Panel Discussion: How Much Post-Processing is Too Much?

Most of night photography relies on post-production at a level that daytime photography does not, if for no other reason than that night work requires pushing cameras to their limits and compensating for those limits afterward. The discipline nearly necessitates “shooting for the edit”—i.e., knowing the limitations of your gear and knowing what you can do in post so that you can combine the two to create night photographs the way your eyes and your imagination see them.

Still, some photographers prefer a no-post or a minimal-post approach, and some use post to create scenes that are impossible in nature. In between are techniques for bending time, for expanding dynamic range, for bringing invisible objects into view, for overcoming equipment shortcomings, and so on.

How much is OK? How much is necessary? And how much is too much? When does post-processing go too far? Always? Sometimes? Never?

In this panel discussion, a wide range of photographic artists contribute to one of the more dynamic debates of the digital era. What are the virtues of getting it “right” in camera, the ethics of representing “reality,” the trend of hyper-processed Milky Ways, and so on?

The presenters will converse about these topics and more, engaging the audience in a discovery of different thoughts, philosophies and boundaries.