Telling ourselves as photographers that fixing it in Photoshop later will help us save time is a bad idea. It will always come back to haunt us. Why? Because it always takes longer to fix it in Photoshop than it does just getting it right in camera the first time. Fixing it in Photoshop should never be the reason why any photographer doesn’t fix exposure issues in camera.
Raise your hand if you’ve ever been on a shoot and said, “I’ll just fix it later in Photoshop.”
I’m sure most of us would have raised our hands. The sad fact is that we think it’s easier and faster to fix exposure mistakes in Photoshop than it is in camera.
Imagine doing a photoshoot and have to edit 500 photos and each photo is overexposed or underexposed by a few stops. Now you have to go into Photoshop and fix each photo. How much time did you waste doing that instead of taking 2 minutes during the shoot to get dialed in correctly?
Maybe it’s laziness or a crutch knowing that we have the ability to correct things by fixing it in Photoshop instead of our cameras. I don’t know we assume that it’s just easier fixing something in post than it is fixing it in real time.
The goal should be to nail an exposure issues in camera and then “enhance” the photo in Photoshop later on.
As a sports photographer, I know there are times that conditions change so fast that I don’t have time to figure out settings as the action is happening. It’s just the way it is sometimes. And while I can edit the exposure in Photoshop afterwards, a piece of me dies inside when I know that I can’t get it right in camera at that moment.
Whether you’re a portrait photographer, wedding photographer or even a landscape photographer, getting the exposure locked in will save you headaches and wasted time later. That should be the goal not relying on Photoshop to save you. I think we rely to much on technology and software to fix our mistakes instead of us just taking the time to make the changes ourselves in camera.
So the next time you think you’ll just fix it later in Photoshop, remember it will take longer to fix it using Photoshop than it would just fixing it in camera the first time.
Photo by KAL VISUALS on Unsplash