What Difference Do Tools Make?

California Sea Lion -- Newport, OR
Canon EOS Rebel T5i, EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L IS II USM, ISO: 2000, f/5, 1/1000s

If you follow this blog you might be thinking to yourself that you've seen this photo before.  You haven't, but you've seen one very similar.  This is one of a series of shots I took of this particular sea lion.  The previous post can be seen here.

Why post such similar photos?  Well, I'm always reluctant to post photos on the road because I don't have my entire arsenal of post-processing software loaded on my laptop.  There's not much of a point.  My personal laptop's monitor isn't very good.  My work laptop has a fantastic retina monitor (it's a Mac) but it's my work laptop so I'm reluctant to use for anything other than a temporary back up for images if it's the only computer I'm traveling with (which is usually the case).  I can't really dive into the post-processing step until I get home, and a photo like this shows pretty clearly why I'd rather wait to post until I've gotten home rather than post on the road.

I've posted the original image below.  The difference between the two is striking.  The original is overexposed.  No problem, DXO OpticsPro 10 can take care of that.  Once that's corrected, it's still a bit drab.  DXO OpticsPro 10 to the rescue again.  Add a little microcontrast and a good cropping and it's ready to go.  Sometimes I need to pull out the big stick and beat the photo around in Photoshop.  On the road all I have is Picasa.  It's good in a pinch but not as powerful as what I have at home.

What's the point?  I dunno.  Post-processing is a huge part of photography.  It's half the fun.  In the old days of film, it was mostly just professionals and students who had access to the types of tools needed to do any sort of post processing.  Now it's available for free on the internet or for a small fee for some products and a larger fee for others.  I don't think I'd have ever gotten into photography if I had to work with film.