what is right?

Aaron Wilson

I have heard a lot of feed back over this.. photoshop! Is it right to tkae a photo and alter it? Or to keep it as is because that is how you have taken it. I know this is a big argument at least from people I have talked to... some say a little editing on color is ok others say all editing is not because it is not the moment on how you took the pic.

On the other side besides that... I have photoshop 8cs... I have deleted and added items to pictures... but isee or have read a few things on here about changing the white balance and noise.... I can add and delete.. but is there a book that is good about teaching what or how to correct the colors? I was going to shoot raw.. but should i shoot in super high jpeg? I have a 20d on its way... suppose to be here on the 9/22/04.. CANT WAIT!:clap

cletus

Welcome Aaron

For me, photography is an art. We're not just taking pictures to document what we see, we are creating images. If you have an image in your head that requires manipulation of a photograph, then by all means - do it!

For book recomendations, there are several. Some of the folks around here really like the books written by Dan Margulis. Scott Kelby is another good author. His book Photoshop CS for Digital Photographers should probably be on any Photoshop user's bookshelf.

wxwax

I'd say shoot in RAW, it gives you the greatest flexibility to fix your stuff.

AS for the ethics, talk about a flexible area. It really depends upon why you're shooting a particular photograph. If it's to document an event, you shouldn't be adding or subtracting things from the shot. But if it's simply an aesthetic experience, there are no barriers. Andy sells his stuff, and is selling it for the aesthetic experience, and so has no compunction about tweaking a shot anyway that will make it more commercially viable. But it wasn't so long ago that an LA Times photog was fired for combining the best of two images to make one powerful pic. The difference is the intent of the photo.

Andy

right vs. art
hi aaron

if you are a pj, then unaltered is right. but no reason not to make adjustments in wb, color, exposure, etc, to match what your eyes saw at the scene.

for anything else, anything goes, just be sure to identify your composite photographs

compositing is also explained further, here