Shoot for the Edit

An interesting piece on the merit of getting it right in-camera, taken from the perspective of a photo retoucher who is obviously trying to do himself out of a job!

http://www.pittsburghcreative.com/blog/shoot-for-the-edit/

I think the author has a point though - if we accept mediocrity in our shoot, relying on the old fall-back of "I'll fix it in post" then we run the risk of becoming sloppy. Personally, I find that even if I'm meticulous during a shoot, there are usually one of two things I will want to fix afterwards, so the idea of deciding to add extra post-production work on purpose seems counter-productive to me.

Most of the time, it is actually quicker to fix it before you take the shot - even though it may not seem like it at the time. Stray hair on a model? Maybe it takes 30 seconds to clone it out, but if you shoot 100 images that's nearly an hour to get rid of that hair 100 hundred times. Or alternatively, 1 minute to go over to the model and straighten it out. Once.

Get it right in camera...