Behind the Scenes – a closer look at photoshop editing

I am a huge fan of photoshop! I know a lot of people prefer images to be SOOC (Straight out of camera), however, I think that editing can add something special to an image.

Photo editing – a modern age trend?

Editing images is not a new phenomenon. Many think that photo editing has only become commonplace since the dawn of digital photography. And therefore since the development of computer software, such as Photoshop. However, this is not the case.  

The first known case of photo manipulation took place in 1846, and was carried out by Calvert Richard Jones. This was only 5 years after the first photographic process was invented. So it goes to show that the desire to manipulate a photograph has been around almost as long as the ability to take photographs!

A quick google search will soon lead you to plenty of examples from over the years. Many of these examples were carried out using developing techniques in the darkroom during the days of film photography. So it is nothing new!

Photoshop editing – my process

I always edit my photographs in one form or another. I shoot in RAW format, which means that unlike jpegs, the camera has not applied any adjustments. This means that to get an image looking anything like the real thing, I need to apply some adjustments with some photoshop editing.  

Also, there are times when you just cannot get that shot! You have an idea in your mind’s eye, but it just cannot be executed. An example of this happened to me recently. I was taking some photos of a beautiful but lively dog. It was a difficult shoot! I was in the clients home, so the dog was being very excitable with some visitors to the home! There was also a lot of furniture around, which wasn’t the shot I was hoping for. This led me to removing the background to isolate the dog. Which I think most people would agree, makes for a more pleasing image! 

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Sara Sadler

Photographer

I am a fine art photographer based in the South of England. I enjoy sharing my photographic adventures, hints and tips.

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sarasadlerphotography.co.uk