How much post production is too much? I love using Photoshop and it seems once I start working on a project whether its a photo or marketing material it seems all too easy to get a bit carried away with the post production process. When it comes to photography most “purists” believe there should be as little editing as possible, whilst me on the other hand… I believe its all relative. If you’re doing editorial work or stock photography you tend not to do as much in the way of touching up, but when it comes to glamour, particular shooting techniques and specifically themed photography there’s much more that can be done.

For example I took this photo of a Hindu wooden statue in Bali.

Only after reviewing the photo on a larger screen did I realise that there was a spider on the cheek of the female statue. Using the clone tool that was removed very quickly from the scene. Next I wanted to focus on the intricacy of the carving and the detail in the headdress of the statue so I further emulated depth of field blurring using the Gaussian blur tool to bring focus to the female statue. I then enhanced the shadows and highlights after manipulating the curves and used the burn and dodge tool. Finally, I added an artificial vignette and a soft sepia tone to age the final image. All in all, layer after layer, this was the final result:

After having spend 15 minutes post producing this photo the final results are very different, and I’m still torn as to which would’ve been better. The raw image or this manipulated one? I guess after all it is up to personal taste at the end of the day… only this time I’m left sitting on the fence…