Hear, hear, BD. Well said! Photography most emphatically IS an art form. But, as is the case with any art form, there are those who know how to use it, and those who don't. One of the most important things a painter has to learn is when to stop. One of the most important things a photographer has to learn is when to cull.
Rags, here's a radical suggestion: you have created some good images, but I daresay they will not elevate to the next level until you realize that photograph is an art form that takes blood, sweat and tear to get right. Sing to us Rags. Don't give us OK photos.
Rags, here's a radical suggestion: you have created some good images, but I daresay they will not elevate to the next level until you realize that photograph is an art form that takes blood, sweat and tear to get right. Sing to us Rags. Don't give us OK photos.
richardman you're nice , a little over romantic but nice
So put the same passion into your Street photos :-)
... and stop arguing photography is not an art unless it's postprocessed.
thanks for the lookin' Richardman.
If the image is PP'd beyond recognition, the result is an origination of a new image. The operative word is origination: which is art.
Art originates; photography captures.
Regarding culling: Personally I shoot about 5,000 - 10,000 shots a year (Raw), to wind up with 6-7% keepers. I look at each one for quality and nuance. I probably cull more than most on this forum.
Here's a post on culling and what sells & doesn't sell; from an experienced photog
"[FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]At times I've seen posts asking what types of images sell and what doesn't so based on a recent order I received, I thought I'd post a few of what sells....way outside the box of a decent picture based on the standard we try to follow of a sharp - in focus - face - ball - subject not chopped up type shot.
In this particular game I was shooting for the local paper plus I was asked by the SID to get shots of certain players on both offense and defense and the team I was shooting was the red team. Also, to enhance the possibility of sales...I usually will either give some business cards to the opposing coach or e-mail them after the game with a link to the images. In this case I e-mailed the coach with the link to the images.
So I get an e-mail from a parent whose son played on the opposing team with an order for 20 images and when I gathered up all the images I wasn't sure what player was her son. So just to be certain I checked that teams roster on their website and I see his number is #64....and now I'm even more confused because the images of her son are way....way below the standard of what I would consider for a sale.
So I called her and explained to her what I am seeing....telling her that basically her son was in the shot of the player I was shooting and none of the images have his face visible, some are blurry and OOF, a few have him cut in half...limbs cut off etc. I told her they are not print quality images for those reasons and I think she should save her money and just concentrate on the 2 or 3 where the images were good enough. She said this was her sons last year playing and she wanted them for him and even though her son wasn't always in focus or partially blocked by another player....there were shots of his teammates and they'll be memories for life.
This isn't the first time I had sales like this and probably won't be the last but I like to think glass half full that if you don't take the shot and post it for viewing...you can't sell it. And I'm in no way getting rich from these type of sales....but it is giving people something they wouldn't have had if I didn't push the button. "
Seems to me the photog at best, should have some satisfaction about his work; good or bad is the viewers call.
This forum seems to have a lot of arbiters of taste within strict parameters; yet they speak of being artful - parameters which are incongruous with art. Their vanity appears to render them deaf
Wow, did I just say that? Jeeze... did you hear that? It must be me digging in my heels...
Truth be told, I haven't ever given photography this much thought..
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// richard <http://www.richardmanphoto.com>
richardmanphoto on Facebook and Instagram
richardman you're nice , a little over romantic but nice
I can roar
http://ragspix.smugmug.com/Photography/Photo-Bucket/5675014_wBvBDP#1570465546_388kWVJ-A-LB
I can whisper
http://ragspix.smugmug.com/Landscapes/1109-Eureka-Dunes/18986613_BPvXkg#1474613035_pQBp7Cd-A-LB
I can catch a flight
http://ragspix.smugmug.com/Motorcycles/1005-Supermoto-Infineon/12218907_tpj2Df#870292925_ohD7v-A-LB
or two (gone bad)
http://ragspix.smugmug.com/Competitions/1107-Bullriding/18162760_GVfX8j#1394896155_SgHbQht-A-LB
or three
http://ragspix.smugmug.com/Motorcycles/Moto-stunts/12628888_GHzTxf#907737228_hYQNQ-A-LB
and I can find quiet places
http://ragspix.smugmug.com/Landscapes/Mono-Lake-Photos-Ragspix/8838950_MJFpBj#630587508_j6fSA-A-LB
or birds in hidden places with less than visible color spectrum
http://ragspix.smugmug.com/Nature/1105-Egrets-IR/17268545_Vspd6V#1311119456_M3f983L-A-LB
But I can't sing. I just take pictures...
... and stop arguing photography is not an art unless it's postprocessed.
// richard <http://www.richardmanphoto.com>
richardmanphoto on Facebook and Instagram
thanks for the lookin' Richardman.
If the image is PP'd beyond recognition, the result is an origination of a new image. The operative word is origination: which is art.
Art originates; photography captures.
Regarding culling: Personally I shoot about 5,000 - 10,000 shots a year (Raw), to wind up with 6-7% keepers. I look at each one for quality and nuance. I probably cull more than most on this forum.
Here's a post on culling and what sells & doesn't sell; from an experienced photog
"[FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]At times I've seen posts asking what types of images sell and what doesn't so based on a recent order I received, I thought I'd post a few of what sells....way outside the box of a decent picture based on the standard we try to follow of a sharp - in focus - face - ball - subject not chopped up type shot.
In this particular game I was shooting for the local paper plus I was asked by the SID to get shots of certain players on both offense and defense and the team I was shooting was the red team. Also, to enhance the possibility of sales...I usually will either give some business cards to the opposing coach or e-mail them after the game with a link to the images. In this case I e-mailed the coach with the link to the images.
So I get an e-mail from a parent whose son played on the opposing team with an order for 20 images and when I gathered up all the images I wasn't sure what player was her son. So just to be certain I checked that teams roster on their website and I see his number is #64....and now I'm even more confused because the images of her son are way....way below the standard of what I would consider for a sale.
So I called her and explained to her what I am seeing....telling her that basically her son was in the shot of the player I was shooting and none of the images have his face visible, some are blurry and OOF, a few have him cut in half...limbs cut off etc. I told her they are not print quality images for those reasons and I think she should save her money and just concentrate on the 2 or 3 where the images were good enough. She said this was her sons last year playing and she wanted them for him and even though her son wasn't always in focus or partially blocked by another player....there were shots of his teammates and they'll be memories for life.
This isn't the first time I had sales like this and probably won't be the last but I like to think glass half full that if you don't take the shot and post it for viewing...you can't sell it. And I'm in no way getting rich from these type of sales....but it is giving people something they wouldn't have had if I didn't push the button. "
Seems to me the photog at best, should have some satisfaction about his work; good or bad is the viewers call.
This forum seems to have a lot of arbiters of taste within strict parameters; yet they speak of being artful - parameters which are incongruous with art. Their vanity appears to render them deaf
Wow, did I just say that? Jeeze... did you hear that? It must be me digging in my heels...
Truth be told, I haven't ever given photography this much thought..
[/FONT]
"He not busy being born is busy dying." Bob Dylan
"The more ambiguous the photograph is, the better it is..." Leonard Freed