Phillip Ziegler a

+James Ruse it's just there so you can easily see where my mouse is during the video.

Hi Colby. Thanks for taking the time to write. My intention here is to teach post processing techniques, not to impress anyone with my skills. In this case the ultimate goal is absolutely not the final image. Achieving a perfect final image when teaching isn't always the point. And because of time constraints, it isn't always possible. What's important is whether or not the key principles being taught are grasped. If my intent was to wow you by manipulating a photo, I would have used a perfect shot and you would never spot my edits. The video would also be far, far longer. While I appreciate your efforts in trying to call me out, you miss the larger point. I'm teaching a set of skills here. Those skills are part of a much larger set of skills that are necessary to produce quality work. What I'm not doing here is making a perfect, portfolio-worthy photograph. This video is about tonal control and vision, not about compositing or mask making or anything else. And it's most certainly not about "non-electronic photography". Shooting technique doesn't have to be perfect in order to enjoy post processing. And a great photograph can be made from a less than perfect shot if one understands their tools and knows how to use them. If you rode the ferry to Mull then you know how the image was captured. Setting up a tripod on the deck of that ferry would just be silly. It's not possible to teach photography comprehensively in one video. What is possible is to take a concept or a related group of concepts and teach them so they can be understood and used by the student. That's exactly the purpose of this video. Over the years of my teaching career, I have found that students actually learn more from a photo that isn't perfect. A flawed photo requires fixing and that requires adaptation and creative problem solving. In my opinion, those skills are far more valuable than learning to make a perfect shot. Very few photos are shot under ideal conditions. Knowing how to fix them goes a long way. As for making a token gesture to non-electronic photography, I'm not sure why that's necessary. I'm not working in that medium, nor am I trying to emulate it. And the techniques I'm addressing here are ones that are used "in the chair", so an imbalance is perfectly appropriate. I hope you got something valuable from the video. Thanks for watching and for writing.

Colby Burke , here is a critique of your critique; you use too many exclamation marks, it detracts from your message!