Film was great. In fact, I loved film. I loved my family of Hasselblad cameras (see family portrait below) and I loved the smell of my darkroom. I loved my big ol' Polaroid camera and the special sound made by my Speed Graphic when exposing a 4 X 5 sheet.

But here is the thing. I NEVER saw one thing come "right out of the camera" as good as I can make it with one sometimes only two global edits from my digital camera. From boosting Clarity 20%, a small 10% hit of Vibrance, or a small change with the Dehaze slider. I am better today than I use to be and it is because of digital.

The following three images were edited with global adjustments only, and completed in fewer than twenty seconds total editing time.

This is not an editing how-to post. But it is a little bit of a wake up call to remind us all that with a very slight bit of what I call "polishing", we can make improvements that we simply were never able to do in my film days. There were the usual filters we could stack in front of our lenses but we had no control over the amount of any filtration effect.

The only difference in the above two images of this beautiful model were an increase in Vibrance of +40 and a decrease in Clarity -15.

I guess the point I am trying to make is that while we all want to get it right in the camera, and honestly, I do.... It is a simple matter of getting it as right in the camera "as I can." If we can get as close as possible in the camera, then our editing time is indeed minimized, not eliminated. And we can more effectively spend the additional time trying things we might otherwise not have the time to try or test.

You may not have noticed that there are two adjustments which are missing from all of the above examples. I never touched the exposure slider or the color adjustment slider. I've honed my craft and worked hard to get great exposures and great color on everything I shoot. It makes me a much more powerful editor...

Hope this is helpful. Oh and here is my old "family of friends."