Photography and Art

Where does photography turn into art? Most people are happy with a photo if it looks good in the camera. Do you realize that the software in your camera is making a LOT of changes to create that photo versus what the actual sensor detects? If you were present at the scene, you want the photo to look like you saw in your mind and maybe a bit enhanced in areas that drew you to take the photo. Capturing what your mind sees is the holy grail of photography and is what the software it trying to duplicate. Most professional photographers shoot what is referred to as "flat" and "RAW". That is, the photo file captures only what the sensor detects - and in the full color/detail range possible in the sensor. I could go deeper here but most people don't really care. The captured data with these settings will not likely match your eye or your desire for the final product. However, by starting with the raw ingredients, the photographer can essentially bake their own cake using photo editing software to produce the photo they want to share. I always laugh when someone asks me if I edited a photo. I edit EVERY photo I share and so does your camera behind the scenes.

The sky was heavy overcast and thick with haze the day we took our sightseeing boat trip. I looked to shore and saw some interesting sky and foliage and took a shot from the rocking boat. The first photo is directly out of the camera - no editing. You can see what I mean by shooting flat - missing contrast, color, and detail. This does not match my memory at all. You also see the camera was not level (tilted slightly counter-clockwise). Water is a heck of a level indicator. You see that the photo has too much foreground water and barely enough sky. Is the photo worth saving? Yes because I want to share with you what I saw. Spending about 20 minutes on this image in photo editing software resulted in the second photo. Does it match your taste? Maybe not but I'm happy with it. Is the shot a photograph or is it an artistic interpretation of a scene? No answer from me.

Thanks,

Comments

Post a Comment

Please include your name in your comment so I know the author! Thanks.

Popular posts from this blog

Palo Duro Canyon

Image
I was  pleasantly surprised by the number of comments back from my reunion e-mail yesterday. I appreciated each of them as most referenced similar feelings to what I tried to express. You just never know.... We met up with a couple Thursday night to go to the Texas play in Palo Duro Canyon. I grabbed a few quick photos of the canyon on the drive in. The panhandle has been blessed with a wet spring and the canyon was beautiful with all the green. If you have never been to this state gem, you are missing something. Growing up, I spent many an hour in this park creating great memories. The sky was clear and the temperatures hot for these photos. Thanks, Doug White https://jdwarchive.blogspot.com/
Read more

Springtime

Image
It's been a while since I messed with your mailbox so Howdy and I hope each of you are doing well. A few of you have sent notes and updates and they are always appreciated. This is too long but summarizes our life the past few months. We have been busy this spring with some major cleanup of the woods/brush around our house. The area in front of our house was cleaned up in the original construction. By cleaned up, I mean you could safely walk (mostly erect) through the area without fear of death by 1000 thorns. The other areas were left much less accessible with survival maintenance only but still no clear access. Though I have always wanted to see the garage-side area to look more like our front, we never made it happen in the 11+ years we have lived here. We had three obstacles that are more like excuses but they were very real. The first issue is our fundamental frugality. We could not bring ourselves to pay the several thousand dollars to have someone come in and do the work. Th...
Read more

Solar Eclipse - 3

Image
As I stated in a previous e-mail, my photos were not unique and I had seen many similar. I ran across a post on Facebook from the Holcomb Observatory in  Indianapolis, IN describing what they saw during the eclipse Monday. Their post gave more detail regarding the size and source of the red color that I did not know. They also photographed what appeared to be the "same" prominence in one of my photos (shape and location essentially the same anyway). I decided to zoom in on my photo and allow a software magnification to increase the size a bit (3X). I'm pretty happy with my handheld photo with a pretty normal equipment when compared to an observatory! This is my photo followed by the $$$$$ stuff! Thanks, Doug White https://jdwarchive.blogspot.com/
Read more