I have always been interested in photography, painting, and computer graphics but it is only recently I have started to produce my own images. Most of what I have to show is on 500px (which I link to absolutely everywhere in the right sidebar). Here are a few examples from four different catagories: Pure, Black/White, Colour Enhanced, and Abstract.

Pure

If you are good enough, or lucky enough, you should be able to publish your picture as it is, without post-processing. A bit of cropping is okay, and a bit of colour enhancement is also okay as long as the viewer doesn’t notice it. I would say you also need a very good camera, and I haven’t yet invested in one of those, let alone learned how to use it. Nevertheless, even without fancy equipment there are plenty of interesting things to see and capture.

Basketball Net

Here is a picture of a basketball net taken at a sharp angle so that the wood it is mounted on covers the sun. The result is a nice bright aura around the central object.

Plane Exit

Here is a lucky shot I took one evening outside my flat. When I saw the dramatic colour of the sky, I went out with my camera without any particular motive in mind and then suddenly the plane came in from the left.

Posters On A Concrete Pillar

Here is a lo-fi picture taken with a phone near Karlslunde S-train station south of Copenhagen. It shows a collection of posters advertising local events. I really like the way the low-budget attempt to get your attention is combined with the roughness of the scene in general.

Black/White

You can often create an artful picture just by converting it to black and white, followed by some contrast enhancement. It is also a lazy way out when the colours in the original picture don’t fit well together.

Skating

The picture is taken with a phone and post-processed to increase the contrast and the clarity. It contains some nice details that were captured entirely by chance; the woman pushing a baby carriage in the upper right hand corner and the cycle with training wheels in the lower right hand corner.

The BBQ Season Is Over

The picture is taken in the autumn and heavily post-processed in order to increase the local contrast. There is a vignette on it as well. It is funny that the front of the grill is burned through in the middle, making it pretty much useless for further use.

Colour Enhanced

It is difficult to know how much post-processing photographers apply to their pictures, because they rarely say anything about it, but I suspect most published pictures fall into this catagory. By manipulating the colours you can make a picture look stronger and more dramatic without ruining its authentic feel.

Small Fish In A Big Pond

The picture was taken late in the afternoon with the sun almost directly behind the father and son fishing. The silhouettes look great against the bright reflections from the water.

Old Tractor

The tractor is red but the leaves and the bushes around it are not — what is green in the original picture is converted to red.

Abstract

Finally, it is fun sometimes to go wild with the effects. It is particularly tempting when you have to admit that your original picture just isn’t that exciting.

The Sun Is Out Today

There isn’t actually any sun in the original picture, it is painted in afterwards, and then the whole thing is run through an effect in FilterForge.

Autumn Colours

Here is a picture taken close to where I live in Saunalahti 20km west of Helsinki. The post-processing is done with the charcoal effect in FilterForge. The variation in colours is only slightly enhanced. The trees around here were spectacular at that time.