When people ask you if your images are "photoshopped" . . .

LiveAwakeLiveAwake Registered Users Posts: 263 Major grins
edited March 15, 2011 in Finishing School
Hey all, I just wanted to share a blog post that I wrote about post-processing digital images. It can be a bit frustrating as a photographer when people ask you if you "photoshop" your images, because that can mean so many different things. A lot of the time you may not have the time to explain all of this, but I hope that my comments here will be helpful in explaining to some people the difference between normal post-processing that has to be done by anyone who shoots in RAW, and major manipulations or digital art that some folks do.

Enjoy: http://manifestphoto.wordpress.com/2011/03/08/do-you-photoshop-your-images/

(Feedback welcomed)
www.manifestphoto.com
www.facebook.com/manifestphoto

Comments

  • Art ScottArt Scott Registered Users Posts: 8,959 Major grins
    edited March 8, 2011
    My answer to that question is pretty simple....No my images are not photoshopped unless I absolutely have to.......I have to develop the images just as if they were film so they can be properly printed, but they are not photoshopped........If they then ask what I use to develop them I simply answer Lightroom.......have not had to go beyond that..........
    "Genuine Fractals was, is and will always be the best solution for enlarging digital photos." ....Vincent Versace ... ... COPYRIGHT YOUR WORK ONLINE ... ... My Website

  • pathfinderpathfinder Super Moderators Posts: 14,708 moderator
    edited March 8, 2011
    That's really a funny answer, and a a very good one as well, Art!

    I will remember that and use it.
    Pathfinder - www.pathfinder.smugmug.com

    Moderator of the Technique Forum and Finishing School on Dgrin
  • jjbongjjbong Registered Users Posts: 244 Major grins
    edited March 8, 2011
    I think Digital Darkroom is a good term, and a good way to explain it. After all, Ansel Adams did an incredible amount of work in his darkroom. I think the stereotype of Photoshopping is to drop Waldo into the middle of your photo, rather than to get the photo to produce what your eye saw when you shot it.
    John Bongiovanni
  • CameronCameron Registered Users Posts: 745 Major grins
    edited March 9, 2011
    Art - great answer. I think the concept is hard for people to grasp because for most people, post-processing in the film world meant picking either glossy or matte finish at the store where they dropped off the film. Many don't realize how much extra work was done to produce famous prints they see from Ansel Adams and the like.
    Photos
  • MarkRMarkR Registered Users Posts: 2,099 Major grins
    edited March 9, 2011
    David DuChemin's book Vision and Voice: Refining Your Vision in Adobe Lightroom spends three pages on this topic*, and I think it's worth reading. I think a good summation would be: "I use my photography to try to express something, and use any tool available, including post processing, to communicate my ultimate vision."

    My own response would probably be like: "Of course I use Photoshop! I need all the help I can get!" :lol


    *click on the link to Amazon, then select click to Look Inside to read the introduction in its entirety. It's worth it, trust me.
  • pathfinderpathfinder Super Moderators Posts: 14,708 moderator
    edited March 9, 2011
    The problem is that those who ask the question "Did you Photoshop this picture" frequently cannot really understand your answer.

    But then there are those folks who believed the camera never lies, and we all know of photos that are not accurate representations of reality. I certainly hope many of my images are not just a depiction of "reality"
    Pathfinder - www.pathfinder.smugmug.com

    Moderator of the Technique Forum and Finishing School on Dgrin
  • Ric GrupeRic Grupe Registered Users Posts: 9,522 Major grins
    edited March 9, 2011
    pathfinder wrote: »
    But then there are those folks who believed the camera never lies, and we all know of photos that are not accurate representations of reality. I certainly hope many of my images are not just a depiction of "reality"

    Reality is just a consensus of opinion...which is fraught with inconsistencies.
  • RichardRichard Administrators, Vanilla Admin Posts: 19,962 moderator
    edited March 9, 2011
    "Reality is overrated"
    --Thomas Pynchon
    My Pics
  • pathfinderpathfinder Super Moderators Posts: 14,708 moderator
    edited March 9, 2011
    Yup!!

    Especially in pictures!
    Pathfinder - www.pathfinder.smugmug.com

    Moderator of the Technique Forum and Finishing School on Dgrin
  • WillCADWillCAD Registered Users Posts: 722 Major grins
    edited March 9, 2011
    "I reject your reality, and substitute my own." - Adam Savage
    What I said when I saw the Grand Canyon for the first time: "The wide ain't wide enough and the zoom don't zoom enough!"
  • pathfinderpathfinder Super Moderators Posts: 14,708 moderator
    edited March 9, 2011
    This thread is waxing philosophical methinks...
    Pathfinder - www.pathfinder.smugmug.com

    Moderator of the Technique Forum and Finishing School on Dgrin
  • paddler4paddler4 Registered Users Posts: 976 Major grins
    edited March 9, 2011
    In my experience, a lot of the people who ask about this just don't understand that ALL digital images are processed. They think that what comes out of the camera is "natural" and things that are processed are "artificial." So I just tell them that all digital images, like all film images, are developed. If they take the camera's jpgs, they are just trusting someone else's algorithm--an algorithm written by someone who never saw the image in question--to develop the picture, kind of like dropping film at the drugstore instead of learning to use a darkroom.
    http://dkoretz.smugmug.com/
  • oldovaloldoval Registered Users Posts: 456 Major grins
    edited March 9, 2011
    This brings up another question. When does an image become more about the post processing than the original capture?

    I have been browsing the images over at http://1x.com/ for the last couple of days and got to thinking about this very question. Don't get me wrong, there are some beautiful images on that site and I'm extremely jealous....but there seems to be a theme of very heavy processing. The landscapes in particular are almost too good....to the point of being unrealistic. Is this the direction modern photography is going? Will ones skills in Photoshop determine the quality of their images? Will I get left behind if I don't master Photoshop?

    I'm a noob here, so if I'm poking the hornets nest please feel free to throw me out on my head.
    Nate
    http://nathanwiley.smugmug.com/
  • colourboxcolourbox Registered Users Posts: 2,095 Major grins
    edited March 9, 2011
    I just tell 'em I didn't do anything you wouldn't do in a normal darkroom. That sets the expectations. They may not know exactly what you could do in a normal darkroom, but they get the idea that it excludes most "digital magic."
  • Art ScottArt Scott Registered Users Posts: 8,959 Major grins
    edited March 9, 2011
    colourbox wrote: »
    I just tell 'em I didn't do anything you wouldn't do in a normal darkroom. That sets the expectations. They may not know exactly what you could do in a normal darkroom, but they get the idea that it excludes most "digital magic."

    This is good also...........maybe I will steal this the next time I am asked.....
    "Genuine Fractals was, is and will always be the best solution for enlarging digital photos." ....Vincent Versace ... ... COPYRIGHT YOUR WORK ONLINE ... ... My Website

  • AnthonyAnthony Registered Users Posts: 149 Major grins
    edited March 10, 2011
    Having been a salesman, I use the technique of answering a question with a question, for example: " do you photoshop your images?" answer, "how do you mean?" then depending on their answer I can discuss developing, retouching and image manipulation as required - or how much I feel necessary.

    Anthony.
  • Ric GrupeRic Grupe Registered Users Posts: 9,522 Major grins
    edited March 10, 2011
    pathfinder wrote: »
    This thread is waxing philosophical methinks...

    Forsooth!
  • HarrybHarryb Registered Users, Retired Mod Posts: 22,708 Major grins
    edited March 10, 2011
    I appeared on a local TV show last year and the interviewer asked me that question. I then proceeded into a lengthy discourse on standard processing vs. digital alteration of an image. The interviewer listened politely and then said "I meant do you use PS which is very expensive rather than one of the cheaper programs that are on the market".
    Harry
    http://behret.smugmug.com/ NANPA member
    How many photographers does it take to change a light bulb? 50. One to change the bulb, and forty-nine to say, "I could have done that better!"
  • racerracer Registered Users Posts: 333 Major grins
    edited March 10, 2011
    I answer it truthfully, if a person ask me if I photoshopped it, I dont say yes or no, but instead tell them what I did to the photo. Most of the time, the person says that they didn't have a clue what I just said, and I leave it at that, but sometimes you are surprised to find out that the person actually does have a bit of a clue and really wants to learn what you did!
    Todd - My Photos
  • cb4photocb4photo Registered Users Posts: 105 Major grins
    edited March 15, 2011
    This is my normal answer...
    colourbox wrote: »
    I just tell 'em I didn't do anything you wouldn't do in a normal darkroom. That sets the expectations. They may not know exactly what you could do in a normal darkroom, but they get the idea that it excludes most "digital magic."
    www.cb4photo.com
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