Why shoot panoramic in-camera? Why do lighting in-camera? Why crop in-camera? Why do it all in-camera instead of in post-production? These are some questions that every photographer really thinks about at one point or another. The truth is that both are doors that open themselves to even more paths. Ideally, both should be explored. But ultimately, you’re going to find that humanity lends itself so much more to doing this in-camera than with post-production. And with intentionality, comes brain power.
For more useful photography tips, click here.
The most simple reason to do everything in-camera instead of in post-production isn’t just because it will make you more in-line with being an actual photographer vs a photo editor, but because of how the brain power is being used. These days, we’re outsourcing so many tasks to AI and to post-production tools. Then after that, you’re thinking about promoting images online, etc. And on average, you’re going to spend more time and brain power on post-production than you will when getting somethings done in-camera.
Trust me when I say this, we all need more brain power. Take it from a guy currently navigating the world after getting my vision back after 15 years: we all need to think and act with more intentionality. With post-production, you end up going into a routine more than anything else. But when you do something in-camera, you’re not going into a routine, you’re adapting to a situation as it happens, which requires you to think more on the spot. And when you’re done, you’re often really truly done with the process and have little need to do much else.
This requires less brain-power spent on using screens. Instead, you’re getting back all the time that you’d otherwise spend behind a big screen and in software.
Why is that important? Because humans are using our minds so much less these days. And if humans don’t use their minds, they lose their humanity to just become robots.
Don’t be a robotic photo editor doing all the same things over and over again.