Flycatcher (Three Photographs)

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Cameras do not capture exactly what we see, and that is as true for film as digital. There is always some element of light, color or texture that is lost or added. To a degree this is where post processing comes in. It helps us interpret the exposure, contrast, color etc. to get a pleasing result that more or less reflects what we saw. Cameras apply color controls that include contrast and sharpness and we have some flexibility with that but it’s never perfect. I shoot with a neutral picture control that is supposed to make the least changes and provide the most dynamic range. The fact that many processing options exist has pushed me to experiment to see if I can do better. My intent is to find solutions so that the photos look right to me, in color and black and white. While the Macphun applications I am using are Mac only, there are other solutions for PCs (like Nik). The first photograph was edited with Intensity Pro, the second Aurora (an HDR program), and the third, the black and white, in Tonality Pro. All had basic adjustments done in Lightroom before the plugins were used. I am increasingly pleased with the results, though I wish the applications had better selection tools like Nik.