We’ve asked ourselves whether an image we’re looking at has been photoshopped or not. To photoshop something has actually become a verb (against Adobe’s interest) and while having the ability to do just about anything with your photos sure is great there are some limits that need to be set. At least for every self-respecting photographer.
In my opinion, one of the most basic requirements for photography is to reflect the reality. To be able to capture a moment and take it with you, to remember what life was like at that time and place. A camera, (or a film) of course doesn’t see the world exactly like our eyes do and that is where we have the ability to be creative. As I mentioned in one of my previous posts, digital cameras and digital photography in general have become way too perfect, to the point where the art element is starting to disappear. We have more megapixels than ever, we have more frames per second, a faster autofocus, we are even able to see exactly what the photo is going to look like before we even took it, something that just 20 years ago was unthinkable. A part of the blame should go to post processing.
Some countries have introduced laws against models’ photos being too overdone which I definitely support. This is one of the most drastic examples of post doing more bad than good. It starts to create impossible expectation in men for women and destroys women’s self-esteem because no one can look as good as a massively over touched image.
It’s a similar story in street and documentary photography. I draw the line at slightly boosting colors and levelling shadows and highlights. The rest should be done in camera and using the physics of light movement and capturing information with a sensor. I’ve been asked many times how the shadows on my photos are so dark and if I do a lot of post. Well, I don’t. I simply underexpose. That’s the trick behind it.
Street photography should be your perception of the world through a camera lens. If you start changing it drastically in Photoshop, Lightroom, iPhoto or whatever that is, that you use, it’s not photography anymore.
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