straight or processed?

In response to this poll. What do you shoot? by Mike-p.
I'm wandering how many off you shoot to maximize "data" so you can have a better photo after processing rather than that you aim to get the best photo straight out of the camera.

So do you aim for best shot straight out of the camera of best shots for processing?

I don't have any particularly good software other than iPhoto so I try and get it right in the camera through using jpegs as I don't have any RAW conversion software. Don't always manage it though......

I think everyone tries to just get the best shot possible.
the less p&p the better, but shooting raw still requires P&P,

"the less p&p the better" this certainly very open to debate, you should know how much for example Ansel Adams PP
I believe all great photographers did/do their own processing in the darkroom, i can be wrong though.

But what you said about RAW is the whole point i asked this question.
RAW always need a little bit of processing so if you shoot in RAW why not go a bit further and maximize the data in the photo rather than keep the processing to a minimal?

I don't shoot to maximise data, I shoot to make the image I have in mind. I do this usually using JPEG Premium capture and apply a small amount of Photoshop processing as required.

It works for me and others should do what works for them.

When situations are tricky, I tend to expose to the right and post process.
If I have time, I modify my settings to get the most appropriate (according to what I have in mind) exposure.

I just try to take a good photograph. 'Maximise "data"'?, the phrase 'get a life' springs to mind

That's true for both ways the difference is with one you do the most in the camera and with the other you do it with the processing so the camera only becomes a tool to capture and less to create because the output isn't the final product you had in mind.

If you shoot JPG you're basically stuck with the first option but with RAW you've the option to do the later to get the most out of the processing.

Just two different ways to Rome.

Maximise data just means get the best exposure for the image you have in mind, after you've post processed. I'm sure Mr. Adam Ansells himself (sic) would have understood the concept.

good photos make PP a lot easier... try to get as much as possible right in the first place and add minimal PP if necessary.

Bret

I suppose as I always shoot Raw it's a little of both..I try to capture the shot as I'd like the final image to appear (best lighting etc) but inevitably with Raw always do a little tweaking to get that final image.

Simon

Bret and Simon what I for example meant is ETTR (expose to the right) that's one technique to maximize data.
Basically you deliberately over-expose your photo because more data is captured by the sensor in the lighter area than dark areas, because you overexpose, the camera output is not close to the output you had in mind you need to do PP to get the photo right.
This trick only works in RAW btw.

little read http://www.luminous-landscape.com/tutorials/expose-right.shtml

Aah, ok then Steffan I see what you mean....my answer's now "sometimes" -rather than shoot to the right all the time to maximise detail sometimes I deliberately underexpose as I'm not always interested in all the detail available in the scene, just a particular element. I'm not a massive PP fan so I aim to minimise how much I need to do, sometimes I need to use the ETTR technique for this and sometime I don't.

Reading back what I've just written it probably doesn't make sense but I know what I mean

Simon

Perhaps I have not understood the question but I don't think there is a simple binary, black or white, answer to this. From my direction it all depends on what you are trying to achieve for a particular shot.

For most of my work I try and shoot for an absolute minimum amount of post processing. Like John I'm quite happy shooting at the highest quality jpeg setting and very rarely shoot in raw. Invariably I always need to do a little tinkering in PSE; a little bit of sharpening, tweaking the levels or possibly a bit of straightening (has anyone else found that the level on their K-7 is drifting out of alignment ).

For some things though post proceeding is a definite necessity and for these I might push, say, the ev levels to get more data to manipulate. This is certainly true of my abstract phase where I was into manipulative images. Here of course shooting the initial images is just one of a number of steps to the final result. Part of the challenge is starting with a visualisation of the final result and looking backwards, working out how to get there and what initial images need to be captured.

On perhaps a simpler front I have recently been inspired to have a go at focus stacking to improve the DOF of macro shots and although I have not tried this yet I'm sure a similar approach will be needed.

Glyn

(Who today shouldn't really be being diverted away from his primary task of writing the reviews for the weekly comp )

I'm of the try and get it right in the camera camp - but having said that even I know there are times when you can't [ shooting indoors using low energy lights makes a real mess of things ]

So If you are going to have to tweak then go for it - I'll be finding out soon enough about that.

Where I think things can go adrift is when you start doing so much to a 'photo' so it becomes a magnificent 'work of art ' which really bears no comparison with the original shot. This , I hasten to add, is a very personal view and was strengthened during the 2 College courses when I watched our tutor deciding to improve someone's submission - when he said words to the effect of

"That plant will look better on the Right hand side" - so it was cropped out of the left and added to the right. Can't remember then what he did with the new space on the left .

'That door is the wrong colour and is too small " - so the door colour was changed [ and the rest of the building had to be changed too so it didn't clash ] and was then swapped for a bigger door

By the time he had finished the 'photo' on the screen was truly magnificent - but it wasn't what had been taken to satisfy the challenge