Post processing or picture editing is something I have been familiar with for quite some time as it became a requirement at work to produce document sets suitable for customer consumption.
This was just a case of tidying up an image so that it is portrayed in its best light such as hiding the dents and scratches or any unwanted objects, which always seem to appear in my pictures however hard I try to avoid such obstructions.
The task of removing such blemishes can take a little practice but is worth the effort as some pleasing results to old and faded pictures or even your holiday snaps can be achieved.
These examples were produced some years ago whilst practicing with a program I still use today called Paint Shop Pro Ver 5.
Unfortunately, this program is no longer available for purchase but being standalone my copy still works for me today.
I did have later copies of this software at the time available but, although they had improved functionality comparable to today’s offerings, I always found myself reverting to this early version as I find it simple and easy to use still providing excellent results.
I had never once thought whist toiling at work that these editing skills were ever become rather useful in later years for my moth site.
As I had now transitioned to a stacking approach to my moth images I had not only managed to focus on a complete subject but also on any noise, dirt or foreign body on my grey background.
It became necessary for me to once again employ PSP to clean up these backgrounds to avoid any distractions from my main subject.
As I was working with a uniform background this task proved to be quite a simple process if I avoided shadows which can prove to be rather tricky to edit and are best left alone.
During my hours of research on photography post processing appeared to me to be at the forefront of professional photography especially in respect to portraits.
It became apparent that the removal of blemishes, adjusting highlights and colour (color) correction are commonplace in photography to produce the ‘perfect result’.
The concept of editing the actual moth itself to me was not really an option as the minutest speck may well be crucial for its identification so my post processing at this time was confined to backgrounds only.
Due to number of factors my approach today has changed slightly but the concept remains the same and is a subject of a future post.
It is also important to point out that any post processing of images that appear on my records site have been made after identification has been completed and confirmed with the exclusion of resizing necessary for the ability to send the image via Email to an expert.