A fun idea:
What if you only shot with your camera or phone in JPEG (with a certain filter/preset in-camera), and you didn’t allow you to further post-process your photos afterwards?
RICOH GR II with No flash RICOH GR II With flash
Let me outline my thoughts:
First of all, post-processing takes a long time, and often slows you down. So what if you could expedite your photographic workflow by:
- Only shoot JPEG in your camera with a certain filter
- Import your photos to your iPad or laptop
- Select the photos you like, then upload them to your blog or Dropbox/cloud storage service.
Perhaps this could keep us flowing with images — and keep focusing on photographic productivity and “onto the next one” creative mentality.

JPEG x RICOH GR II
I’m a big fan of the ‘positive film’ preset on RICOH GR II, with additional in-camera +9 saturation and +9 contrast. I generally shoot in P (program) mode, and have been experimenting with shooting everything both with and without flash.

The really nice thing with shooting with a flash is this:
It adds epic color, saturation, lighting, and ‘pop’ to your images.
Even with post-processing, the visual impact/effect of flash (or no flash) is dramatic:
With flash (post-processed) Without flash (post-processed)
iPhone and Vivid Filter
I played with my friend Jun’s iPhone XS max, and I really liked the in-camera ‘vivid’ filter. It really added a lovely pop and color/saturation to all the photos — even when you were in dark/low-contrast situations:






























































































Conclusion

Using filter isn’t “cheating”. Nor is post-processing.
What I am trying to encourage for us is photographers is this:
Let us enjoy the creative process/flow while making photos, while also being more productive (creating more new photos) — sharing more, and to keep moving forward!
SHOOT ON!
ERIC