Yesterday, Neil asked me if my image of the two photographs and the electrical sockets was one of my “engaged images”, by which I’m fairly sure he’s referencing my tendency to complain about some of my images on the grounds that I often go off the ones that require more than a minimal amount of work in Photoshop.
And this got me thinking about whether there was some sort of pattern to how I respond to the images I take. And I suppose there is (though it doesn’t always apply). For the most part, when I take a shot, I either i) definitely know it will work (though this doesn’t happen all that often – tomorrow’s shot is one of these), ii) I think it will work (subject to some work in Photoshop) – today’s shot falls into this category (more of which below), or iii) I hope it will work, but suspect that it probably wont … I take lots of these ;-)
Today’s shot is one of the ones I thought would work, though I knew that the original would probably be too flat – it was a dull and grey day. So, I used a Curves adjustment to darken and increase the contrast in the sky, another to increase the contrast in the sign, desaturated the sky (to remove some colour noise), and slightly changed the colour of the sign – the original was a slightly more faded shade of blue. And all in all I’m happy with how it turned out … definitely one of my “engaged images” ;-)
camera capture date aperture shutter speed shooting mode exposure bias metering mode ISO focal length image quality white balance optical filter
Canon G5
2.42pm on 15/3/04
f4.0
1/320
program AE
+0.0
evaluative
100
10.2mm
RAW
auto
B+W UV 010
comment byDaniel at 08:50 AM (GMT) on 17 March, 2004
Hey, this is a great shot. You must not worry about retouching pictures. Some pictures work naturally, some work retouched and some don't work at all. I really believe retouching is part of the creation and it's for the creator to decide what is a good result.
comment byHouser at 11:41 AM (GMT) on 17 March, 2004
Yep - I agree. I think of myself more of an image-maker, than a picture-taker.
comment bynariman at 01:51 PM (GMT) on 17 March, 2004
According to Tom Ang: 'Digital Processing is an inseparable part of digital photography. If you can avoid dark room after film photography, you should probably avoid digital processing too.' According to my experience using curves brings up many pictures that other wise could be very dull...I really like this picture...very good composition and color contrast...
comment byE. M. at 07:37 PM (GMT) on 17 March, 2004
Terrific image...and as always I love the notes that accompany each shot. Also, congratulations on getting out of the house! :) I know how it is...still waiting for this Chicago winter to blow away!
comment byJanine at 09:45 PM (GMT) on 17 March, 2004
I'm adoring this image. I'm amazed that you've taken something so simple--that could have been so ordinary and flat--and transformed it into such an extraordinary image.
comment byRichard at 06:14 AM (GMT) on 18 March, 2004
I'm torn.
First when the photo loaded I thought 'Very nice, I like it' - but then my critical voice inside me kicked in (it's sooo hard to silence him...).
I looked at the photo again and switched screen to something else. There was NO memory of the photo that lingered. I mean I knew it was a blue sign but it had not 'given' me anything, it had not 'told' me anything and it had not 'asked' me anything. It had simply just passed over my eyes.
And that made me think...does photos ALWAYS have to have a meaning or can it sometimes just be 'pretty' or 'nice' - and ofcourse they can but those are not photos that keeps my interest and challenges me.
I think every photographer have to take a decision at some point about what path he or she will go down;
a) taking commercial/pretty photos and taking the occasional soulfull image, or
b) trying to take photos that challenges, speaks and gives something to the viewer - images that goes beyond 'pretty' and 'nice'.
I think this one is 'pretty' and 'nice'
I don't think it challenges me.
It doesn't have to but that's how I feel.
Sorry about the fairly incoherent rambling, English is not my first language (third or fourth in order of prowess I guess) and when I'm tired it gets even worse to understand me :-)
I like the photo but I won't remember it 10 minutes from now. I want a photo from you that will challenge me and I wouldn't say that if I didn't know you can do it :-)
comment by djn1 at 06:58 AM (GMT) on 18 March, 2004
Thanks everyone.
And Richard: thanks too. I know exactly what you mean, and I think, possibly, that every image that I post could challenge you (rather than just seem 'pretty' and 'nice'), but, and this is a big 'but', I couldn't do it everyday - the gap between images would be considerably larger than 24 hours.
In early February I made the decision to post an image a day, mostly to force me to take shots. I'm not a professional, and photography is something that I need to fit around everything else, and while I do think I've improved over the last six weeks or so, I do know that some of the stuff I put up is somewhat less than challenging.
So, at the moment, I'm on path 'a' - "taking commercial/pretty photos and taking the occasional soulfull image". If I could manage to produce a challenging image a day, I would, but it's a little beyond my capabilities at present ;-)
comment byemarquetti at 03:18 PM (GMT) on 18 March, 2004
Ow... Hard wind I can see passed here.
comment bygwen at 09:34 PM (GMT) on 30 March, 2004
Every time I visit, I'm overwhelmed again by how much I absolutely love every single thing about your site.
Yesterday, Neil asked me if my image of the two photographs and the electrical sockets was one of my “engaged images”, by which I’m fairly sure he’s referencing my tendency to complain about some of my images on the grounds that I often go off the ones that require more than a minimal amount of work in Photoshop.
And this got me thinking about whether there was some sort of pattern to how I respond to the images I take. And I suppose there is (though it doesn’t always apply). For the most part, when I take a shot, I either i) definitely know it will work (though this doesn’t happen all that often – tomorrow’s shot is one of these), ii) I think it will work (subject to some work in Photoshop) – today’s shot falls into this category (more of which below), or iii) I hope it will work, but suspect that it probably wont … I take lots of these ;-)
Today’s shot is one of the ones I thought would work, though I knew that the original would probably be too flat – it was a dull and grey day. So, I used a Curves adjustment to darken and increase the contrast in the sky, another to increase the contrast in the sign, desaturated the sky (to remove some colour noise), and slightly changed the colour of the sign – the original was a slightly more faded shade of blue. And all in all I’m happy with how it turned out … definitely one of my “engaged images” ;-)
capture date
aperture
shutter speed
shooting mode
exposure bias
metering mode
ISO
focal length
image quality
white balance
optical filter
2.42pm on 15/3/04
f4.0
1/320
program AE
+0.0
evaluative
100
10.2mm
RAW
auto
B+W UV 010
Hey, this is a great shot. You must not worry about retouching pictures. Some pictures work naturally, some work retouched and some don't work at all. I really believe retouching is part of the creation and it's for the creator to decide what is a good result.
Yep - I agree. I think of myself more of an image-maker, than a picture-taker.
According to Tom Ang: 'Digital Processing is an inseparable part of digital photography. If you can avoid dark room after film photography, you should probably avoid digital processing too.' According to my experience using curves brings up many pictures that other wise could be very dull...I really like this picture...very good composition and color contrast...
Terrific image...and as always I love the notes that accompany each shot. Also, congratulations on getting out of the house! :) I know how it is...still waiting for this Chicago winter to blow away!
I'm adoring this image. I'm amazed that you've taken something so simple--that could have been so ordinary and flat--and transformed it into such an extraordinary image.
I'm torn.
First when the photo loaded I thought 'Very nice, I like it' - but then my critical voice inside me kicked in (it's sooo hard to silence him...).
I looked at the photo again and switched screen to something else. There was NO memory of the photo that lingered. I mean I knew it was a blue sign but it had not 'given' me anything, it had not 'told' me anything and it had not 'asked' me anything. It had simply just passed over my eyes.
And that made me think...does photos ALWAYS have to have a meaning or can it sometimes just be 'pretty' or 'nice' - and ofcourse they can but those are not photos that keeps my interest and challenges me.
I think every photographer have to take a decision at some point about what path he or she will go down;
a) taking commercial/pretty photos and taking the occasional soulfull image, or
b) trying to take photos that challenges, speaks and gives something to the viewer - images that goes beyond 'pretty' and 'nice'.
I think this one is 'pretty' and 'nice'
I don't think it challenges me.
It doesn't have to but that's how I feel.
Sorry about the fairly incoherent rambling, English is not my first language (third or fourth in order of prowess I guess) and when I'm tired it gets even worse to understand me :-)
I like the photo but I won't remember it 10 minutes from now. I want a photo from you that will challenge me and I wouldn't say that if I didn't know you can do it :-)
Thanks everyone.
And Richard: thanks too. I know exactly what you mean, and I think, possibly, that every image that I post could challenge you (rather than just seem 'pretty' and 'nice'), but, and this is a big 'but', I couldn't do it everyday - the gap between images would be considerably larger than 24 hours.
In early February I made the decision to post an image a day, mostly to force me to take shots. I'm not a professional, and photography is something that I need to fit around everything else, and while I do think I've improved over the last six weeks or so, I do know that some of the stuff I put up is somewhat less than challenging.
So, at the moment, I'm on path 'a' - "taking commercial/pretty photos and taking the occasional soulfull image". If I could manage to produce a challenging image a day, I would, but it's a little beyond my capabilities at present ;-)
Ow... Hard wind I can see passed here.
Every time I visit, I'm overwhelmed again by how much I absolutely love every single thing about your site.