I’m a Dutch photographer specialised in studio photography which translates mainly into doing portraits. To get an impression of my work have a look at Gallery/Portrait. Of course, you are more than welcome to visit the other galleries as well.
I work with Nikon photo equipment for the most part. I’m a strong believer of taking the picture as good as you can and keep post-processing to a minimum. Therefore, I don’t consider myself a Photoshop expert. I use Nikon’s Capture NX2 for all te post-processing I do. The same applies to printing. Instead of doing any serious printing myself, I rely on the expertise of my good friends at Profotonet (see www.profotonet.nl). I have never been disappointed by their results so far. They also happen to do an excellent job for black and white printing for which they use Ilford’s dedicated paper. Guaranteed no colourcast.
Fine, you like CNX2. But…. how do you keep track on all your photos, do you use a catalog program? I’m just curious about your total workflow. Second, what would be wrong to manupulate photos? It’s all about creative expression, art etc., personal choices: the final result counts imho. I just don’t get it why some people become so frustrated about PS processing. Is there a rule or law that tell you to shoot and frame your photos in one attempt and that’s it? Well it might be obvious now, that is not my piece of cake…. 🙂
Overigens een mooie site!
Yes, you’re right: catalog management is one of CNX2 weak spots. The only tool I’m using for this is View NX. Certainly not ideal, but good enough for me. I hear good things about Photo Mechanic though. Especially in combination with CNX2. See Jason Odell’s website and books for more on this.
If you’re happy with manipulating photos with tools like PS, that’s fine. My point is that – as a photographer – you use your camera as much as possible to achieve certain effects. If you want to create a blur effect: use longer shutter speeds and drag the camera instead of applying a blur filter in PS afterwards. That’s what sets photographers apart from “designers” (for lack of a better word), in my opinion. When taking photographs, follow the 3 basic steps: watch, think, do. Of course, an understanding of camera fundamentals is required for this. You can then keep photo editing (or post processing) to a minimum. The basic stuff that we used to do in the good old days: dodging, burning, spot removal, contrast enhancement, etc.
Don’t get me wrong, everyone is entitled to his/her opinion. I’m not saying this is good and that is bad. If you’re happy with your way of working and with your end results, that’s fine with me.
Yes I agree with your explanation “- as a photographer… etc and what designers do”. That is a good comparison. And yes I know Jason’ workflow PM/CNX2, but it still remains a bit of a hassle. I use LR3, also not ideal. But I think Nikon has dropped the ball on this! We will wait and see. Suc6!