What's the longest you've spent editing one photo

minnnt

minnnt

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As title really, what is the longest time you have spent editing a single photo?

I tried smoke photography yesterday and took me ages to get it right. Then I turned the laptop on... then before I knew it, it was 2am... :eek: I think I spent about 3 hours on one photo although I must admit that I was using alot of techniques that I have never used before so alot of it was learning aswell. Well, that's what I told the missus anyway. Oops. :D
 
no more than twenty minutes but may return to it again. although my editing skills leave much to be desired, i just stick to lightroom these days get frustrated with photoshop and my inability to do half the things i try tutorials on. it seems most people doing tutorials assume your already quite adept at it. (which i'm not) :(
 
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;)
 
Yes I agree ACW. I will drop the original and edited version up later when on the computer.

Dinorock, I am the samr mate. I have the laptop in one hand and the tablet in the other watching then pausing tutorials on how to use them. If it's just a normal shot then I spend about 10 minutes on it then move on.
 
I work in IT and enjoy photography as an antidote to sitting in front of a screen most of the day.
This is just one of several reasons I am 100% analogue tog.
Each to their own - enjoy!
 
20 mins, perhaps half an hour.

It's no time really given that some landscape or wildlife shots may have taken a day or even a week to come to fruition.
 
mr_pants said:
About four and a half hours, from memory, on this:
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Thats pretty cool (y)
and the answer to the question,
not long a few minutes I guess.
 
God knows I've spend a lot of time just playing around on specific photos though I'm not totally sure 20-30 minutes at a guess I'm somewhat of a novice when it comes to the really hardcore editing that some get into
 
These days, as little as possible. I shoot JPEG and find that most of the time, the camera makes a better job of it than I can be bothered with. I end up with images that I (as the "customer") like a lot and that's what matters - pleasing the customer.
Since it's well over 30 years ago, I can't remember exactly how long it took me to print and cut several masks to allow me to combine several images into one but it was several hours all told. Ended up looking like it had been done by someone with more enthusiasm than talent (which, in fairness, it had!) The same thing could now be done far better (even by me) in under an hour and would look far better.
 
For me, with digital, I think the longest time I spent was on a still life shot... there was a little bit of composite work on there, maybe a hour or so "working up" each of the subsidiary images, then 3-4 hours on the main shot and adding in the other parts then possibly another hour of "tarting up" the final finished shot. Call it 8 hours... though I probably revisited the shot a couple of times and wasted another hour or two.

Now if we were taking film, especially back in my wet printing days, it could often take me 10 "evenings" (read from maybe 8pm until 2-3am) over the space of a month or more, and 20-30 sheets of paper to get the one print that I was actually 100% happy with. Needless to say, these prints were generally purely submission pieces for Club competitions or Exhibitions. They were also essentially one-off works, as there was no way to duplicate 100% the exact dodge/burn that had been done (old school way, by waving your hands over the image like some wierd 3-Card Trick shyster :LOL: )
 
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Probably a couple of days but the actual editing could have been done in 3-4 hours, the rest of trial and error using new techniques in photoshop.
 
A couple of hours at most, trying to create something I'd visualised. Usually for individual images somewhere between 10min and 30min, but if I'm running through holiday pics for the web then I try to keep it around 30sec (resize, colour tweak, sharpen, save, next).
 
If the image is worth it, it is better to spend the extra time to get it right, rather than fixing it in post. However for creative or composition images take as long as required, best not to rush the edit. Remember, there are no rules ;)
 
TheBigYin said:
For me, with digital, I think the longest time I spent was on a still life shot... there was a little bit of composite work on there, maybe a hour or so "working up" each of the subsidiary images, then 3-4 hours on the main shot and adding in the other parts then possibly another hour of "tarting up" the final finished shot. Call it 8 hours... though I probably revisited the shot a couple of times and wasted another hour or two.

Now if we were taking film, especially back in my wet printing days, it could often take me 10 "evenings" (read from maybe 8pm until 2-3am) over the space of a month or more, and 20-30 sheets of paper to get the one print that I was actually 100% happy with. Needless to say, these prints were generally purely submission pieces for Club competitions or Exhibitions. They were also essentially one-off works, as there was no way to duplicate 100% the exact dodge/burn that had been done (old school way, by waving your hands over the image like some wierd 3-Card Trick shyster :LOL: )
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my daughter used to come into the darkroom with me when she was about 8/9 she loved to see the picture develop "right in front of her eyes" and always asked "why are you waving your hands over the picture daddy"? took a long time for me to explain it so she understood but she got it in the end.
 
dinorock said:
my daughter used to come into the darkroom with me when she was about 8/9 she loved to see the picture develop "right in front of her eyes" and always asked "why are you waving your hands over the picture daddy"? took a long time for me to explain it so she understood but she got it in the end.
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Your daughter was right to be amazed.
And that is still an important and enjoyable part of the analogue process for me.
I still find it awesome and very satisfying that the creative process is a combination of my vision and the manipulation of fundamental physics & chemical processes in that dark room. Fantastic !!!!!
 
I love spending a long time shooting as well as editing. I also enjoy doing artwork on the computer with little or no photographic material. It's all fun to me.
Remember to separate "fixing" mistakes from being creative. Actually I do like to fix my mistakes such as allowing them to build electricity pylons or 'Give Way' signs on my landscape. Always carry a hacksaw! And forgetting to ask a kingfisher to use the 'rule of thirds' when deciding where to dive into the river. Or choosing a sensor that does not have the dynamic range or low light sensitivity as good as my human eyes. How clumsy I am. :)

I used to spend a long time in the darkroom too.
 
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Probably about 2hrs total. I usually spend about 10 - 20 minutes on an image if it's a real keeper. or for someone else. But if it's a very special image, I'll spend a lot of time trying out different PP, to see what really makes it shine [IMO]
 
When I start editing photos, I literally feel like i'm entering a timewarp. It just disappears!! Longest would certainly be around 4hrs.
 
I've spent plenty of time editing a picture and decided I don't like and and started again!! o_O
 
Darwinean_JohnUK said:
I work in IT and enjoy photography as an antidote to sitting in front of a screen most of the day.
This is just one of several reasons I am 100% analogue tog.
Each to their own - enjoy!
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pretty much this. dont spend more then 10mins on a pic. i once HAD to spend like 30/40mins photoshopping a pic and i hated it. ended up not using the final image!
 
But if you are doing something for a hobby, that you enjoy, then the longer you spend on it, the more enjoyment you get. And learning can be fun.
 
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jonneymendoza said:
2 hours? it would have taken me 2mins!
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Well I do apologize that I'm not so skilled as yourself! :LOL:
There was quite a lot of cloning to do too before I masked together the 3 images. Canals in Birmingham city centre don't naturally appear as litter free as that :p
 
ianp5a said:
But if you are doing something you enjoy. your hobby, then the longer you spend on it, the more enjoyment you get.
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To be fair, even for paid work that is the case. I am happy to take a lower rate of pay per hour for some types of work because I enjoy them more. As long as I pay my electric bill at the end of the month that's all that matters. :)
 
Joshwain said:
Well I do apologize that I'm not so skilled as yourself! :LOL:
There was quite a lot of cloning to do too before I masked together the 3 images. Canals in Birmingham city centre don't naturally appear as litter free as that :p
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Ahh that's why.fair enough. Would have taken me around an hour or so to do the same then. Thought you just applied HDR!
 
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