How many of you look back at your older photos and say to yourself, "What was I thinking?" when I processed this? I do this occasionally and I realize how far my editing skills have advanced over the past several years (some may argue not much at all). I have decided to go back to some of my favorite images and re-edit them. I have found out a number of things as I have done this. 1. My skills are definitely better. While I used some of the same processing software, I know them better now and can use them more effectively. By following other photography blogs, listening to photography podcasts and shooting with other photographers, I learn something new every day.
2. The processing software has advanced tremendously over the past few years. Things that were cumbersome (and maybe even not possible) are getting easier and easier to do. Many will bemoan that use of this software is "cheating" and wish for the days when only Photoshop was used to enhance photos. Of course, there are others that say using Photoshop is "cheating". I believe that photography is art and that non-photographers don't really care what was used to edit a photo, they just know if they like it or not. I am also not against the advancement of the software. Anything that increases the speed of editing gives me more time to shoot.
3. My tastes have definitely changed. My older images seem to have a more warm feel to them and I realize that I didn't understand light as well as I do now. My photography has moved from a strict landscape photographer to more of a travel photographer. Maybe some day I will actually shoot people.
I plan to post a number of re-edited images over the next couple of months. This image is from the Garden of the Gods. Located in Colorado Springs, it is one of the best public parks around with wonderful sandstone and limestone rock formations.