When it comes to editing a photo, there is actually no right or wrong endpoint. It all depends on what you want to achieve or what you know your client would be ready to pay for. Many a times, we take pictures and love the result but our client wants it done in a different way. As the saying goes, "he that pays the piper dictates the tune". So a photographer swallows his or her pride and give the client his or her requirement while retaining the copy he loves.
Few months ago, I went into my flower garden with my Kodak AZ252 Bridge Camera in search of pictures. It was a time when the flowers were not in bloom yet. So I recorded this particular flower buds shown below.
It was taken with the camera on Auto Mode. And as you can see it's a little overexposed and I feel the yellow is too much, overshadowing the green nature of the Buds. So at post production, using HSL adjustment filter in Affinity Photo Software, I got the image below.
I like the green but the red is a little too strong. Getting more excited and adventurous I decided on B&W conversion to bring out texture of the stalk, and adjusted for the red, green, and yellow. The result is below.
Now that I am at it, I might as well go the whole length. So, I inverted the colors, then using the HSL again, but this time with blend mode, I got the picture below which appears to have been taken at night or in studio with dark background and artificial light.
All I am trying to say in this post is the photographer should never limit himself or herself to one form of expression. And there is really no right or wrong endpoint in photo editing or post production. If I ask all the readers to choose which picture out of the four that is the best, you will be surprised at the result. Beauty, they say, is in the eyes of the beholder.
Play as much as you like with your pictures in post production. You never know which version will strike the cord in those who will pay for your work.
This post is written to encourage all photographers and photo enthusiasts on Steemit.