Do you ever procrastinate on editing an image you like?

[FlyingSquirrel]

Is there ever a particular image (or images) that you really like, and are excited about the possibilities for, but continually procrastinate on editing said image? To clarify, when I say edit, I mean to process a RAW capture, from RAW into a final result.

I've noticed this happening to myself several times in the past couple months. When I have an image that I really like or for some reason am excited about, I tend to avoid editing it. It just sits there, on the back of my mind, and in my "Process" collection in Lightroom. And I look at the image on a daily basis, then leave it there....dreading it for some reason.

Maybe I am fearful that I will somehow "mess up" on the editing (I know how dumb that sounds given that it is a digital file and I can do as many versions as I want, but still.....)

Maybe I'm afraid that I like the image so much that it will be extremely difficult to find the 'perfect' edit and so I will continually have to make changes, go back and forth, and spend countless hours on it.

Or maybe there is another factor.

Has anyone else had this happen?

Thanks

[AB26]

Why edit an image if you are happy with it?

No Matt, it has never happened to me. I would rather avoid editing than looking for a reason to edit.

[Shadowman]

At what point in your workflow do you begin to procrastinate? I've read that you should undertake the biggest challenge first, whether it's noise reduction or color correction, and move on from there.

[FlyingSquirrel]

At what point in your workflow do you begin to procrastinate? I've read that you should undertake the biggest challenge first, whether it's noise reduction or color correction, and move on from there.

Usually, the feeling creeps up on me after doing some initial, fast, rough experimentation in Lightroom with the photo. I'll quickly adjust the color temp, tweak the exposure / contrast / sharpness, crop, whatever. I usually do this with any photo that I am planning to take in Photoshop for perfecting. But with some photos, after doing the quick edits and determining that the photo has a lot of potential, I get that feeling and then leave the photo and work on other ones. Then the photo sits there and I avoid it.

[shreds]

Like most procrastination issues, you will have to bite the bullet sometime.

The hardest part is always making the first move,

so make that your workflow.....you can't start another image until you have at least done one full set of edits on the first one, then when you have, start the next one. Don't spend too long per shot though.

If the shot is not worth it, then move on straight away and don't bother going back.

[John 2]

When I first started in photography, a fellow club member who taught photography at the local college, always recommended that you put a print on the mantelpiece (clearly pre digital) and live with it for a few days before printing the final version. That advice has stayed with me and I find that even today I very often return to an image and re process it. In addition, I very often return to a set of images and find that I hadn't selected the best one at first sight. I don't know why this is so. It seems that with me at least, letting an idea settle in my mind results in better choices. You might find that if you forget your image for a bit and then go back to it, you will see more readily what (if any PP) is needed.

[Manfred M]

Simple answer is no. I never procrastinate on doing an image that I like. I usually already have something in mind when I take the shot and will move in that general direction.

That doesn't mean I won't change my mind later or even during the edit. I will sometimes start out in a particular direction, not like where the image is going and will head off in a different direction.

Complex answer, I may return and do a re-edit at a later date; there are several factors at play here. If I do an edit shortly after I shoot the image, I may have some "baggage" based on my feelings or thoughts around the image that could affect my judgement on how I do the edit. After some time, I may become less emotionally attached to the circumstances and redo the edit on a more pragmatic look at the image.

Other factors can include comments I have received on the image, additional skills that I have developed and finally, I find I do go through "phases" in my photography. There are times I like a funky, over-saturated look, there are times I am on a monochrome "binge", there are times that I go for a more "painterly look", sometimes I go for a slightly desaturated look, etc.

[Mike Buckley]

I have never procrastinated doing the post-processing because I enjoy doing it so much. I'm very fortunate that I equally enjoy the preparation required to capture a photo, capturing it, post-processing it and cataloging it.

[Downrigger]

Usually, the feeling creeps up on me after doing some initial, fast, rough experimentation in Lightroom with the photo. I'll quickly adjust the color temp, tweak the exposure / contrast / sharpness, crop, whatever. I usually do this with any photo that I am planning to take in Photoshop for perfecting. But with some photos, after doing the quick edits and determining that the photo has a lot of potential, I get that feeling and then leave the photo and work on other ones. Then the photo sits there and I avoid it.

I was going to say exactly that. I am excited to explore right away what might be done with files that I think have potential, but then I usually let them sit, hoping to acquire some perspective on how to approach something definitive, that is good. having done that, I usually let them sit some more, and tend to find on return, that I have more (or less!) to do. Thank goodness for non-destructive editing.

[tbob]

This may not be pertinent to your problem and may be a mental glitch on my part. I was going back through my files looking for images to print for a local art society show. I suddenly noticed that almost invariably I never processed the best shot in a series. Instead I would work the worst one to see if I could salvage it and then several other lessor ones for the same reason. The best shot was untouched. Since I was never printing my work I never noticed this tendency.

[Shadowman]

This may not be pertinent to your problem and may be a mental glitch on my part. I was going back through my files looking for images to print for a local art society show. I suddenly noticed that almost invariably I never processed the best shot in a series. Instead I would work the worst one to see if I could salvage it and then several other lessor ones for the same reason. The best shot was untouched. Since I was never printing my work I never noticed this tendency.

I sort of do the opposite. The best ones go straight to the printer (outside lab), the easy edits are next in line, and the really impossible one's never make it to the outside lab, they usually will only get printed by me.

[John Morton]

Finally got around to stitching together this pano the other day. I think this was my first attempt ever at shooting one, taken in 2007 at the Montreal Botanical Gardens. The film frames were scanned shortly thereafter using my Minolta DiMage 5400 digital film scanner, and each of the six frames was ~233 MB in size.

Not sure if my old desktop could even have handled this back then, but my new laptop did it effortlessly.



Still haven't gotten around to doing the final edits for color and contrast and such, though...

[Bobobird]

What a subject.

Yes, everything about not doing anything that everybody who does not do anything, I do.

Usually it would be an image that is good to go as-is but for some reason I think it must need something but do not know what. So it just sits there.

In bird photography, particularly flight - the "know what we want" does not much come into play as there is no way for us to pre-determine (except generally) how the other elements in the scene will pan out.

Here is one that I have been sitting on. RAW conversion only, no NR, sharpening or other edits.



Questions I have asked -
Should the top dark bits go?
Should the snow be made more apparent?
Would a tighter crop show him off better?
Should it be cropped at all?
Should that dark part under the beak be lightened up a bit?

So far I have not managed to find any answer that suits me. The easiest would be a portrait ie tight crop but then losing all the environment.

[NorthernFocus]

Can't say that I consistently behave that way, Matt. I typically process the shots that I really like first. The ones that fall into that category may require very little or a lot of processing. But typically I can't wait to see how certain shots came out so I work them up first. I do procrastinate processing the rest of a shoot after I've done the ones that were most interesting to me. That provides the unexpected gem now and again when I finally get around to cleaning up files.

[Manfred M]

Can't say that I consistently behave that way, Matt. I typically process the shots that I really like first. The ones that fall into that category may require very little or a lot of processing. But typically I can't wait to see how certain shots came out so I work them up first. I do procrastinate processing the rest of a shoot after I've done the ones that were most interesting to me. That provides the unexpected gem now and again when I finally get around to cleaning up files.

Too true; I often find a "gem" that I missed the first time around.

[Shadowman]

What a subject.

Yes, everything about not doing anything that everybody who does not do anything, I do.

Usually it would be an image that is good to go as-is but for some reason I think it must need something but do not know what. So it just sits there.

In bird photography, particularly flight - the "know what we want" does not much come into play as there is no way for us to pre-determine (except generally) how the other elements in the scene will pan out.

Here is one that I have been sitting on. RAW conversion only, no NR, sharpening or other edits.



Questions I have asked -
Should the top dark bits go?
Should the snow be made more apparent?
Would a tighter crop show him off better?
Should it be cropped at all?
Should that dark part under the beak be lightened up a bit?

So far I have not managed to find any answer that suits me. The easiest would be a portrait ie tight crop but then losing all the environment.

I would just crop (a copy of course) and print and see how it looks. I wouldn't wait on an image like this,

[FlyingSquirrel]

OK everyone, THANK YOU very much for all of your responses. I found each and every comment very helpful. Amazingly, after reading all of this, I actually feel really motivated to edit a specific photo that I was thinking about when I posted the original post!! Somehow something changed in the way I was thinking about this or looking at it...maybe I picked up on some passion or disciplined attitude or something from one or more of you... IN FACT, now there are several photos that I've been putting off that I wish I could edit all RIGHT NOW!! Yay, CIC once again improves my photography and my life

[drjuice]

Really interesting subject, principally because I generally don't edit much at all except to crop and once in a long while do an overall HBS edit on a particular picture.

I have a few rules for myself:

0. DO THE EDITING ON THE SAME DAY I TAKE THE PICTURE, so I remember the lighting, etc.
1. ALWAYS edit off the actual, unmodified RAW image.
2. Do not save the edited image back to RAW!
3. If archive as TIFF after each set of major changes (and toss the intermediate steps AS SOON AS I finish editing.
3. If I'm not sure what I'll do with the edited image, save it as TIFF.
4. If I know what use I'm going to put it to, unless it's going to a printer, save it as PNG at a minimum.
5. Sometimes I do both 3 and 4 if I suspect it could be useful for something I don't know about just now.

Hope this helps.

v

[Green Mountain Girl]

OK everyone, THANK YOU very much for all of your responses...Somehow something changed in the way I was thinking about this or looking at it...

It is amazing what looking at something from a different perspective can do. The first thing I do after downloading images, is get rid of the ones that are out of focus or otherwise terrible. Then I make virtual copies of each one I decide to edit. Once I do some editing, I will sometimes do another virtual copy and try something else! Then, as OP have pointed out, hours days weeks months years later, going through the photos one that was given little regard originally will pop out at me and demand attention!

This is why I keep images that are not my favorites - just in case I get better at seeing, better at editing, or just plain overlooked something.

[RustBeltRaw]

I certainly have this temptation, but I do my best to get over it. Knock out a RAW conversion, save it as a PSD, then if I want to try another edit, I re-open the RAW, wipe the saved changes from the first edit, start fresh, and then save that as a PSD. Regardless, I like to try to get my edits out while impressions and memories from the scene or subject are fresh.

The exception is if I shot film and digital on the same subject. Then, I'll wait until the film comes back from the developer so the series maintains a more consistent look. I shoot similar subject matter repeatedly, and I've noticed that my editing style changes a little each time, even with as little as two weeks between subjects.

Ultimately, I definitely spend more time and effort on my clean, promising images than my iffy ones (shocking, I know ). I'm pretty ruthless about throwing stuff out, I'm a highly conservative judge of my own work, and I don't mind asking a subject for a re-shoot if I'm unhappy with the results.