by Linda
One of the things I love about photography is the never ending learning curve. Just as I think I am becoming proficient in one way, something new and unexpected comes to me.
I admit to spending lots of time looking at photos on flickr, Instagram, blogs and many other places. I love seeing what other people see, or in some cases try to see what other people see. I love seeing all the different photographic styles and editing techniques. Lots of times I find myself interested in learning more about a particular style or technique. Sometimes it becomes a bit of an obsession with me, I am like a dog with a bone, not wanting to do anything else until I get it figured out. Just like Kelly talked about in her last post, dinners will be delayed or forgotten in favor of a photograph or new processing technique.
As a result of many obsessive photo taking sessions, I have a large pool of photos that just weren't quite right. The question becomes, what should I do with them? There have been times that many were just deleted. Many were deleted while still on the camera, never getting any screen time. Is that the most efficient thing to do?
No.
Sometimes I have deleted photos that I wish I had kept. Even if they weren't suitable for whatever purpose I took them, they could fill in for something else or serve another purpose. This taught me to never delete any photos.
Never.
(gasp!)
I know! Even the blurry, over/under exposed, what the heck is that? pictures remain in my files.
(why?)
Because I might use them. Sometimes the bad photos make good textures for other photos! They become a new tool to use to process my photos! Processing my photos has become so much fun! I love experimenting with new techniques and apps! Sometimes this can make a good picture into something unexpected and beautiful.
I have a little editing challenge for you...
Because I love to learn about new photo processing, I would love to see how you would edit the photo at the top of this post.
(is she crazy? that photo sux!)
Yes, it's a photo that in the past, I would have deleted but I didn't and I have actually edited in a way that I like and now I want to see your version!
Hover your mouse on it and right click, choose "save picture as" and put it where your other pictures are. Edit it anyway you like. Add any texture, brush, stamp, delete any part of it, lighten, darken, go abstract, go ape! You don't have to have fancy software, use whatever you have! Experiment with something new! Edit it on your phone, try a new app!
It is a high-res, SOOC photo, if you require a lower res, email me (lindagotx@yahoo.com) and I'll send you one. I will be posting the same challenge on Instagram so you can play there if you want. That photo will be square. Take a screen shot and edit away!
Once you have completed your edit, put it in our flickr pool or Instagram hashtag #focusingonlife, include your "recipe" in your description. I'll feature my favorites on my next blog post. (June 27) and show you mine and reveal how I edited it.
Have fun! I can't wait to see what you do!
8 comments:
This should be fun, Linda! It's funny what you said about deleting 'rejects'. Just yesterday, I did a series of photos. The first one was overexposed but when they all popped up in Lightroom, guess which one I liked best? Yup! The overexposed one and now that I've edited it, I {heart} it. There's no figuring us out, is there?
You are so bad for me -I'm trying to learn to cull my picks! But the real reason is , I'm just like you I hate to throw them out, and I often have fun with them. This is really fun, wish I could skip work and play right now! Bt , reality first.....I will be having fun with this tonight! Great idea for a post! Thanks.
i love this linda! fun! :) put me in the never-delete-bad-photos group. it's pretty much the story of my life...you should see my craft closet. can't wait to see what everyone else does!
Fun challenge, Linda! Can't wait to see what everybody does with this. I posted mine to our Flickr group that I edited using Photoshop. Now I'm going to try it with an iPhone app. I'm terrible about throwing out images and sometimes I'm glad I've kept them for the very reasons you stated. What I've finally started doing is putting everything in Dropbox and eliminating it from my computer. That way I can always go back and play with it if I want to!
I used to delete, and now save almost everything. This was a fun "assignment" and I can't wait to see everyone's take on this photo.
That was fun!
Well, I can't wait to download and play Linda, such a fun challenge! And I'm with a lot here...I don't delete much of my photos as I learn a lot from my mistakes when I can see what my settings were on the bad ones versus the ones I like. AND, sometimes it depends on how I feel that day...some I didn't like, turn out to be ones I like later.
Very interesting post and I do find myself often deleting what I think of as "bad" shots. Maybe I'll need to reconsider now. - Will give this a shot.
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