July 29, 2025 • 25 mins
#584 In this episode of the podcast, I explore the idea that your photos are not broken just because they aren’t technically perfect or heavily edited. I share my own experiences as a photographer, reflecting on how the rise of digital editing and AI has made many of us feel like every photo needs to be “fixed” to be worth keeping or sharing. I encourage you to let go of those expectations and to rediscover what made you pick up a camera in the first place—whether it was to slow down, see the world differently, or simply enjoy making images.
KEY TOPICS COVERED
- The Pressure of Perfection and Editing in Modern Photography - Raymond discusses how digital tools, social media, and AI have shifted expectations toward perfection. He challenges the presumption that photos must always be edited, and recalls the joy of simple, unedited film photography. The key takeaway is to let go of perfection and rediscover the fun in photography.
- Imperfection as Art and Authenticity - The episode illustrates, with anecdotes from Raymond’s wedding photography, the value of candid moments (like a flower girl picking her nose), emphasizing that these “flaws” make photos memorable and human. He connects this to the broader theme of authenticity, suggesting that imperfection is what sets human-made images apart from AI-generated ones.
- Practical Approach: Enjoyment and Mindset Shift (Plork) - Raymond introduces “plork” (play + work). He encourages listeners to shoot for enjoyment, intentionally practicing and experimenting with their cameras rather than working only to “fix” images later. Actionable advice includes shooting JPEGs, skipping editing, and focusing on moments that feel right rather than those that look perfect.
IMPORTANT DEFINITIONS & CONCEPTS
- Plork: A blend of play and work, meaning practicing a craft with a playful, no-pressure attitude. In photography, “plorking” means shooting for enjoyment while still improving your skills—the core mindset Raymond urges listeners to adopt.
DISCUSSION & REFLECTION QUESTIONS
- When do you feel most pressure to edit your photos, and how does it affect your enjoyment of photography?
- Can you think of a photo you love because of, not in spite of, its imperfections? Why does it resonate with you?
- What habits can you adopt to “plork” more during your photography sessions?
RESOURCES:
Check out the Headway App for book summaries - https://makeheadway.com/
Book: "The Creative Act" by Rick Rubin
Book: "The Dude and the Zen Master" by Jeff Bridges
Sign up for your free CloudSpot Account today at www.DeliverPhotos.com
Connect with Raymond!
- Join the free Beginner Photography Podcast Community at https://beginnerphotopod.com/group
- Get your Photo Questions Answered on the show - https://beginnerphotopod.com/qa
- Grab your free camera setting cheatsheet - https://perfectcamerasettings.com/
Thanks for listening & keep shooting!
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Raymond Hatfield (00:02):
As we enter into this era of AI perfection,
right?
AI is gonna try to makeeverything absolutely perfect.
It's going to be imperfectionsthat give your photos life.
Imperfections is gonna be thething that gives humanity to
your images that say, this photowas taken by a real human, and
(00:26):
it matters because it exists.
Hey, welcome to the Beginner ofPhotography podcast.
I'm your host, Raymond Hatfield,and today I want to talk about
something that I know has been,weighing heavily on a lot of
hobbyists lately, especiallythose who have found photography
later in life.
You know, there's this phrasethat, if it ain't broke, don't
(00:47):
fix it.
And that makes sense for somethings, it makes sense for a lot
of things.
Things like a light bulb.
Anybody, whether they're anelectrician or not, can tell you
whether a light bulb works byflipping the switch.
But how can you tell ifsomething is broken and needs
fixed when it's subjective, likephotography?
(01:10):
That is a much, much, muchharder thing to do because,
maybe you picked up a camerabecause you love the idea of
slowing down.
You love the idea of seeing theworld differently but somewhere
along the way it all started tofeel like work.
I've been there.
There's this feeling that everyphoto that we take needs to be
perfect.
It needs to be edited, it needsto be polished, it needs to be
(01:33):
sharpened.
It needs to be color graded.
It needs to be posted with likethis super witty caption.
Otherwise it's not even worthdoing.
And suddenly it's not aboutenjoying the moment anymore with
your camera.
It's about creating something tofix.
So that's what we're gonna talkabout today, how photography
(01:54):
isn't about fixing problems.
But first, the beginnerphotography podcast is brought
to you by Cloud Spot.
With Cloud Spot, you can deliverbeautiful galleries.
You can set up a storefront inminutes and start earning more
from each shoot.
And you can protect your photoswith things like, passwords and
watermarks on your images.
(02:14):
So if you're not using CloudSpot already, I don't know what
you're waiting for, go ahead andgrab yourself a free account
over@deliverphotos.com now.
So it's not a secret.
I don't really like editing.
I didn't get into photography tobecome a digital artist.
I got into photography to takephotos, and when I was growing
(02:35):
up, the process of photographywas, I got usually a disposable
camera.
I would point, I would shoot.
My parents would drop it off atTarget, Walmart, Costco,
wherever.
And then a few days later, I'dget my photos back and that was
it.
The process of shooting was funand it was relatively quick.
Unfortunately, somewhere alongthe way, between the transition
(02:57):
from film to digital, editingbecame like this default step in
the process of photography, andnot just for pros, but for
everyone, and we see thiseverywhere with, Lightroom
presets for sale, YouTubetutorials on how to salvage bad
photos, or, these tiktoks oflike wild before and afters.
(03:21):
I mean, you're removing thesecrazy elements and changing the
colors and creating this likedynamic light and, blurring out
the background and making itdarker.
And it's like, wait, why didn'tyou just do that in camera when
you took the photo?
Anyway, all that to say thatthere's a lot that can be done
in camera, but we don'tnecessarily look at it that way
(03:44):
anymore.
And it didn't always used to bethis way.
Don't get me wrong, I'm notsaying that editing is bad
because it's not.
I think that editing is, ispretty great.
And I'm also not saying thatediting is new.
Professional film Photographershave always edited their images
since the beginning of time,well, since the beginning of
(04:04):
photography, I guessphotography's time, but it was
usually less about fixing aphoto and more about finishing a
photo.
Putting their signature on animage in the dark room.
Dodge here, burn here.
Some color adjustments.
I don't know if you know this,but when you go to, print a
photo in the dark room, thereare three different filters that
(04:26):
you can put in front of thelight that burns the image onto,
the enlarged.
paper into the enlarged imageand those three colored films
you use to get the coloraccurate to adjust the color, in
the image.
So like these basic edits, Imean, these things have been
going on for decades, for ahundred plus years.
(04:47):
Editing.
It is not new.
It's not new.
Professionals would even dothings like object removal,
painting on the image.
That would be like heavier,heavier stuff, it's not just
colors.
but I would say that most of thecreative part of an image was
done in camera.
And most casual or even hobbyistphotographers, film
(05:10):
photographers didn't edit theirimages at all like me.
They would shoot a roll of film,they would drop it off at like
the one hour photo place andthen pick up their prints a few
days later, and that was it.
Done.
Finished.
FTO but these, photographers,these hobbyists, who were just
going shooting.
Printing a roll.
(05:30):
They're not photographers whowere worried about, whether
their photos would win anyawards.
All that they wanted to do was,remember and capture a day at a
car show or a vacation with thegrandkids, or even just
something as simple as like afoggy morning walk.
Today though, it feels as if wehave, reversed that order.
(05:52):
Maybe not reverse the order, butlike, professionals still use
editing much, I think in thesame way to enhance their
vision.
Of course.
But yeah, it's not reversed.
Anyway a lot of beginners andhobbyists out though now are
taught that, and oftenunintentionally that you need to
edit your photos to make themgood.
And if you look at a photo andit doesn't pop, or, or if it's
(06:15):
not moody enough or, if it's notvibrant enough, then it's just
simply not worth sharing.
Let alone even keeping, soinstead of learning this tool
that is your camera, right?
The thing that we can physicallycontrol, for how to achieve
these things, a more moodyimage, a more vibrant image, an
(06:38):
image that pops.
Instead of doing that, what wedo is we just, we just lean on
the editing.
because with ease, I mean, youcan fix things like exposure
mistakes or a weird whitebalance or poor composition or
even cluttered backgrounds,again, with ease.
And I'm not here to shame thatwe all do it from time to time.
(07:00):
It's invaluable.
of a resource to have.
I honestly cannot imagine theprocess of doing a head swap for
like, maybe a family photobecause somebody blinked, when
we were still shooting on film.
But when editing becomes asubstitute for learning, that's
when we run into a problem.
(07:21):
And that problem being that westopped growing as photographers
in lieu of growing as digitalartists.
And again, like I didn't getinto photography to get into,
Photoshop and digital arts.
I do love those things.
I love, like, looking at them, Ilove the, creative mind that can
(07:41):
create from a empty digitalspace.
I truly do, but that's not why Igot into photography.
So, when we stop askingourselves, things like, what do
I want this image to say andstart asking, how can I edit
this photo to make it look cool?
(08:01):
That's the problem.
And I don't know, I mean, itmust have been because instead
of putting our images instead ofhaving our images in this
physical space like we did withfilm, this tangible thing that
we hold in our hand that is inessence done.
What we do now with all of ourphotos is that we load them onto
a computer in a digitalworkspace where we're already a.
(08:23):
accustomed to, editing worddocuments or writing out email
or like creating things,changing things, manipulating
digital things.
We're very aware and accustomedand comfortable with that, and
that once our images got ontocomputers, it felt like, wait,
why don't we do that with ourphotos as well?
(08:46):
don't think it's like, you know,a big photo.
I don't think that that's thisbig problem.
I think it just kind of happenednaturally and unintentionally.
Unfortunately, when thathappened, and again, we stop
asking ourself what do we wantthis image to say?
While we're taking the photo andwe start asking ourselves, well,
how can I edit this image justto look cool after we've already
(09:10):
taken it?
Then we slowly stop enjoying theprocess of shooting and we start
dreading the workload of, offixing, and by that time, it's
too late.
At that time, it is too latebecause we think that that's
what photography is.
And what sucks is like when yougo out and, you're still kind of
(09:33):
in that transitional phase whereyou're trying to learn the
camera before you morph intothis thing that's like, oh, I'll
just fix it in post, what you dois you go out and you shoot a
thousand images of a tree or aflower or like a day at the
park, and then when you get backto your computer.
Again, society now kind of tellsus that we must edit our images.
We must shoot in raw, all thesethings that are just ridiculous.
(09:55):
And now we want to save allthousand of these photos.
And that's, that's the workloadof like, uh, I don't really want
to do this.
And that's not fun.
Nobody wants that.
Nobody wants to dread a hobby.
You know?
Nobody wants, photography tofeel more like homework than it
(10:16):
is a fun and enjoyable andfulfilling hobby.
Nobody wants that.
And listen, I'm not saying thatI don't edit my images.
I do but I optimize for fun andenjoyment of photography.
So what does that look like?
It means that I rarely useLightroom on my computer anymore
(10:39):
because I just love theexperience of editing in
Lightroom on my iPad.
Why?
don't know.
I mean, visually they look thesame, but there's, there's
something about interacting withthe images, with your fingers
and pinching to zoom and usingan apple pencil, like it just
feels more fun, right?
Whether it objectively is orisn't, I don't know, but
(11:00):
subjectively it, it is.
So I optimize for that.
And I do everything I can tospend as little time in
Lightroom as humanly possible.
Now, even though that's thecase, I can't imagine giving it
up.
In fact, I find it to be aninvaluable resource for
photographers, and it's notbecause, it allows me to edit
(11:23):
quicker or better.
For me, what I love most aboutLightroom is the ability to
catalog and organize aever-growing, collection of
images.
I mean, it's always gonna grow,right?
So to be able to catalog themand know exactly where my photos
are at any moment, have themsink across any device
everywhere, I love it.
(11:43):
I cannot imagine getting rid ofit.
But that does not mean that youneed Lightroom.
It does not mean that you needto edit your photos.
It doesn't mean that you need todo anything other than putting
your photos in a folder on yourcomputer, or better yet,
printing them out, right?
So we have this idea of what isand is not a photographer.
(12:04):
So let me say this like realclearly.
You don't need to edit yourphotos to be a real
photographer.
You don't need to fix everysingle image for it to be worth
keeping.
You don't have to keep everysingle image if you don't want
to.
And you are allowed to take aphoto and look at it and just
(12:24):
say, yeah, nice.
And not have this pressure thatthe photo must get a million
likes, and that you already havesome sort of clever caption
waiting for it.
But you can say, yeah, nice.
Because a photo simply reflectswhat you saw and hopefully how
(12:45):
you felt in that moment.
That is enough.
That is enough.
Imperfections.
Imperfections don't mean that aphoto was broken.
Early on shooting weddings, Iwanted to fix every single
photo.
I wanted it to look like everyphoto could be printed in a
magazine.
Now, when I look back at thosephotos, I cringe a little bit
today, but at the time I thoughtthat I was doing the right
(13:08):
thing.
I was smoothing out the skin.
I was removing every stray hair'cause it was kind of windy
outside or, you know, whatever.
I would go into Photoshop andliterally like, adjust people's
smiles to make them lookhappier.
That happened a lot with kidswho, you know, just didn't like
to do the family photos orwhatever, but I wanted them to
(13:31):
be picture perfect.
And I achieved that by fixingquote unquote every photo.
I looked at every photo andasked myself, how can I fix this
to make it perfect?
But what I learned is that,again, imperfection does not
mean that a photo is broken.
Sometimes the imperfection isthe magic.
(13:54):
There's this photo that I haveof a flower girl picking her
nose, right, while the bride andall the bridesmaids are all
standing together and it's likethis really sweet moment.
And like they're kinda laughing.
And then off to the side is aflower girl picking her nose.
And I mean, she's like dig indeep.
Like, she's just discoveredpicking her nose and she wants
to explore every facet of whatshe can do with this newfound
(14:18):
power that is like what she wasdoing.
I mean, her face was scrunchedup.
She was really trying to get inthere.
I could have cropped her out ofthe photo so that it was just
this nice little moment of thebridesmaids with the bride and
that was it.
I could have fixed the photo,but I didn't, I shared it as is.
(14:40):
I left it as is now, of course,in the moment I took the wide
shot with the flower girl in it.
And then I also, you know, onceI was confident in that shot, I
took a step closer and justfocused on the bride and the
bridesmaid so that they did havethe option to have the photo
without the, you know, boogersearch and flower girl in there.
But the point is, the image thatI shared, was the one of the
(15:01):
flower girl, I mean, diggingreal deep.
And you know what, that photo isone of my most liked, I wanna
say liked, but that photo hasthe most engagement, on my
Instagram page.
And do you know why that is?
Because it feels real.
It feels authentic.
It feels human.
It's funny.
It's funny in a way that like,oh man, that's, kids, kids are
(15:22):
gross.
Geez.
Ugh.
I wonder if there was a surprisewaiting for the bride when she
got down the aisle and theflower girl handed to her
flowers.
You know what I mean?
Like, these are the questionsthat pop up in your head because
of this real, authentic andhuman moment, even if it is
imperfect.
And as we enter into this era ofAI perfection, right?
(15:46):
AI is gonna try to makeeverything absolutely perfect.
It's going to be imperfectionsthat give your photos life, it's
gonna be imperfections that givehumanity and give authenticity
to our images.
Yeah, maybe right now.
AI has a problem with fingersand, you know, spaghetti or
(16:10):
whatever.
but like this is the worst thatit's gonna be.
It is continually getting betterand better every single day, and
it's going to focus onperfection.
And hey, I mean, that's greatfor things like commercial work
that's great for certain type ofportraits that's great for
certain types of, of paidphotography.
(16:32):
But if you are somebody whowants to use photography as a
creative outlet, as a way toslow down and experience the
world as a way to be morepresent, as a way to document
your life, then imperfections isgonna be the thing that gives
humanity to your images thatsay, this photo was taken by a
(16:56):
real human, and it mattersbecause it exists.
I think that that's part of thereason why film has seen such a
resurgence, because it'sperfectly imperfect.
Yeah.
I mean, you could say, for thepast 10 years it's been on the
rise, but the past like twoyears, holy cow.
I mean, hockey stick momentagain.
And that's because we're nowseeing what AI is doing to
(17:18):
photography, and people arelooking for a way to validate or
authenticate that their imagesare real and that they existed,
and film is just, there's nodenying it.
Once you see the negative, thephysical negative.
One of my favorite books, I tryto read it every year, it's
called The Dude in the ZenMaster by Jeff Bridges.
(17:41):
and in this book, it's a veryshort read, it's very enjoyable.
It's conversation.
Jeff Bridges talks about how helikes to pl on his guitar, pl
P-L-O-R-K.
It is half play, half work, pl.
It's play in the sense thatthere's no expectations when he
(18:01):
picks up a guitar.
No expectations.
He's just playing around.
But it's work in the sense thathe's simply putting in the reps
and therefore will become betterat it.
He's gonna be, you know, I don'tknow, working on his scales,
working on his fretting, workingon his picking, Whatever it is,
there's work involved.
But within that, he's justplaying around.
(18:23):
I love that idea.
I love that idea.
I want you to try to incorporatethat the next time you go out
and shoot.
So next time you go out andshoot, try this.
Don't shoot with the goal offixing or even editing the
photos later.
Shoot with the goal of gettingit right in camera, not getting
(18:44):
everything right in camera.
Just getting something right incamera.
Now, right does not mean againperfect.
It does not mean quote unquote,properly exposed.
Right means as close to how yousee the world as you can.
Maybe that's gonna be the rightmoment.
(19:05):
Maybe it's gonna be the rightlight.
It may not be everything atonce, but you're trying to get
something right in camera.
So it doesn't have to betechnically perfect.
It doesn't have to be awardworthy, but it does have to be
intentional.
So pay attention to things likethe direction of light.
Pay attention to where your eyegoes within a scene.
(19:27):
Pay attention to a moment andcomposition the basics.
You know, use your viewfindermore of like a window than a
rough draft.
What that means is slow down.
Again, take a look at the light,adjust your exposure, change
your angle.
Wait a few seconds, take thephoto, and if it doesn't work,
(19:50):
cool, no worries.
You learned something, tryagain.
Right?
You're just poring.
You're just pl.
That is such a fun word to say.
I used to love saying salsa.
Now pl kin, Aaron Larkin.
I bet he would hate to hear it.
Anyway.
that is right there the mindsetshift, right, is that you're
(20:12):
just Larkin, you're just playingaround while working on
something, right?
The images that you capture,photography isn't broken and it
doesn't need to be saved.
Photography simply needs to beenjoyed.
In fact, now that I think aboutit, I got this email this
morning.
Hold on, let me pull it up.
I don't know if you, have everheard of the app headway.
(20:35):
If you haven't, highly recommendit.
Headway is like, quick booksummaries.
So you can go through like awhole book in like 15 minutes.
It pulls out all like the keypoints and whatnot.
Anyway, one of the quotes that Isaved and then it now emails me.
These quotes that I've savedwithin, the app, headway It is
that art must bring pleasure andhappiness, not necessarily
(20:56):
financial success, right?
That was by Rick Rubin in thebook, the Creative Act.
Again, photography doesn't haveto be fixed.
It doesn't have to be saved.
It just simply needs to beenjoyed.
So before I let you go, I wantto give you some permission
(21:16):
today.
You don't need permission.
You're an adult.
You can do whatever you want,but I'm gonna give you some
permission anyway, I wanna giveyou permission to shoot in jpeg
and skip editing entirely.
That doesn't make you any lessof a photographer.
I wanna give you permission toprint straight from your camera
roll.
That doesn't make you any lessof a photographer.
(21:37):
I want to give you permission toshare a photo just because it
simply feels right, and even ifit's not right in a technical
standard.
That doesn't make you any lessof a photographer, and I want to
give you permission to let yourcamera be the creative tool, not
your editing software.
(21:59):
That doesn't make you any lessof a photographer.
In fact, that's the one thingthat I would say makes you more
of a photographer.
I may not know you but I'd bewilling to bet you didn't get
into photography to spend moretime in front of a screen.
You probably got intophotography to slow down.
You probably got intophotography to spend more time
outside.
Maybe you got into photographybecause you're not good at
(22:21):
drawing or painting, but you cancreate something with a camera.
You got into photography to seethe world differently, so go out
and see it.
Now if there's one actionableexercise that I can give you to
make this whole thing stick, Idon't think it's going to
surprise you, but it's gonna bethis.
Take five photos a day for thenext week and commit to not
(22:44):
editing any of them.
Not because you're trying toprove something.
I'm not saying that editing isthe enemy.
I'm not saying that editing isbad.
I edit photos.
People edit photos.
It's been happening for hundredsof years, but you're doing it
because you're practicing seeingagain.
You're practicing figuring outhow you can use this creative
(23:04):
tool in your hand.
That is the camera.
Five photos a day.
Commit to not editing any ofthem.
Pay attention to what younotice, what patterns emerge.
Do you shoot for light?
Do you shoot for color?
Do you shoot for emotion?
Whatever it is that becomes yourartistic signature.
That's the thing that makes yourwork stand out.
(23:28):
It's not a Lightroom preset,it's not some, image lut or
color grade.
It's what you notice in animage.
Remember, you're not a machine.
Your camera is not broken, andyour photos, they don't need fix
They just need to be yours.
That's all that I got for youtoday.
(23:48):
A bit shorter today, buthopefully just as actionable.
Hopefully that can give yousomething to, to chew on as you
go out and shoot next time tosee the world differently as far
as your approach to photography.
And editing.
It's a great tool, but what areyou optimizing for?
To become a photographer or adigital artist?
(24:10):
Choice is yours.
No wrong choice, but the choiceis yours.
So that's all that I got for youtoday.
Until next time, remember, themore that you shoot today, the
better of a photographer you'llbe tomorrow.
Talk soon.
As we enter into this era of AI perfection,
right?
AI is gonna try to makeeverything absolutely perfect.
It's going to be imperfectionsthat give your photos life.
Imperfections is gonna be thething that gives humanity to
your images that say, this photowas taken by a real human, and
(00:26):
it matters because it exists.
Hey, welcome to the Beginner ofPhotography podcast.
I'm your host, Raymond Hatfield,and today I want to talk about
something that I know has been,weighing heavily on a lot of
hobbyists lately, especiallythose who have found photography
later in life.
You know, there's this phrasethat, if it ain't broke, don't
(00:47):
fix it.
And that makes sense for somethings, it makes sense for a lot
of things.
Things like a light bulb.
Anybody, whether they're anelectrician or not, can tell you
whether a light bulb works byflipping the switch.
But how can you tell ifsomething is broken and needs
fixed when it's subjective, likephotography?
(01:10):
That is a much, much, muchharder thing to do because,
maybe you picked up a camerabecause you love the idea of
slowing down.
You love the idea of seeing theworld differently but somewhere
along the way it all started tofeel like work.
I've been there.
There's this feeling that everyphoto that we take needs to be
perfect.
It needs to be edited, it needsto be polished, it needs to be
(01:33):
sharpened.
It needs to be color graded.
It needs to be posted with likethis super witty caption.
Otherwise it's not even worthdoing.
And suddenly it's not aboutenjoying the moment anymore with
your camera.
It's about creating something tofix.
So that's what we're gonna talkabout today, how photography
(01:54):
isn't about fixing problems.
But first, the beginnerphotography podcast is brought
to you by Cloud Spot.
With Cloud Spot, you can deliverbeautiful galleries.
You can set up a storefront inminutes and start earning more
from each shoot.
And you can protect your photoswith things like, passwords and
watermarks on your images.
(02:14):
So if you're not using CloudSpot already, I don't know what
you're waiting for, go ahead andgrab yourself a free account
over@deliverphotos.com now.
So it's not a secret.
I don't really like editing.
I didn't get into photography tobecome a digital artist.
I got into photography to takephotos, and when I was growing
(02:35):
up, the process of photographywas, I got usually a disposable
camera.
I would point, I would shoot.
My parents would drop it off atTarget, Walmart, Costco,
wherever.
And then a few days later, I'dget my photos back and that was
it.
The process of shooting was funand it was relatively quick.
Unfortunately, somewhere alongthe way, between the transition
(02:57):
from film to digital, editingbecame like this default step in
the process of photography, andnot just for pros, but for
everyone, and we see thiseverywhere with, Lightroom
presets for sale, YouTubetutorials on how to salvage bad
photos, or, these tiktoks oflike wild before and afters.
(03:21):
I mean, you're removing thesecrazy elements and changing the
colors and creating this likedynamic light and, blurring out
the background and making itdarker.
And it's like, wait, why didn'tyou just do that in camera when
you took the photo?
Anyway, all that to say thatthere's a lot that can be done
in camera, but we don'tnecessarily look at it that way
(03:44):
anymore.
And it didn't always used to bethis way.
Don't get me wrong, I'm notsaying that editing is bad
because it's not.
I think that editing is, ispretty great.
And I'm also not saying thatediting is new.
Professional film Photographershave always edited their images
since the beginning of time,well, since the beginning of
(04:04):
photography, I guessphotography's time, but it was
usually less about fixing aphoto and more about finishing a
photo.
Putting their signature on animage in the dark room.
Dodge here, burn here.
Some color adjustments.
I don't know if you know this,but when you go to, print a
photo in the dark room, thereare three different filters that
(04:26):
you can put in front of thelight that burns the image onto,
the enlarged.
paper into the enlarged imageand those three colored films
you use to get the coloraccurate to adjust the color, in
the image.
So like these basic edits, Imean, these things have been
going on for decades, for ahundred plus years.
(04:47):
Editing.
It is not new.
It's not new.
Professionals would even dothings like object removal,
painting on the image.
That would be like heavier,heavier stuff, it's not just
colors.
but I would say that most of thecreative part of an image was
done in camera.
And most casual or even hobbyistphotographers, film
(05:10):
photographers didn't edit theirimages at all like me.
They would shoot a roll of film,they would drop it off at like
the one hour photo place andthen pick up their prints a few
days later, and that was it.
Done.
Finished.
FTO but these, photographers,these hobbyists, who were just
going shooting.
Printing a roll.
(05:30):
They're not photographers whowere worried about, whether
their photos would win anyawards.
All that they wanted to do was,remember and capture a day at a
car show or a vacation with thegrandkids, or even just
something as simple as like afoggy morning walk.
Today though, it feels as if wehave, reversed that order.
(05:52):
Maybe not reverse the order, butlike, professionals still use
editing much, I think in thesame way to enhance their
vision.
Of course.
But yeah, it's not reversed.
Anyway a lot of beginners andhobbyists out though now are
taught that, and oftenunintentionally that you need to
edit your photos to make themgood.
And if you look at a photo andit doesn't pop, or, or if it's
(06:15):
not moody enough or, if it's notvibrant enough, then it's just
simply not worth sharing.
Let alone even keeping, soinstead of learning this tool
that is your camera, right?
The thing that we can physicallycontrol, for how to achieve
these things, a more moodyimage, a more vibrant image, an
(06:38):
image that pops.
Instead of doing that, what wedo is we just, we just lean on
the editing.
because with ease, I mean, youcan fix things like exposure
mistakes or a weird whitebalance or poor composition or
even cluttered backgrounds,again, with ease.
And I'm not here to shame thatwe all do it from time to time.
(07:00):
It's invaluable.
of a resource to have.
I honestly cannot imagine theprocess of doing a head swap for
like, maybe a family photobecause somebody blinked, when
we were still shooting on film.
But when editing becomes asubstitute for learning, that's
when we run into a problem.
(07:21):
And that problem being that westopped growing as photographers
in lieu of growing as digitalartists.
And again, like I didn't getinto photography to get into,
Photoshop and digital arts.
I do love those things.
I love, like, looking at them, Ilove the, creative mind that can
(07:41):
create from a empty digitalspace.
I truly do, but that's not why Igot into photography.
So, when we stop askingourselves, things like, what do
I want this image to say andstart asking, how can I edit
this photo to make it look cool?
(08:01):
That's the problem.
And I don't know, I mean, itmust have been because instead
of putting our images instead ofhaving our images in this
physical space like we did withfilm, this tangible thing that
we hold in our hand that is inessence done.
What we do now with all of ourphotos is that we load them onto
a computer in a digitalworkspace where we're already a.
(08:23):
accustomed to, editing worddocuments or writing out email
or like creating things,changing things, manipulating
digital things.
We're very aware and accustomedand comfortable with that, and
that once our images got ontocomputers, it felt like, wait,
why don't we do that with ourphotos as well?
(08:46):
don't think it's like, you know,a big photo.
I don't think that that's thisbig problem.
I think it just kind of happenednaturally and unintentionally.
Unfortunately, when thathappened, and again, we stop
asking ourself what do we wantthis image to say?
While we're taking the photo andwe start asking ourselves, well,
how can I edit this image justto look cool after we've already
(09:10):
taken it?
Then we slowly stop enjoying theprocess of shooting and we start
dreading the workload of, offixing, and by that time, it's
too late.
At that time, it is too latebecause we think that that's
what photography is.
And what sucks is like when yougo out and, you're still kind of
(09:33):
in that transitional phase whereyou're trying to learn the
camera before you morph intothis thing that's like, oh, I'll
just fix it in post, what you dois you go out and you shoot a
thousand images of a tree or aflower or like a day at the
park, and then when you get backto your computer.
Again, society now kind of tellsus that we must edit our images.
We must shoot in raw, all thesethings that are just ridiculous.
(09:55):
And now we want to save allthousand of these photos.
And that's, that's the workloadof like, uh, I don't really want
to do this.
And that's not fun.
Nobody wants that.
Nobody wants to dread a hobby.
You know?
Nobody wants, photography tofeel more like homework than it
(10:16):
is a fun and enjoyable andfulfilling hobby.
Nobody wants that.
And listen, I'm not saying thatI don't edit my images.
I do but I optimize for fun andenjoyment of photography.
So what does that look like?
It means that I rarely useLightroom on my computer anymore
(10:39):
because I just love theexperience of editing in
Lightroom on my iPad.
Why?
don't know.
I mean, visually they look thesame, but there's, there's
something about interacting withthe images, with your fingers
and pinching to zoom and usingan apple pencil, like it just
feels more fun, right?
Whether it objectively is orisn't, I don't know, but
(11:00):
subjectively it, it is.
So I optimize for that.
And I do everything I can tospend as little time in
Lightroom as humanly possible.
Now, even though that's thecase, I can't imagine giving it
up.
In fact, I find it to be aninvaluable resource for
photographers, and it's notbecause, it allows me to edit
(11:23):
quicker or better.
For me, what I love most aboutLightroom is the ability to
catalog and organize aever-growing, collection of
images.
I mean, it's always gonna grow,right?
So to be able to catalog themand know exactly where my photos
are at any moment, have themsink across any device
everywhere, I love it.
(11:43):
I cannot imagine getting rid ofit.
But that does not mean that youneed Lightroom.
It does not mean that you needto edit your photos.
It doesn't mean that you need todo anything other than putting
your photos in a folder on yourcomputer, or better yet,
printing them out, right?
So we have this idea of what isand is not a photographer.
(12:04):
So let me say this like realclearly.
You don't need to edit yourphotos to be a real
photographer.
You don't need to fix everysingle image for it to be worth
keeping.
You don't have to keep everysingle image if you don't want
to.
And you are allowed to take aphoto and look at it and just
(12:24):
say, yeah, nice.
And not have this pressure thatthe photo must get a million
likes, and that you already havesome sort of clever caption
waiting for it.
But you can say, yeah, nice.
Because a photo simply reflectswhat you saw and hopefully how
(12:45):
you felt in that moment.
That is enough.
That is enough.
Imperfections.
Imperfections don't mean that aphoto was broken.
Early on shooting weddings, Iwanted to fix every single
photo.
I wanted it to look like everyphoto could be printed in a
magazine.
Now, when I look back at thosephotos, I cringe a little bit
today, but at the time I thoughtthat I was doing the right
(13:08):
thing.
I was smoothing out the skin.
I was removing every stray hair'cause it was kind of windy
outside or, you know, whatever.
I would go into Photoshop andliterally like, adjust people's
smiles to make them lookhappier.
That happened a lot with kidswho, you know, just didn't like
to do the family photos orwhatever, but I wanted them to
(13:31):
be picture perfect.
And I achieved that by fixingquote unquote every photo.
I looked at every photo andasked myself, how can I fix this
to make it perfect?
But what I learned is that,again, imperfection does not
mean that a photo is broken.
Sometimes the imperfection isthe magic.
(13:54):
There's this photo that I haveof a flower girl picking her
nose, right, while the bride andall the bridesmaids are all
standing together and it's likethis really sweet moment.
And like they're kinda laughing.
And then off to the side is aflower girl picking her nose.
And I mean, she's like dig indeep.
Like, she's just discoveredpicking her nose and she wants
to explore every facet of whatshe can do with this newfound
(14:18):
power that is like what she wasdoing.
I mean, her face was scrunchedup.
She was really trying to get inthere.
I could have cropped her out ofthe photo so that it was just
this nice little moment of thebridesmaids with the bride and
that was it.
I could have fixed the photo,but I didn't, I shared it as is.
(14:40):
I left it as is now, of course,in the moment I took the wide
shot with the flower girl in it.
And then I also, you know, onceI was confident in that shot, I
took a step closer and justfocused on the bride and the
bridesmaid so that they did havethe option to have the photo
without the, you know, boogersearch and flower girl in there.
But the point is, the image thatI shared, was the one of the
(15:01):
flower girl, I mean, diggingreal deep.
And you know what, that photo isone of my most liked, I wanna
say liked, but that photo hasthe most engagement, on my
Instagram page.
And do you know why that is?
Because it feels real.
It feels authentic.
It feels human.
It's funny.
It's funny in a way that like,oh man, that's, kids, kids are
(15:22):
gross.
Geez.
Ugh.
I wonder if there was a surprisewaiting for the bride when she
got down the aisle and theflower girl handed to her
flowers.
You know what I mean?
Like, these are the questionsthat pop up in your head because
of this real, authentic andhuman moment, even if it is
imperfect.
And as we enter into this era ofAI perfection, right?
(15:46):
AI is gonna try to makeeverything absolutely perfect.
It's going to be imperfectionsthat give your photos life, it's
gonna be imperfections that givehumanity and give authenticity
to our images.
Yeah, maybe right now.
AI has a problem with fingersand, you know, spaghetti or
(16:10):
whatever.
but like this is the worst thatit's gonna be.
It is continually getting betterand better every single day, and
it's going to focus onperfection.
And hey, I mean, that's greatfor things like commercial work
that's great for certain type ofportraits that's great for
certain types of, of paidphotography.
(16:32):
But if you are somebody whowants to use photography as a
creative outlet, as a way toslow down and experience the
world as a way to be morepresent, as a way to document
your life, then imperfections isgonna be the thing that gives
humanity to your images thatsay, this photo was taken by a
(16:56):
real human, and it mattersbecause it exists.
I think that that's part of thereason why film has seen such a
resurgence, because it'sperfectly imperfect.
Yeah.
I mean, you could say, for thepast 10 years it's been on the
rise, but the past like twoyears, holy cow.
I mean, hockey stick momentagain.
And that's because we're nowseeing what AI is doing to
(17:18):
photography, and people arelooking for a way to validate or
authenticate that their imagesare real and that they existed,
and film is just, there's nodenying it.
Once you see the negative, thephysical negative.
One of my favorite books, I tryto read it every year, it's
called The Dude in the ZenMaster by Jeff Bridges.
(17:41):
and in this book, it's a veryshort read, it's very enjoyable.
It's conversation.
Jeff Bridges talks about how helikes to pl on his guitar, pl
P-L-O-R-K.
It is half play, half work, pl.
It's play in the sense thatthere's no expectations when he
(18:01):
picks up a guitar.
No expectations.
He's just playing around.
But it's work in the sense thathe's simply putting in the reps
and therefore will become betterat it.
He's gonna be, you know, I don'tknow, working on his scales,
working on his fretting, workingon his picking, Whatever it is,
there's work involved.
But within that, he's justplaying around.
(18:23):
I love that idea.
I love that idea.
I want you to try to incorporatethat the next time you go out
and shoot.
So next time you go out andshoot, try this.
Don't shoot with the goal offixing or even editing the
photos later.
Shoot with the goal of gettingit right in camera, not getting
(18:44):
everything right in camera.
Just getting something right incamera.
Now, right does not mean againperfect.
It does not mean quote unquote,properly exposed.
Right means as close to how yousee the world as you can.
Maybe that's gonna be the rightmoment.
(19:05):
Maybe it's gonna be the rightlight.
It may not be everything atonce, but you're trying to get
something right in camera.
So it doesn't have to betechnically perfect.
It doesn't have to be awardworthy, but it does have to be
intentional.
So pay attention to things likethe direction of light.
Pay attention to where your eyegoes within a scene.
(19:27):
Pay attention to a moment andcomposition the basics.
You know, use your viewfindermore of like a window than a
rough draft.
What that means is slow down.
Again, take a look at the light,adjust your exposure, change
your angle.
Wait a few seconds, take thephoto, and if it doesn't work,
(19:50):
cool, no worries.
You learned something, tryagain.
Right?
You're just poring.
You're just pl.
That is such a fun word to say.
I used to love saying salsa.
Now pl kin, Aaron Larkin.
I bet he would hate to hear it.
Anyway.
that is right there the mindsetshift, right, is that you're
(20:12):
just Larkin, you're just playingaround while working on
something, right?
The images that you capture,photography isn't broken and it
doesn't need to be saved.
Photography simply needs to beenjoyed.
In fact, now that I think aboutit, I got this email this
morning.
Hold on, let me pull it up.
I don't know if you, have everheard of the app headway.
(20:35):
If you haven't, highly recommendit.
Headway is like, quick booksummaries.
So you can go through like awhole book in like 15 minutes.
It pulls out all like the keypoints and whatnot.
Anyway, one of the quotes that Isaved and then it now emails me.
These quotes that I've savedwithin, the app, headway It is
that art must bring pleasure andhappiness, not necessarily
(20:56):
financial success, right?
That was by Rick Rubin in thebook, the Creative Act.
Again, photography doesn't haveto be fixed.
It doesn't have to be saved.
It just simply needs to beenjoyed.
So before I let you go, I wantto give you some permission
(21:16):
today.
You don't need permission.
You're an adult.
You can do whatever you want,but I'm gonna give you some
permission anyway, I wanna giveyou permission to shoot in jpeg
and skip editing entirely.
That doesn't make you any lessof a photographer.
I wanna give you permission toprint straight from your camera
roll.
That doesn't make you any lessof a photographer.
(21:37):
I want to give you permission toshare a photo just because it
simply feels right, and even ifit's not right in a technical
standard.
That doesn't make you any lessof a photographer, and I want to
give you permission to let yourcamera be the creative tool, not
your editing software.
(21:59):
That doesn't make you any lessof a photographer.
In fact, that's the one thingthat I would say makes you more
of a photographer.
I may not know you but I'd bewilling to bet you didn't get
into photography to spend moretime in front of a screen.
You probably got intophotography to slow down.
You probably got intophotography to spend more time
outside.
Maybe you got into photographybecause you're not good at
(22:21):
drawing or painting, but you cancreate something with a camera.
You got into photography to seethe world differently, so go out
and see it.
Now if there's one actionableexercise that I can give you to
make this whole thing stick, Idon't think it's going to
surprise you, but it's gonna bethis.
Take five photos a day for thenext week and commit to not
(22:44):
editing any of them.
Not because you're trying toprove something.
I'm not saying that editing isthe enemy.
I'm not saying that editing isbad.
I edit photos.
People edit photos.
It's been happening for hundredsof years, but you're doing it
because you're practicing seeingagain.
You're practicing figuring outhow you can use this creative
(23:04):
tool in your hand.
That is the camera.
Five photos a day.
Commit to not editing any ofthem.
Pay attention to what younotice, what patterns emerge.
Do you shoot for light?
Do you shoot for color?
Do you shoot for emotion?
Whatever it is that becomes yourartistic signature.
That's the thing that makes yourwork stand out.
(23:28):
It's not a Lightroom preset,it's not some, image lut or
color grade.
It's what you notice in animage.
Remember, you're not a machine.
Your camera is not broken, andyour photos, they don't need fix
They just need to be yours.
That's all that I got for youtoday.
(23:48):
A bit shorter today, buthopefully just as actionable.
Hopefully that can give yousomething to, to chew on as you
go out and shoot next time tosee the world differently as far
as your approach to photography.
And editing.
It's a great tool, but what areyou optimizing for?
To become a photographer or adigital artist?
(24:10):
Choice is yours.
No wrong choice, but the choiceis yours.
So that's all that I got for youtoday.
Until next time, remember, themore that you shoot today, the
better of a photographer you'llbe tomorrow.
Talk soon.
Popular Podcasts
24/7 News: The Latest
The latest news in 4 minutes updated every hour, every day.
Crime Junkie
Does hearing about a true crime case always leave you scouring the internet for the truth behind the story? Dive into your next mystery with Crime Junkie. Every Monday, join your host Ashley Flowers as she unravels all the details of infamous and underreported true crime cases with her best friend Brit Prawat. From cold cases to missing persons and heroes in our community who seek justice, Crime Junkie is your destination for theories and stories you won’t hear anywhere else. Whether you're a seasoned true crime enthusiast or new to the genre, you'll find yourself on the edge of your seat awaiting a new episode every Monday. If you can never get enough true crime... Congratulations, you’ve found your people. Follow to join a community of Crime Junkies! Crime Junkie is presented by audiochuck Media Company.
The Clay Travis and Buck Sexton Show
The Clay Travis and Buck Sexton Show. Clay Travis and Buck Sexton tackle the biggest stories in news, politics and current events with intelligence and humor. From the border crisis, to the madness of cancel culture and far-left missteps, Clay and Buck guide listeners through the latest headlines and hot topics with fun and entertaining conversations and opinions.