I’ve been meeting lots of new people who have become interested in my photography, which I love. The more I talk to people the more I get asked the same question: how much editing do I do?
I know I’ve covered this before but I don’t see the harm in talking about it once again, this time with fresh eyes. The quick and easy answer to the question is I get 95% of a photo in camera. Now, I might change the photo to Monochrome or the photo might need a small crop. I try not to spend more than 25 seconds editing a photo, any more time than that and I feel that I’m trying to make a bad photo good.
Brian Lloyd Duckett says it best: a street photo should tell us the truth and if you edit the photo you start hiding the truth and instead you end up showing a lie. There are far too many photographers shooting street that lie, they take a boring photo of nothing and then edit it into high contrast black and white and call it art, it’s not art it’s just boring.
I don’t want to harp on about the effects that social media is having on street photography, but I really do feel this is where a lot of the blame lies. It’s very rare that you see a true honest street photo on social media.
Street photography isn’t about lies. It’s about being honest. This is where less is more, capture the moment in camera and then try not to edit the photo. All digital cameras today have the ability to deliver outstanding JPG’s and so most of the time you don’t need to worry about editing.
This photo of the gentleman juggling was taken in London’s Chinatown and it was captured as you see it. If you take your time and you know what you’re doing, it’s easy. I looked at where the sunlight was coming from and since I was using a mirrorless camera I knew what I saw through the viewfinder was what I was going to get. I got my F-stop set and dialled my shutter speed until the background went dark and then I started shooting. When you stop and take a breath, you focus on what you’re doing and everything becomes clear - it’s that easy.
All I did in Lightroom was adjust the shadows by -20 and raised the highlights by +15 and thats it, 20 seconds to deliver the photo that you see.
Try to remember why you’re shooting street photography in the first place, it should be because you want to capture candid moments that tell a true story, no lies. Before you head out onto the streets ask yourself why you are doing this: is it to capture moments that make you think or is it because you want a lot of likes?
