happy new year - musings for the next trip around the sun
Added 2022-01-04 23:55:12 +0000 UTCI revisited this session to edit up a couple new photos - because I found these AMAZING new preset light effects by Archipelago (find them on their website).
It really got me thinking about presets, editing, and how fixated we as photographers get on finding the ~perfect~ preset for our work.
You'll see it in comments all the time. "OMG what preset is this!?" (I am also guilty of this). But lately I've been feeling like asking a photographer what preset they use is like asking a painter what kind of paint they use. It's really quite arbitrary at the end of the day, because every artist is going to mix those paints different and tweak them to their own artistic eye. We can all start with the same base, and end up with work that is entirely unique and different. And isn't that magical?
Archipelago has a subscription service where every month they send you a new profile + preset to play with. I thought it was silly because I already have the ~perfect~ preset that works for me. But that's not the point. We get so fixated on the outcome of our images, we forget the journey. We forget to PLAY.
Sure, we need that consistency to deliver amazing galleries to clients. But we also need to take time to play. And that includes just dicking around with colours, new presets, and just having a goof around in Lightroom or Photoshop. Be an artist again – mix your colours, splash that canvas, do whatever you want to do!
I am not sponsored by Archipelago at all but I signed up for this monthly service just to see what happens for the next few months. Let's play!
