Recently there was much discussion on the Barbados Photographic Society Facebook page with a request to publish unedited (or post-processed) images. The request was alluding to the fact that there were no photographs being posted straight out of the camera. Though many people take photographs using their mobile or tablet not many recognize that these photographs are automatically edited by the device whether an Apple or Android. So the question is do images truly represent what you see?
"There is no such thing as inaccuracy in a photograph. All photographs are accurate. None of them is the truth. —Richard Avedon (1923–2004)"
What do you think makes a good portrait? Generally, we say that a good portrait is one that’s able to capture the persona of the subject in discussion. But, when we really think about it, how can we truly see a person based on a single image. It’s just not possible. A single image can’t be the reflection of a person’s traits. As photographers, we’re caught in a continual state of contradiction. We make choices when we photograph - we choose a lens, thereby changing the frame, perspective, and near-far relationship. We choose aperture and shutter speed, thereby changing a whole lot: the amount of light, depth of field, and we isolate and obscure objects. We go down on our knees or get up on a ladder, thereby giving the scene an entirely different appearance. Every image, however untouched, is manipulated, first by our framing and exposure, then by the algorithms that generate the intricate combination of pixels on a screen, before raw files are tweaked and long before it gets dragged into Photoshop.
You then come to post-processing. Post-processing, in a broad sense, has always been around in some form or the other and has been an important step in photography since the early days of photography. Even when shooting film, you either had to take the film to the lab or you developed it yourself. During this ‘processing’ of the film, the image could be tweaked to produce the required effect.
No matter how careful you are, some imperfections will invariably make their way into the captured image. Issues like dust spots, noise from high ISO, and other technical issues are quite common and often go unnoticed if they are not present in a significant way. Apart from the seemingly technical imperfections mentioned above, there can be other shortcomings in a photograph that might need fixing. It could be a crooked horizon that needs straightening or maybe an unwanted element that needs to be cropped out to improve the composition and draw attention to the subject.
In post, you can put your stamp on your work. It’s my chance to make my photo of the same tourist spot everyone visits, a little bit different. I can develop a consistent look, either for this piece of work or for all my work. Post-processing offers a great avenue to get creative and make images that reflect a creative style, and help me tell a story I want to tell in a better way (see an example: the image “Fantasy Warrior")
We don’t lie, we try to say the truth of what we see and feel by making the choices that allow us to say it a way that is appealing and shows off our art.
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