I like it, then compare – if the ‘as-is’ wins, I try the same with Screen.
• Vignette and Stroke – I try it if not already worked into the image.
I was glad to read that not just I – a good old amateur – am the one who has not tuned his photo
to satisfaction until after a rest period. Putting in my workflow these “A-B comparisons” with the subtly shifted images helps me. Maybe it would help some others too.
Bob Kenedi
Bob, thanks for the kind words, and the suggestions — all good ones.