7 reasons why you should post-process your photographs

Post-processing is the final step between when an image is envisioned and till it comes alive. Pro photographers and serious hobbyists alike run their photos through this stage before sharing the final outcome. Why? because even the most skilled photographers cannot overcome the limitations of the camera sensors such as large differences in exposures levels between skies and landscapes or lighting a subject that is backlit. Moreover, If everything seems to be perfect about your photo on first look, a closer look may reveal imperfections. Issues such as noise, purple fringing, crooked horizon line, distortion and vignetting are commonplace and need to be ironed out before revealing the final result.

Further, every image should be subtly post-processed so that you can apply the effects that truly brings out your vision. In this article I shall be looking at some simpler aspects that usually ruin an otherwise good photo and how to correct those issues in post-processing.

1.     Crooked images

Crooked images are not that easy to spot, at least not to the untrained eyes. The horizon line however is a good indication whether your images are crooked. However, what if your images don’t have an easy way to spot the horizon line? What if the composition is of a flower or a portrait or even a plate of food? Look for anything in your image that can be used as a straight line and then orient the image using it as a guide. In Lightroom it is easy to do.

2.     Convert an image to black & white

Two habits I’ve trained myself to adopt when I’m about to snap photos is to set my camera to shoot in RAW and my picture profile to neutral. The neutral mode allows me the greatest flexibility to work with color tone, contrast, sharpness and other refinements while post-processing instead of letting the camera’s processor make the call on my behalf. Another reason I use these settings is so that I can post-process in black & white whenever required. Even if I don’t eventually give the image a black & white treatment, it is always a good reference point to see if my image has what I refer to as ‘compositional value’ and can hold its own without colors. Believe it or not colors can sometimes suppress a poor composition. Great photographers often shoot and process in black & white to emphasize on composition and subject.

3.     Spots on your image

Spots in your images can happen because of a number of reasons. Primary among them are dust on the sensor and dirt on you lenses. Dust particles on your sensor can be easily removed if you use the self-cleaning feature of your camera. Make sure the camera is fully charged when you do this. The mirror flips away and the camera gently shakes the sensor to clean it. Attempting to manually clean the sensor is only advisable if you are absolutely sure what you are doing. It takes extremely agile fingers. Lenses can be easily cleaned with micro-fiber cloth and special lens cleaning fluids. If you forgot cleaning your camera sensor and now stuck with spots in your images, don’t worry. Photoshop and Lightroom has spot removal tools that can take care of almost anything.

4.     Chromatic aberrations

Also known as purple fringing, and usually appearing on the edge of your subjects. It’s noticeable when you zoom in to your photo or when you print. These chromatic aberrations happen when the different wave lengths of light are not perfectly focused on the same image plane. This is a lens issue. Cheaper lenses tend to suffer relatively more from chromatic aberrations. There are some ways to counter this in camera but the easiest method is to do so in Adobe Lightroom. Simply check ‘Remove Chromatic Aberrations’ and you are good to go.

5.     Barrel Distortion

Wide angle lenses tend to suffer more from this type of distortion due to their inherent built characteristics.  Telephoto lenses suffer from what is known as pincushion distortion, which is the opposite effect of wide angle and lines tend to be distorted toward the inside of an image. Barrel Distortion is named as such to signify the effect that this distortion has on images (as is evident from the above image). The simplest way to correct this with one simple click on ‘Enable Profile Correction’ in Lightroom.

6.     Remove elements from your image

How many times you have taken a beautiful image and only later to find out at the corner there is an element that sticks out like a sore thumb? A beautiful landscape image with a telephone post at a corner, a lovely fireworks image that caught the camera flash by another photographer, or a breathtaking waterfall with an ugly looking signboard peeking from the corner? Don’t worry, Photoshop has some of the best tools in the business to take care of all these? The best thing is all these tools are now available in content-aware mode and can be automatically removed.

7.     Final Word of Advice

Once you have finished editing your image (or a batch of images), step back and review it in full-screen mode. Turning off the room lights and leaning back is a good idea. Without the mouse and keyboard in your reach, think about the image critically. Sometimes even walk away and let the image lie there for some time before returning for a fresh approach.

Whether you are a beginner or a professional, after putting effort into post-processing, you tend to think that you have done enough to make the image ready. You focus on certain areas too much, and your mind forgets to tell you that you need to look in other areas to see if the image is balanced and harmonious. So, take your time and allow the image to fully absorb without patience in the post-processing phase. A lovely image can be converted into a magical one by proper processing.

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Prime lenses vs zoom lenses: All you need to know

All lenses can be broadly sub-divided into two major categories – primes and zooms. Prime lenses are those which have a single focal length (focal range refers to the zooming range). You will find these lenses marked with the acronym 50mm or 85mm or even 200mm. Zooms on the other hand have a variable focal length. You can switch between its focal length ranges by turning the zoom ring. Such lenses would be marked as such 18-55mm, 70-300mm or 18-200mm. For obvious reasons prime lenses don’t have a zoom ring on them.

1. Advantage of prime lenses: Quality of image

You will hear a lot of good things about the image quality of prime lenses. Prime lenses tend to have less moving parts inside and less complicated mechanism resulting in a higher quality of images. There is no zoom ring, which means there is no zooming ring. Manufacturers can thus focus their energy in making the quality of the images tack sharp. 

You are likely to notice a significant drop in quality for wide angle zoom lenses at the widest focal length. Wide angle lenses suffer from what is known as barrel distortion. Images are skewed towards the corners and the center appears bloated. Vertical lines appear curved. Wide zooms suffer from this problem more than wide primes.

Longer focal length lenses, on the other hand, suffer from pincushion distortion. Here again zooms suffer more compared to primes. As a matter of fact prime telephoto lenses such as 135mm f/2 D made by Nikon or the 400mm primes made by both Nikon and Canon are widely acclaimed to be the best in the business.

Weight and bulk

Since prime lenses do not have a lot of moving parts inside, their overall bulk and weight tend to be less than zooms. There are, however, some exceptions. Some fixed focal length lenses like the Nikon 135mm f/2 D mentioned above tend to be heavier than the comparable zoom lenses. Just to make my point here, the prime lens mentioned above weighs around 800 grams and the comparable Nikkor 18-140mm f/3.5-5.6 G ED zoom lens weighs only 490 grams. And this is primarily due to the lens construction. Aimed at professional photographers thus includes metal in its construction to resist heavy usage unlike the plastic material that characterizes the entry level lenses.

Faster maximum aperture

Primes have a faster maximum aperture (e.g. f1.4, f2.8, f4…) compared to zoom lenses of the same focal length range. Let’s say we compare an 18-55mm kit lens with a 50mm prime. The kit lens has a maximum aperture range of f/3.5 – 5.6. The prime, on the other hand, depending on the brand and the version, will have at least f/1.8 maximum aperture. In low light situations that extra stop or two of light can be extremely handy. Zoom lenses like the one I mentioned above would only open up to its widest aperture (f3.5 in this case) when at its shortest focal length. When you zoom in, maximum aperture drops down to f/5.6.

Cheaper price

Prime lenses can be cheaper than zoom lenses. This is a significant advantage for amateur photographers. Especially when you consider that the image quality of these lens are top notch too.

Disadvantages of prime lenses

With Prime lenses the most obvious disadvantage is the lack of zooming ability. If you need to zoom you will have to do that using your feet. Plus, for a single focal length range you will need to buy at least two prime lenses. You will also have to change lenses quite a lot when shooting.

Advantages of zoom lenses: Convenience 

As you would come to expect, many of the disadvantages of prime lenses becomes advantages for zooms. Let’s first start with the convenience factor. The fact that a single zoom lens can often cover the focal length for two or even three primes, it gives you an incredible advantage when shooting. For travel photography when you are on vacation, you can carry a single lens to cover everything you need. This means you can stay within the international carry-on baggage limit and still packing your favorite photography gear. And you still have room for your other indulgences.

Disadvantages of zoom lenses

Weight is a factor that works against zoom lenses. But not always as has been described above already. Image quality is another factor. Then again there are plenty of good quality zoom less which produce excellent images. The Canon 200-400mm lens is one of the best in its class and is frequently used by bird, wildlife and sports photographers.

Over all the debate prime vs zooms is more dependent on personal preference, budget and style of shooting. What one photographer prefers may not be the natural choice for another.

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Why wide angle lenses, are they better suited for landscape photography?

Wide angle lenses, have often been referred to as the landscape photographer’s lens. There are a number of reasons for that compliment. Landscape photography requires that your lens offers a wide angle of view. It also requires greater depth of field (DOF) and a sharper image quality. All of these are native to wide angle lenses. But the usability of the very popular wide angle lens goes much beyond landscape photography. In this article we shall discuss the many uses of such a lens, including shooting landscape photos. But first what is a wide angle lens?

Wide angle lenses: A definition

Technically, any lens that has a focal length (zoom vs prime) of less than 50mm is considered a wide angle. A 50mm lens is widely considered to be a standard lens because it gives the same perspective as the human eye. There is some debate in this. Some photographers say it is 40mm, others put the 42mm as the standard view. Anyways, serious wide angle starts at 35mm and wider. Anything around or under 16mm falls in the ultra wide-angle category.

Wide Angle lenses: primes vs zooms

I have already discussed in detail about prime and zoom lenses in another article (zoom vs prime). Prime lenses are designed with focus on optical performance. Zoom lenses are more convenient because they allow you to switch focal length and therefore angle of view, just by a turn of the zoom ring. This comes useful when you’re in a situation with limited space to physically move. However, these lenses can sometime cut corners on optical performance slightly lowering its quality compared to primes. Having said that there are a number of notable exceptions. The optically superior 24-70mm f2.8 (made by all lens manufacturers) is a case in point.

Wide angle lenses are available in both prime and zoom varieties. They both have their pros and cons. You can read more about prime vs zoom lenses here. Personally, when it comes to wide angle lenses, I prefer the zoom variety. This is of course when I am not shooting with the 35mm prime. The 35mm prime is a journalist’s choice – sharp, lightning quick, lightweight and cheap. Everything that I expect from a wide angle.

At the end of the day there is no one lens that will suit all photographers or for that matter all situations. The wide angle lens that you end up shooting with will depend on what you are shooting, your pocket and of course your vision.

Wide angle lenses: best uses

1.     Include foreground interest

The biggest mistake that a landscape or architecture photographer does when shooting with a wide angle lens is they forget to put something in the foreground. Placing something in the foreground is not only for complying with the rule of thirds, but also to provide a sense of scale in the photo. Wide angles tend to make distant objects from your lens appear smaller than they really are.

Let’s say you are shooting Machu Pichu in Peru from the opposite mountain. The picture is grand, however, with absolutely nothing to refer to in the picture the viewer has no way to sense the scale of the place. Placing a person in your immediate foreground, say turned away from the camera and shooting over his shoulder can immediately give perspective and scale to the image.

2.     Get close! Get close! Get closer!

You will hear photographers who shoot with wide angle lenses advice this to you all the time. Get close. But why? This is because wide angle lenses tend to push everything back. That’s the nature of these lenses. Unless you step in close your subject will become a tiny spec in the vast emptiness.

The other advantage of getting close is so that you get to fill the frame with the subject you are photographing. Filling the frame is a much better way of composing your shots rather then leaving vast open spaces. 

Say, you are photographing the Blue Mosque with a 14-24mm ultra-wide angle lens. Even though the mosque is pretty big, you will find empty spaces around it when looking through the viewfinder. You have to get very close to the actual building to be able to fill the frame.

3.     Follow the fundamental composition guidelines

Certain golden rules of photography like leading lines, rule of thirds, point of interest, lines and diagonals, patterns etc. work super great when working with wide angle lenses. Landscape photographer prefer working from a low angle, keeping a subject in the foreground and a point of interest as already been discussed above.

4.     Specific uses of wide angle lenses

Wide angle lenses most often are used by photojournalists and street photographers. This is of course apart from landscape and architecture photographers. A very popular lens with the first two genres is the 35mm prime. Quite often it is pitted against the 50mm, which is yet another wonderful lens to shoot with (though not a wide angle lens technically). Landscape photographers prefer the slightly wider perspective such as the above mentioned 14-24mm lens. This lens is very sharp. Wide angle lenses create better depth of field when compared to tele lenses. Architecture photographers also prefer the wide angle lenses because it allows them to include a close-up element in the foreground making it more visually balanced.

So which wide angle lens are you using? And why? Share your thoughts!

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