To edit or not to edit? What was the question?

Somewhere along the line I’d formed the idea that good photographers did all their exposure magic and composition right in the view finder. That was their art. Tricks and wizardry done afterwards somehow degraded the art of the image.

Well I’ve changed my mind.



This is a moody available moon-lit shoot, looking out over the south pacific. It’s a little dark but that suits the mood. Trouble is, when I took the photo, I had the impression that the balmy evening was a deep velvety blue.

I was trying out HP Image Zone Express, as part of my on-line course, and found a neat color & light filter with buttons that said warmer and cooler. This is the effect after hitting the cooler button a few times, then a little cropping to tidy up the composition.

The result is much closer to what I remembered.

HP Image Zone Express is the software included with HP camera, but there is a slimed down and very free version to download at HP.com. If you are scared by the learning curve of the larger packages, try this one out, it is very simple and very fast. My only concern is the way it tries to take over file management, searching your computer for photos (and my computer now has thousands) and “hiding” the original photos after edits by changing the extension.