To Edit or Not To Edit, That Is The Question!

When I decided to start this and my other blogs I made a concious decision that I wanted to post quality over quantity, so rather than just publishing all my images in bulk and untouched, I decided to do some editing.  My view on editing is simple, it should improve the quality of the photo without destroying or altering the original image and should be about restoration rather than alteration. 

A good example recently appeared on Tumblr.  The top image of Virginia Green was posted and I knew I had the original somewhere and that the version I was seeing looked wrong! The Tumblr version has for some reason decided to extend the photo by elongating the arms and legs and removing the bamboo cane above her head!  My edit, restored colour and enhanced clarity and that was it!

Edit Found on Tumblr

 

My Edit

I know it's all about personal preferences and I'm not judging, just the way I see it.  In general I straighten and trim a photo (if from scanned pages), restore colour if possible and remove any obvious scratches or marks and that is it!  I used to crop an article to just keep the photo, but now I try and keep any relevant text as it adds context to the photo in question.

Most photo editors today can pretty much do that as standard out of the box, so only takes a little effort to improve a photo and I personally use Coral Paint-shop Pro X5.

Watermarks - No matter how discreet I hate them! and again it's a personal thing, as I see no need when restoring and publishing other people's work to add a watermark.  Yes, if you own the copyright to original images or selling originals on eBay etc. and you want to show a copy that makes sense, but slapping watermarks all over every image on your site, just doesn't make sense and detracts from the content your showing.  In this digital world it is now ever so easy to add information to photo's invisibly, without the need for a watermark and most watermarks can be removed with effort and time anyway!  I know from just looking at a photo if it's one of my edits and see no need to advertise the fact with a watermark, as my aim is to restore and share work that may otherwise disappear over time.

There is no right or wrong on this and many will disagree, but I just wanted to give a little insight into why I am doing this.  Not for any financial gain, but more to keep those original images from days gone by out there for all to see!

Cheers,

Wonder