How far can we go when it comes to editing, and some will call it manipulating, our images?
When should we stop calling a photograph, a
photograph, and call it something else, like digital art?
this is a topic that keeps coming up every once in a while
I thought that it would be nice and useful for me to have a video
I can refer people to when they ask about my opinion
my short answer is that I don't know
I believe there is a line, but where to draw that line is up to each one of us
but before I talk about where I personally draw the line, let's clarify a few things
first of all is that many people might not be aware that photo manipulation to some degree
has been done since the birth of photography
photographers were already replacing whole skies back in the 1800s in the darkroom
most of the things that we do every day in lightroom or photoshop to our
raw files have been available for a long time to photographers in the darkroom
now, it is true that today is much easier, much faster and much cheaper
it's much more accessible to everyone you don't need to be super skilled in
the darkroom to be able to replace a whole sky
it might come down to just press a button, as simple as that today
but I think it's very important to remember that
these things have been done by photographers for a long time
it's nothing new
if you see any of my videos where I edit some of my images,
you already know that I have no problem when it comes to removing distractions from the image
I call them distractions because they don't add anything to the image
in fact, they usually subtract from it
most of the time, they are just little spots
a little bit of grass here, a little bush or even a little bit of trash
but sometimes, I do clean up a larger portion of the photograph to get the image that I want
the image that I want is the image that I saw in the field
the problem is that we don't see the same way as cameras do
I'm pretty sure this has happened to you many times in the past
you are walking, driving, cycling, whatever, and you happen to see something
let's say it's a tree in the middle of a field
it's a beautiful tree, the most beautiful tree you've ever seen
so you stop, you take your camera out, and start thinking about a composition
about how to capture that tree
so you take your time and make sure that you are creating a compelling image
and it is only when you look through the viewfinder
and sometimes not even then
that you realize about the power line that is in between you and that tree
the power line that had been there the whole time,
you didn't see it because you were focusing on the tree
you were focused on the field
you were focused on finding the right composition
that's what I mean when I say that I saw an image
I saw the image of the tree in the field
I didn't see the power line
so in my opinion, removing that power line to create the image that I want is not a problem
after all, there are some things that I do in camera to remove distractions
for example, when I take long exposures
the reason why I love long exposures
is because they remove the detail from the water and from the sky
you see, I'm not manipulating the photograph in post
but I'm manipulating reality in the field, in camera, to create the image that I want
and while I'm sure that many people are okay with long exposures because they are done
in camera, in the field
many people are not that okay with manipulating the photograph in post to create a similar effect
and that's where I disagree
because I believe that there is nothing wrong with doing it in post
and I don't care if people don't consider them photographs anymore
I don't call them photographs myself, I call them images
it's an image that I am creating
it's an image that didn't necessarily exist out there
after all, all photography is a lie, it's a manipulation of reality
let me show you an example of what i mean
I'm gonna show you two images that I've shown in this channel before
the first one is this one, it's a cabin in the woods
and the second one is this one of a few ducks flying over a creek
now, the first image required almost no work in
post other than increasing a little bit the contrast
in the second one, though, I deleted a lot of vegetation on the left side of the frame in post
I did it because I found it distracting
I wanted people to focus on what mattered in that image that is the ducks and the creek
so which one of those images do you think represents reality the best, or the most accurate?
do you think that the photo of the ducks with all that vegetation removed
is a bigger manipulation than the cabin in the woods?
well, it turns out
and you might have already known about this because I talked about
this in the video where I made this image
this is not a cabin, and this is not in the woods
this is actually a structure that is used in a farmer's market in the summer
but in the winter is there, empty
it couldn't be farther from the woods
because there's a family dollar, a grocery store, a mcdonald's and a burger king next to it
but by cropping reality in that way
by framing my subject that way
I might have made you believe that this is in fact a cabin in the woods
while the second photo, of the ducks and the creek...
well, it really happened
there was nothing around that I was leaving out
the ducks were flying over the creek
so there is no... really... a manipulation of reality here
this is what I mean when I say that all photography is a lie
we just can't capture everything that is happening around us
we have to select, we have to extract what we want to create from reality
and in doing so, we're already manipulating it
in my opinion, using the cloning tool in post to remove some extra distractions
is not a big deal, at all
so I remove stuff from my images
but I don't add anything to them like composites or something like that
but the only reason why I don't do it is because I don't see those images in the field
I don't have such imagination
I just prefer to wander around and capture whatever might happen in front of me
but if I were more creative and saw those things in my mind
I would have no problem creating them
as I said at the beginning, there is no clear answer to this and
it's up to each one of us to draw the line wherever we want
I personally enjoy my time outside taking photographs
more than the time that I spend in front of the computer manipulating them
or the time that I would spend in the darkroom doing the same
so I try as hard as I can to capture the raw file that is the closest
to the final image that I want to create
or the negative that is the closest to that final image as well
but as usual, I would love to know your opinion on this topic
please leave a comment down below with your thoughts on image manipulation
how far you are willing to go, where you draw the line, and what you think about this
this is gonna be all for today
thank you so much for watching, and see you in the next one!