Creativity

I find myself being pulled more and more into the black and white world. I have been going through my catalog and picking out the odd image that may eventually find it’s way into this project. The fun thing about black and white is that it has no connection to reality. Post-processing plays a big role and therefore, you own creativity. I have always said that the taking of the photo is only the beginning of the whole process of photography, the other half being the actual post processing of the photograph.

I really enjoy a moody and dramatic photo. To me, that makes the ultimate photo To me, this image is just about the perfect candidate to become a black and white with it’s basic lack of colour in the first place.

Editing, What Is Crossing The Line?

I recently had something come up that got me thinking about editing. I like editing and believe it is a normal and essential part of the photographic process. This is where you add your artistic vision into your photo. I’m not a believer in letting my camera process my photos, that’s why I shoot in RAW 100% of the time. That said, where do you cross the line? How much is too much?

I had a judge in a competition give me a comment that I should change the sky in the photo below. I always at least consider judge’s recommendations but this is a bit different, that isn’t something I typically do. When I do photography, I do my best to attain images that are appealing but also real representations of what I saw in the field. If I comp in a new sky every time I get a less than perfect one, is that ok? Is that image still a representation of what I saw when I was there? Not exactly.

My take away in this case? Competition judges assess your photos using criteria they have learned and I find they see things rather technically. Just because an image falls short in a competition doesn’t necessarily mean it’s a bad image. A technically imperfect image can at the same time be an aesthetically pleasing one. Shoot and create for yourself. It’s defeating the whole purpose of photography to try and please others. The image below resides on our wall as a canvas and we both enjoy it greatly, that makes me happy.