So the other day I was scrolling through my Facebook timeline just as I normally do seeing post after post and picture after picture. I thought to myself you know there are some really cool locations and amazing moments that people capture, but they were taken with their phone. Now don't get me wrong this isn't a rant from a photographer chastising people for using their phones and Instagram filters to capture photos. This is about taking the photo you made, whether you used a DSLR, Point and Shoot or your camera phone and taking a bit of time to really make it shine. I think we have all fallen into the trap of wanting to share it immediately and not caring about what it really looks like. Trust me I do this myself and I understand, you are exited and you want people to feel the moment, but don't you think that if you just put in a bit more effort and did a little extra editing they would really feel what you felt when you were there? All of our cameras capture great pictures these days, they are pretty much fool proof, but does that mean you should be like every other fool? Below I took a photo that I captured a while back with my iPhone 4s, yes thats right I said 4s (don't laugh to hard) and spent about 15 min editing it. I won't say this is the worlds best photo, but I enjoyed the scene and it gave me a chance to show exactly what I am talking about. If you look at the before and after you will see what I am talking about. I brought out the colors, added clarity did a bit of dodging and burning and then to finish it off, removed some of the distracting elements like shadows, poles, trash cans and fire hydrant. Again this is just to give you an idea of what can be done even with a photo taken with a iPhone 4s. There are plenty of free photo editing applications out there, such as Picasa or even GIMP to name a couple. Again I am not trying to be preachy here, this is just something to think about the next time you take that long hike to the top of the mountain, to a waterfall, or Hawaiian vacation. Just pick out a few of your favorites and add a little something extra to it and make it pop.
Photo taken at Olson Mansion in Maple Valley with iPhone 4s using panorama