Board index Photography Artistic Questions Am I Cheating

Artistic Questions

Am I Cheating

Discuss style and artistic aspects of photography
sthuman
 
Posts: 97

Re: Am I Cheating

Post Sun Nov 22, 2009 5:41 pm


chestersgallery wrote:Having come into the digital SLR's scene very late I often wonder how much editing is fair or unfair to the viewer. With my old film SLR I had no darkroom and the pictures came back from the developers as taken. In other words the skill was in the shoot.( And still is to a point) Now with the ability to shoot in raw and alter all manor of things afterwards I often wonder " What exactly is a reasonable amount of editing". I know its down to individual opinion but what are the individual opinion of PBasers on this subject.

For example in your opinion

Is cropping OK ?

Is altering levels OK?

Is saturation and digital Burning OK?

Should it be stated on PBase what level of editing took place? ( I know some of us do anyway )

In short. Are we cheating the viewer? ( assuming of course the viewer cares)

Hope this kicks off some interesting response :D


Chester,

You said you shot film and didn't do your own darkroom work and that photos came back from the developer as taken. What you may not realize is that the developer did the work you'd now do in software. If you had your photos done in a fairly good lab a person did the work to make exposure, saturation and the like come out as well as possible, so those could hardly be said to have come back just how the camera did them. And if they were just run through a machine, those machines usually do some adjustments too. So, you sent them in, and they came back done. But more was going on behind the scenes than meets the eye.

It's all about honesty. Photography is considered an art form (except in photojournalism or forensics and the like) so there really are no bounds. I don't feel it's necessary to up front state what you did to make the finished work, but if someone asks be honest about it. Don't say "It's just how it came from the camera" if it isn't. So to answer your questions directly, no we aren't cheating the viewer. Altering levels is fine, cropping is fine, cloning out dust spots or wires is fine, ect.

parpho
 
Posts: 235

Re: Am I Cheating

Post Wed Nov 25, 2009 11:50 pm


Hey Chester,
If you are still paying attention to all this grab a film camera and shoot a roll of slide film. This will come back from the lab just the way you shot it. It a great way to see if you have exposure under control.
Cheers,
Michael

mnoble
 
Posts: 135

Re: Am I Cheating

Post Thu Mar 04, 2010 1:20 pm


Simple answer - No.

Photoshop, and other post-processing applications, are merely tools for you to use. If Ansel Adams were working today, he would be using PS and using it better than his peers. Paraphrasing one of the things he said was, "The print I give you is not reality, it is my interpretation of reality." That's not exact but you get the point. Photography is an art and as such is interpretive. I may do one image many different ways. I often revisit images because I have learned new techniques in post. They aren't all that different, but may be a little crisper or I may have directed the viewer into the image differently by using different tools.

One of my favorite photographers, Joe McNally, is a "get it right in the camera" shooter. He has thirty years experience, most of it with film, and he does work hard in the field to get it right. He also brings 500 lbs of gear into the field with him to get everything "right in the camera." He has two assistants to hold lights and reflectors and hand him cameras and lenses. His work is excellent and there isn't much extra done in post. I, on the other hand, carry what I have on site. I have no assistants and no where near the lighting capabilities. I have to do the best job I can with the equipment I have. Luckily I am pretty good with PS and part of analyzing the shoot on site is knowing what can be done effectively in post. If I don't use those skills, I can't compete as well. Is that cheating? No. It is using the tools that you have at your disposal.

When you are shooting RAW, the camera is doing no processing except for white balance. You have to use PS to get the image to where it should be. PS is a digital darkroom that gives you an incredible amount of control over the image. It is truly an amazing product. I don't see how you can be a photographer using digital equipment and not do all you can to master this software. It increases your creativity exponentially and increases the quality of the finished product as well.

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