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Photography Question 

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Photoshop


What has happened to the art of photography? I love photoshop for fine tuning images, but most images now a days seem to be painted with almost nothing left of the original image. Skin is too smooth and everything is too perfect. I have a rough time congratulating some on taking a great photo when the image was photoshopped so heavily that it is no longer the asme.


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March 29, 2009

 
- Carlton Ward

BetterPhoto Member
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  Hi John,
Even film had processing and editing that could enhanse images (even to extremes) and I do see your point about Photoshop. Many people have become photographers simply because they now have a digital means to control thier images. Unless you had your own darkroom with all the necessary tools & chemicals, you had to rely on the print shop to process & print your images. This left little creative control to the photographer. Now that everyone has the ability to control their own images, we can get more creative & artistic with our original captures.

I go through my own learning curves when learning a new processing techniques, filters, HDR & using effects. I will try extreme processing sometimes just to see what is possible and to find my own touch for how I want to use an effect. I use Photomatix for processing HDR images, Corel Painter & Photoshop with a couple of plugins. I have the ability to use these tools at my descretion or I may simply do a quick levels & curves adjustment and call it good.

HDR imaging - our eyes are much more capable than the camera. We can look at a scene and distiguish detail in dark areas & light areas at the same time. The camera (even with a lot of DOF) has a harder time capturing this information but we can get closer by exposing for dark areas & again for light areas and combining the images to give a more realistic look. In film Silver Halide film was used. Is this cheating ? It is a tool. Can it be overdone ? Yes, but it is also art and may be interpreted any way the photographer wants to display their work.

I just processed 3 images of a friend. 1st shot I did a very slight levels/curves adjustment - 2nd had a very slight detail enhanser applied and the 3rd I used a little more extreme filter adjustment that made the image look cooler & softer. They all have their place and they all tell a story the way I have interpretted the images.
Even jpegs are processed in camera (the way the manufacturers processor is programmed to adjust) but raw images are just a lot of information that needs to be formulated (processed) to bring out that information.

I still enjoy setting up my tripod to use a slow shutter speed @ f/22 and wide angle lens (sometimes with a circular polarizer) to get a nice soft flowing waterfall landscape image.

I found Better Photo after buying my 1st Canon DSLR in 2005. I had been playing with a Fuji digital p&s & photoshop for a couple of years but when I decided to get more serious about my photography, I signed up for classes. I would take a techiques class (learning more about proper exposure, framing a scene, etc) and another one on Photoshop so that I could properly compose & process my images by learning to use the PS tools available. I still take classes and practice a lot on both my shooting technique & processing as I continue to grow as a photographer. I love the perfect capture that comes out of the camera looking great but I also like being able to take that image (or one that may have been unusable but salvagable with Photoshop) and see what artistic touch I may add to it.

I belong to another forum based in Europe and they tend to criticize any photo that has anything more than levels/curves adjust done to it and I get that. I also get that Better Photo have many people (like me) that are learning & growing and getting better as we all find our own way and develop as photographers.
Frank Zappa made a quote about rules for music relating it to what the canvas it is written on - is it written on paper, a lightpost, the neighbors dog ? Its art/music and rules may exist (is the music in time and instruments played in key - is the image balanced & pleasant to the eye) but they are not hard a fast rules & are open for interpretation.
Well John,
So much for keeping my reply short & sweet. Its all good, its all art and it may be photoshopped too much but its still all good :)
(as Mark would say) Take it Light, Carlton


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March 29, 2009

 
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