Integrity and selling images

[markymarkrb]

I am on the brink of selling my artwork and wanted to know how others deal with the question "Is this photoshopped?" when others see your work. What is your technique to answer this question? Ansel Adams was a master of manipulation in the darkroom, today we use computers to process our RAW files. What is your technique for being honest and forthright but still make sales?

 

[stephengilbert]

I don't sell photos, but it seems to me that the first step is to decide what "photoshopped" means. I think it's used by non-photographers to mean a photograph that has been altered in a way that makes it something other than a depiction of its subject; i.e., an alteration that is deceptive.

See http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/photoshop: "to alter (a digital image) with Photoshop software or other image-editing software especially in a way that distorts reality (as for deliberately deceptive purposes)"

Using this definition, most digitally processed photographs aren't "photoshopped."

 

[Shashin]

I am happy to explain my process.

 

[Godfrey]

I am on the brink of selling my artwork and wanted to know how others deal with the question "Is this photoshopped?" when others see your work. What is your technique to answer this question? Ansel Adams was a master of manipulation in the darkroom, today we use computers to process our RAW files. What is your technique for being honest and forthright but still make sales?

I have been selling digitally processed photographs since 2004. The question has never even come up. Particularly in the creation of art works, it doesn't make sense.

The only people who ask this level of detail on the provenance of a photo are those who are buying for the editorial or documentary (forensic) market, where the credibility of the photo as fact is at issue.

Best thing to do is simply be transparent about your process, aesthetic, etc.

G

 

[Jorgen Udvang]

Alamy (stock agency) asks that question, and as Godfrey says, it's only really relevant to editorial or other documentary photos. For myself, I allow, adjustments of exposure, WB, curves (within limits) and straight conversion to b&w. The point is that the documentary value of the photo shouldn't change.