No post editing done on this jpg of a Yurakucho lantern in Tokyo Japan
I have said several times lately to some of my DSLR Photography Lesson students that I edit every single one of my photographs, that I never post any online without at least some editing, and that post-processing can be up to 50% of the process of producing the final photograph. Then earlier today I was talking with Bob Kroll, a photographer far more experienced than I, about how just even a little over one year ago my post-processing workflow was embarrassingly simplistic.
So this gave me an idea for a new series of posts called "Unedited." By unedited I mean a jpg straight out of my Nikon D300, with no post-processing done outside of the camera in any photo editing application, not even any cropping.
The debut image for the Unedited series is a shot I made back in February of 2009 after meeting with great Tokyo-based photographer Alfie Goodrich. We had met at the Foreign Correspondents Club which is in the very photographic Yurakucho area of Tokyo. Alfie has photographed a lot there himself. The lantern in the above shot does not have any deep spiritual meaning or anything like that, it is merely a small restaurant's sign. Looks much more impressive than some rectangular corporate signage doesn't it?
Could this image be improved with some editing? Sure. The reds might be toned down a bit and maybe some shadow detail pulled out. A little sharpening might help define the kanji characters as well. However, I am satisfied with the results I got just from the jpg, and at least for me personally, this photograph is a nice reminder of a well spent day with another photographer during my time in Tokyo.
SHOT DATA:
- Nikon D300
- Nikkor 50mm f/1.8D
- aperture: f/2.8
- shutter speed: 1/250
- iso: 800
- handheld