Photo Editing Analysis

“Once I understood that editing is crucial to how a film is made, I was hooked. Imagine: placed in your hands is fantastic raw footage that 250 people have created during shooting. You and the director are then allowed to sculpt this raw material into something that has structure, rhythm and pace, that builds characters, that creates dramatic peaks and lows and that hopefully has a good ending. Editing is an incredibly rewarding profession.

I agree with Ansel Adams. There is so much more to photography then clicking a button. Photography is ideas and creativity through a photo. If I have an idea in my head or a message I want to send across I have to set it up before I even take the picture. There are also many different settings on the camera that help set up a good photo. Photography is a lot of work and different formulas of how everything is set up determines how the photo is going to look. I could be plain with my photography or I can create something with meaning and have it be photographed in a cool, creative way.

I think in today’s culture and the desire for perfection, it is probably best to assume that most if not all images have been digitally enhanced. With that being said, I believe that the level of retouching of photographs should be reflective of the project. The level of retouching would differ if the project was a wedding photograph where the goal is to make the couple look their best without taking away from their character, from whether the project is a product to be sold to the masses.

The purpose of taking photographs is to make that memory last a lifetime. They aid us in remembering a specific moment or a time whenever we look at the photographs and make us smile. As we all know time is a very vital aspect in an individual's life and we cannot evoke that time but we sure can bring back the moment by looking at the photographs. For the photographs that have lost shine or there is paper mutilation, there is an ever embryonic procedure of photo editing where you can recoup the originality and vivacity of the photographs. You can change the colors, backgrounds, brightness and contrast. If there are any damages like crinkles, stains, scratches or spots, any photo editing studio can do it and make the image look impeccable.

Digital photo editing has a lot to do with the reason why society perceives altered images as reality. Over the last fifty years, digitally-enhanced photos have been showing up more a more frequently on the market. The Federal Trade Commission (FTC), an organization established in 1915 “to prevent business practices that are anticompetitive or deceptive or unfair to consumers” (https://www.ftc.gov), has long been observing this advertising trend. Overtime, the FTC realized that they needed to concentrate their efforts on higher “priority competition and consumer protection policy matters” and needed an outside industry “that may be more capable of regulating its members than a government agency” (Villafranco,

The second article that I felt needed revision to solidify the success of the piece was the brochure that discusses my topic of psychoactive drugs. While creating this topic in brochure form, I enjoyed the task at hand, felt at ease when creating it, so revising it would not necessarily be a burden on my part. The first major revision worth noting is the coherency. Throughout there were some word phrases that either did not flow well, were out of place, or felt too extra to the discussion at hand. Specifically, the phrase “ADHD or just boredom” was included, however, the usage of the word boredom felt rather redundant. An additional revision was the visual aspect of the final brochure. My brochure included three columns that were double sided containing my content and pictorial visuals. Unfortunately, the formatting was off so when fully closed and put together, some of the words overlapped or crossed over into the wrong column. Continuing with the visual revisions, I believed my brochure looked a little too dark. I know that my topic is considered a solemn issue, however selecting pictures that offered more visual appeal with a higher brightness factor will provide a better effect for catching the reader 's attention.

Here 's a suggestion: Why don 't we take a page from Goldilocks and the Three Bears and learn successful editing by processing our images three times to create the "not too hot, not too cold, but ahhh, this is just right" version of our images. For anyone growing up in suburbia, taking Little Red Riding Hood or Hansel & Gretel too literally may not seem relevant; but as an adult, the more images I process, the more the story of Goldilocks and the Three Bears rings true.

One of the major reasons why some will use Photoshop is to enhance the digital pictures that they have. Photoshop has several elements that allow you to make small or large changes to your pictures, so that you can keep the memory exactly like you saw it when the flash to your camera went off.

Traditional photographs may be altered in four basic ways: in the set up of the model, camera, and lighting before the photograph is taken; in the way the photograph is taken; in the processing of the film; or by the addition or deletion of elements to the processed photograph, followed by retouching the whole image. Portrait photographers are especially adept at setting up the scene and subject so that it will appear in the most flattering light.

Perhaps a little introduction (or refresher) on what the different types of Photoshop work may be useful...

This gallery appeared to have different artist’s work present, but their art was much more expansive, detailed, and followed individual themes compared to Gallery II. The exhibit mainly had paintings on display, but other media was also incorporated into some pieces.

To further argue why altered photos need labels, one must also acknowledge the reasons as to why they are not. Many believe photoshopping images is a part of today's beauty industry and would cost people their jobs. However, photoshopping is a very insignificant part of the industry as a whole, and many other jobs are available in the advertisements area. According to a report done by Advertising Age, a chart proves that there are over 730,000 jobs in different media sectors (Industries). This includes the internet, magazine, and television industries of the beauty world. With this being said, there are many different opportunities in this industry, and photoshop is shown to be a very little and unnecessary part of it.

“A curse of being a writer is the compulsion to edit. Take the sign on my walking trail, for example. It reads, 'Watered by well water.' One of these days, no matter how hard I try to resist, I just know I'm going to paint it out to read, 'Irrigated by well water.' If you don't get this, it's because you're not a writer.” ― Ron Brackin

A photograph tells a story. Series of photographs take the experince a step further, allowing you to build a narrative. It does not always have to be that way, but sometimes it pays to take the extra step (and photos) and create something different.

I have been using photoshop for over 5 years now and have used it to enhance images in the past.