From the course: Photoshop 2020 One-on-One: Fundamentals

Too many pixels - Photoshop Tutorial

From the course: Photoshop 2020 One-on-One: Fundamentals

Start my 1-month free trial

Too many pixels

“

- If Mozart truly claimed to have used just as many notes as were required, neither more nor less, then I imagine the perfect photographer is the one who uses only as many pixels as she needs. In that shimmering apex of an image, every pixel is the right color, each pixel reinforces its neighbors, and no pixel goes without purpose. Were so much as one pixel to be removed, the entire photograph would be rendered average. And yet, while I've heard a few photographers make some highly questionable claims, I've never heard that one before. In fact, most photographers are quite content to throw away a few thousand pixels in post. That is to say, in Photoshop. Here are three common scenarios. First, you shoot the photos slightly wide with the intention of capturing the entire scene. It is after all better to start with too much than capture too little. Consider the movie you're watching right now. I would love to tell you that you're witnessing my one and only take, but my guess is that we shot a little extra to give the editors the wiggle room they needed to create this work of absolute instructional perfection. Second, the image may be a little crooked, cockeyed if you will. In which case, Photoshop lets you straighten it. And third, in the event you didn't quite capture enough of the scene, Photoshop is sometimes able to invent information. Not out of whole cloth, mind you, but by hunting down and duplicating information already contained in the photograph. Regarding Mozart's notes, emperor Joseph the Second advised him to cut a few, and it will be perfect. If only the young composer had had access to the crop tool.

Contents