I think I am kind of in the middle where there is a time and a place for everything. IF you are photographing in tricky conditions, post processing can be a god send. Tricky light? Work in raw and photoshop can help. Many techniques you could do in a wet darkroom, but the skill, expense and time were so prohibitive that few ever did. How many of you have actually retouched a black and white negative? I don't have the talent with a paint brush to do that. Many photos are much improved with a few clicks. It opens the door to many creative possibilities that would largely go undone and many fine art works left in the imagination.
Still that doesn't give one an excuse for sloppy photography. Even though it can be fixed later, that takes time. If moving 3 feet gets rid of a problem before it exists, its quicker to move the feet than it is to move the mouse, especially when you have hundreds of photos to review and correct. Attention to exposure and the fundamentals of photography can avoid a great deal of time later.
The one time I do have a problem with excessive post processing is when the photos are being used to tell a story, and the story you are telling with them is deceptive or a bald face lie. Then I have a problem and the clone tool can lie as quickly as a politician. So can the crop tool, depending on what you are cropping out.
-------- Original Message --------
Subject: Re: comments
From: Herschel Mair <herschel@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: Mon, August 15, 2011 2:46 pm
To: List for Photo/Imaging Educators - Professionals - Students
<photoforum@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
ahhh... Andrew, the photographic fundamentalist! ...lest we lose a
slither of original vision.
Perfectionists are a vanishing species... craftsmen and women who care
for every mm of picture area.
Me... I crop away with impunity, clone in missing parts, drop in a new
sky, take out an obstructive car.... align lines and change angles...
What a rule-less, even godless infidel I am. No respect for the medium
in my photographic barbarism- tearing at the heart of the art and
forcing it into servitude. Bending it's will to my own. In the end, it's
only purpose is to fulfill MY vision. Whatever it takes!
Herschel
On 8/15/11 1:05 PM, asharpe@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx wrote:
> And be forced to crop the edges of the photograph? No thanks; I'd rather
> have it right in camera.
>
> Andrew
>
>
