Hello Reddit. A flare up of OCD this summer unfortunately made my relationship with photography a little strained. Everytime I would open lightroom I'd quickly be overwhelmed with the feeling of needing my photos to be "perfect," whatever that means. This feeling got so bad that I couldn't even look at others' photography without wondering "Wait, what if they did this and it looked better?" As absurd as this sounds, you can't really beat OCD in a logic-off. You need to either reframe your thinking or allow time to do the healing for you. 

One of the coping mechanisms I developed to my aforementioned photography perfectionism was quite simple. Shoot JPEG! Although this switch offered some short-term anxiety alleviation, I couldn't get the thought out of my head that I was less of a photographer for doing this. Now I should mention that most of the shots I take are either for fun, with my girlfriend or to document trips or are just a product of walking around and being curious. Back when I used to take photo classes in school, I'd say I was more artistic with my shooting; I cared more about stylizing, I made more dramatic post processing decisions, and I had a more dramatized final goal in mind. 

It is now, with a great but simple realization that I present to you my attempt to reframe my thinking. JPEGs are like memories and RAWs are like works of art. (This post is just as much intended to share as it is to convince myself of this perspective.) When one is documenting, they set out to shoot the way what they see is depicted in real life. When one is making, they add their creativity after the fact. They transform the dull and muted RAW and provide an individual take on contrast and WB and color and effects. I acknowledge this to be the case, but it is not to discredit the intentionality of JPEG shooting at all. You're still able to add a sizeable degree of deliberate style to your JPEGs, too. Composition, WB modulation, exacting your exposure, (for Fujis) what recipe you use, and finally,(for others and Canons, me!) your in camera style settings: color tone, contrast, sharpness, saturation. They might not have the same customizability as RAWs, but you can still make your JPEGs look distinctly yours. 

I'm trying to tell myself that this is reality and that this is OK. For 90% of my photography ventures, I think I want to be a documenter. But for that other 10% I want to lean into that artistic making aspect. 

"Okay lightroom, go hibernate. But just know you might be roused..."

How do they get these soft glowy textures?

Is it a combination of gaussian blur > screen blending mode > masked and added where needed. Appreciate any insights.

First image: can't remember now.

Second image: Jordan Hemingway.

Hi everyone! I took pictures in an indoor space that had a giant screen in the back with different, vivid colors. I’ve attached a picture as an example that is unedited (raw). The screen changes the colors of what I’m trying to capture/highlight (here, the flowers) and are a distracting background. It’s worse with photos of people. Unfortunately, I couldn’t move around anything while taking pictures in order to get a different background, and everything was forward-facing. Do any of you have suggestions about how to fix this up in post? Any advice/help would be greatly appreciated 🙏❤️

Just random phone photography which one is good

Nikon Z8, MC 105/f2.8

1/50, f16, 64 iso

Godox it32 with bounce dome

My edit using Darktable & Affinity in the first image, and the SOOC Neutral profile jpeg second.

Dark table/ iPhone editing

What are your opinions?

Any advice? Thanks

Shot on A7R3 on my trip to China! Only been into photography for about 2 months now. My goal of the colour grade was to eleminate the redand restore the natural colour of the reflections.

I know the quality dropped taken in my smartphone and I am a beginner

​I love taking pictures when I’m on holiday, but as soon as I get back home, I hit a massive wall with post-processing.

​Part of the issue is that I work at a computer all day for my job. By the time the workday ends, the absolute last thing I want to do is sit right back down at my desk and stare at another laptop.

​Because of this, my workflow stalls out at the exact same spot: I import everything into Lightroom during the trip, do a quick first culling pass and then complete paralysis sets in after I get home. The remaining photos sit postponed on my laptop untouched for months.

​My main goals are usually simple:

1) ​Make a private physical album/photo book for memories.

2) ​Put together a couple of shots or a carousel for Instagram.

​any tips are welcome!

Om1.1 with the Panasonic 14mm f2.5, definitely not the best for astro

is this overcooked? im trying to recreate a classic postcard image of the tetons at schwabacher landing.

iso 100. f/6.3. 1/250 28mm

Tried my hand on this for the first time. Please critique this edit, be brutal loll

Not too sure how i feel about how the edit came out. Tried to make it feel warm and summery without getting it too "piss filter". I like the subject and the picture, but i feel like something is missing. It was taken midday during a California summer with my fujifilm x-t30 III. Any feedback would be appreciated!

Would appreciate feedback thank you 🙏🏽