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Processing, what 's forbidden ?

steflaurent974

Active member
I have been looking for all the posts with beautifull photos, especially in the MFDB forum as I just joined the club with a P25+ for my Hassy V.

But now I am wondering : what is the limit in tweaking a landscape photo... Colors, saturation, sharpness, dull skies , ....or a portrait ? Do you stick to reality or do you emphase the subject to the WOW reaction for each picture ?

Do you use tools like Viveza, wich I personnaly find very convenient for color and contrast tweaking. Or other plug-ins, and so wich ?

Stephane.

PS : please be cool with my poor english...
 
FWIW, this is my personal point of view....

Photography is NOT a sport, with rules and cheating (yes, I know, there are clubs with contests and rules, and old fogeys shouting "foul" at anything digital... But I assume we´re talkig about serious photography :)).

Photography is a tool of expressing yourself through images, and anything you do to make your expression more efficient is fair game. Does anyone accuse Picasso or Savador Dali of cheating for their obvious distortions?

Another thing altogether is when a photograph is being used as a document or as evidence. In that case, lying is lying, just as with the spoken or written word.

But for photography as art and personal expression, NOTHING is "forbidden" in my book...

That´s me; expect lots of differing opinions.....:rolleyes:

(BTW, "poor English"...what poor English? Yours is excellent! A warm welcome to you!)
 
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ddk

Guest
Image manipulation isn't anything new, its been going on since the beginning of photography. Even Ansel Adams tweaked his images in the darkroom for best prints. Personally I'm all for everything that would bring out the best in anyone's work, long live art!
 

steflaurent974

Active member
For sure... I agree with both point of view. But it seems the digital era is showing us a new world with landscapes that don't exist, with impossible lights, with dreamlike scenery, and all this things...
I think the digital manipulation is so easy , that everybody is tweaking to the max ; I do like these supernatural shots, I do say WOW what's this how can he achieve this ( because I know it doesn't exist ).
And this is also the reason why looking at a simple well framed, exposed , "natural" photography or good old BW makes me feel good and rest my eyes sometimes !
 

Dale Allyn

New member
I'm very conservative with regard to my photography and its processing. (In fact, sometimes too much so I think.) That also tends to be what I enjoy in the work of others. In fact, I'm a little hard on myself for even cropping an image if I hadn't visualized the crop while taking the shot. That doesn't mean that I won't make the crop, but that I'm likely to chide myself a bit and try to do better next time.

That being said, the remarks by David and Per Ofverbeck are, in my opinion, the correct response to your post. Photography, when used as an art form, should have no rules. Different styles will appeal to different people, just like any aesthetic. Documentation and certain types of journalism are different, but as David mentions, "long live art".
 
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nei1

Guest
Stephane ,seems to me your on the right lines,both with your concerns for reality and the physical reality of your images.
 

routlaw

Member
But now I am wondering : what is the limit in tweaking a landscape photo... Colors, saturation, sharpness, dull skies , ....or a portrait ? Do you stick to reality or do you emphase the subject to the WOW reaction for each picture ?
As the saying goes you will never be able to please all the people all the time, so with that in mind you might as well just please yourself and hope there is a market or at least some level of appreciation for what it is, and how you do your own photography.

That said as one other poster mentioned unless its photojournalism anything goes in the world of art, be it photography, painting or sculpture it matters not. Photojournalism should not be fiction however. Just because photography has the false pretense to look realistic, does not mean it has to always represent a viewpoint that is natural or realistic, what ever that is.

B&W photography is an unrealistic abstraction. When was the last time anyone ever saw a black sky in real life (assuming they are not completely color blind), yet for the better part of a century film based photographers have rendered skies with deep rich blacks on silver gelatin prints, but no one seems to cry foul over this issue.

So bottom line, do what feels right to you and don't worry about the rest. And if you need a license to exaggerate, or fictionalize take a look at the website link below. This guy makes upwards of $100 grand a day doing this level of make belief. After seeing this it seems a bit silly complaining about digital manipulation on landscape work.

And besides, when was Velvia and polarizing filters ever real or natural? NOT! :ROTFL::D:rolleyes:

Before and after fashion beauty retouch work, prepare to be a bit shocked I was.
http://www.photographersportfolio.com/retouchingsample/index.htm
 

johnastovall

Deceased, but remembered fondly here...
[FONT=Times,Helvetica]'Nothing is Forbidden, Everything is Permitted' - [/FONT][FONT=Times,Helvetica]Hassan-i-Sabbah[/FONT]
 

johnastovall

Deceased, but remembered fondly here...
Well if you are Danish Press Photographer, Klavs Bo Christensen, a lot is forbidden.

"The Danish Press Photography Union has excluded photojournalist Klavs Bo Christensen from the judging for this year's Press Photo Awards due to excessive Photoshopping."

Story and images here.
 

Lars

Active member
It's a free world, do whatever you want. The ethics dilemma is when you set expectations about your level of manipulation that do not correspond with actual manipulations. It's all about managing expectations.
 

Don Libby

Well-known member
Photography to me is an expression of art. It's a combination of what you see, hear, smell and more importantly what you felt at the time you captured the image. I always let my image speak to me to guide me in the final processing. I don't believe there are any cookie cutter rules of what makes a good image. Photography as an art form is meant to invoke feelings in the viewer - good, bad or indifferent. Photography is not meant to be a carbon copy of the image unless it is to be used to document an event or object for evidence.

Just my thoughts...


Don
 
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nei1

Guest
There seems to be a rash of people on the internet who use these forums to decide which of their flood of mediochre images is "art"or not.Its really quite simple,art is an expression of self,it is literally(yes I know what this word means)imaterial what others think,what the world needs from artists is what they think not what they think I might like in my pastel blue sitting room.......Neil
 

gandolfi

Subscriber Member
Hi, Neil,

Interesting quote I came across in yesterday's Guardian. It's from a book called The 85 Ways to Tie a Tie, and the quote itself was written by a Dr A Debray in 1857.

"In an elegant world, an irreproachable tie knot is an essential part of one's toilette; it does not matter whether the knot is simple or complicated, because the art is what counts."

I couldn't make up my mind whether this would get a :thumbup: or a :wtf: from you!:)

Cheers,
Gandolfi.
 
N

nei1

Guest
A definate:thumbup:.The other day I was sat in my car watching a lady wash the frontage of her shop(the law here is that the pavement in front of the shop is the responsability of the owner)the energy and style she used was unique,fascinating,nothing extra gained for her but I bet she feels something extra inside,.......an artist waiting to be discovered.............You know I miss the guardian,think Ill try and find one tomorrow............all the best ,Neil
p.s. love your shot of the rabbit by the way.
 
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