When Does an Image Stop Being a Photograph?

On the left you see what today's image looked like right out of the camera. On the right is the finished image. The first question that comes to mind is, if I wanted a shot of the entire pump, why didn't I step back, or crank the zoom a little wider, or change lenses, or something to make life a little easier. Well, the truth is I didn't expect to do anything with the shot. I just thought it was a cute little shot showing the price of gas a long, long time ago. Figured it would sit on the harddrive and be one of the images that was never looked at again. Then, on a whim, I was looking for a challenge one day and came across the shot of the old pump with the top and left side not there and the bald sky and said "can I rebuild the pump?" If you're interested in reading about the gyrations I went through to make the final image, hit the "Read more".

The first thing that was necessary was expanding the canvas. There are several ways to do this, including "uncropping" the image. Typically, using the crop tool in PS means you're going to take some part of the shot and make it the image. You can also go in the opposite direction. Instead of pulling the handles inward, you can pull them outward and make the canvas larger. If precision is what you're looking for you can go to Image/Canvas Size and enter either the exact size you want or how much bigger you'd like the canvas to be. Control of where the additional area is put is controlled by a grid box that can be made to point to where the space is to be added. There's no point to giving the numbers I used because it dependant on the original image size and the PPI you're working at.
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The next step was to copy and paste, Free Transform and Warp pieces of the right side of the pump and fit them to the left side and top. This gave the shape of the pump, but scattered shadows all over the place. Using the Color Picker and painting in the proper shading with the Blend Mode set to Color made reasonably easy work of making highlight areas shadows and shadow areas highlights. Doing the same type of thing made for replacing the left hand side of the pump body. The right side was duplicated, flipped horizontally, moved and the price sign was removed by cloning.
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So, the pump was in pretty good shape. Putting in the threatening sky was pretty easy. The sky in the pump shot was almost bald. A little blue showed in the top of the image, but that was easily painted out with white. The clouds came out of my "clouds" file. If you're outside, with your camera in your hands, and see some spectacular cloud formations, shoot them. If there's no interesting foreground, so what. The objective is to get an image element. An early post on this blog talked about shooting an evergreen branch in a white out. These are pieces you can use to "make" an image. As long as you're not trying to present the final image as reality, no problem. Painters take creative license when producing "art". There's no reason a photographer can't take "creative license" if the objective is "art". So much for a rant. Back to the matter at hand. There are several ways to place the clouds behind the pump. You can make a selection, using any of the selection tools available and use good masking techniques to insure you don't have ghosting. The easiest way I know how would be to use the Blend If sliders found in the layers effects panel. To get a nice tight edge you would probably have to split the sliders (holding down the ALT key, click and drag the left or right side of each slider to split it.)
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The final step is to get the clouds to appear through the glass bowl of the pump. Make a selection of each portion of the glass. Only the parts you'd be able to see all the way through. The roofline and the support shafts of the pump (front and back) make it so you can't see what's behind them, they shouldn't be included in the selections. Put the selection in their own layer. CTRL J will do it. Bring the layer above the sky layer and lower it's opacity until you get a believable blend of the glass with the sky visible.
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That's about all there is it this one. On a couple of occasions I've said it took you longer to read the explanation than it would take you to do the thing being discussed. This "ain't" one of those times. There's some work to be done to do this sort of manipulation. But, if you're up for a challenge, have a go at it. Work your way through the problems you come up against and have fun. .

bear, bear, KARL

This is rather old news, but I was pouring over the September 2008 issue of W Magazine and I came upon this article about Karl Lagerfeld and the bear that he was asked to create. It's essentially a representation of him in teddy bear version. Each bear costs $1, 500 and only 2,500 of them have been launched. I would love to own one of these bears, but alas, that is but a wish that won't come true. You can read the whole article here. It's a rather short article but there are a couple of really good quotes from Karl Lagerfeld. I have to say that I absolutely adore him. Not only is he a fashion genius, but he is superbly talented, creative and he has that particular aura about him that shows him in this light of confidence and complete self-knowledge of his ability. He knows he's brilliant, but he doesn't exactly flaunt it. He has this mystic bubble around him that only he can penetrate. He is the only one who has full knowledge about him and his life. Ok, I'll stop blabbing now, but I really do love Karl.

gue kangen bgtbgtbgt sama anak 7.5......huahuahua
gue pengen ngumpul bareng lagi...
sekarang kita semua udah pada misah... terakhir seru "an sama anak 7.5, waktu itu tanggal 18 juli 2009, waktu itu kita pergi ke dufan sama ke fatahillah, seru sangat!!!
pengen lagi deh!!! :D

7.5 in my heart..hohoho

flowers left by night at my door-step

white shirt, Club Monaco. pink shirt, Forever 21. skirt, Forever 21. shoes, Peaches.


I got my hair cut today. Unfortunately the pictures don't do it justice. My heels kept sinking in the grass so I rushed my pictures, and hence, I ended up not getting a good enough photo.

The weather has been wonderful lately, although most people wouldn't agree with me. I love rain, and we've been having so much rain, it's truly made my summer. I hate hot weather, so this rain has been nice.

As university gets closer I feel the need to stock up on some more clothes, especially skirts and dresses, since that's practically all I wear. Forever 21 has some lovely skirts and dresses on their website but unfortunately I cannot find them here in Canada, and the American site won't ship to Canada. Plus they have a line of clothing that hasn't even come to Canada in stores or online, and they have a couple amazing dresses that I would just love to have. Hopefully, I can find similar ones somewhere.

I just realised that this is my 76th post so I only have 24 more till 100. I have to think up a really special post for my 100th. I still have some time, but it needs to be really good.

Have a good day everyone!

Who Knew? Tom & Huck Grew Up.

Sometimes you has have to admire the spirit of people. The fellows in today's image appear to be enjoying themselves as they head off to where ever it is they're going. It could be work, it could be home from work, maybe the boss sent them on a chore. Whatever it is, they're having fun. An image like today's is one of those that's there to make you think. Are they singing to go along with their little dance? This is a "grab shot" that happens in real time. They didn't see me or agree to pose for a shot, they were just doing their thing and the moment was captured. This is the type of shot that a photographer can't (shouldn't) try to make money on. There's no "Model Release" that goes along with the image. At least one man, if not both men, is recognizable. If a shot is taken and is for personal use only, as is this shot, a Model Release is not needed. Things change when money changes hands. For more info on when an image is legal, hit the "read more".


There are several places on the Internet to find information about Model Releases and Property Releases from people with the knowledge and authority to know what they're talking about. As a caveat, nothing written in today's post is gospel. Please don't take my word for what is "legal" or what you can and can't do with your images. One of the places I go to to research what can and can't be done is Carolyn E. Wright's "Photo Attorney" blog (link). Another source where you can get a specific question answered would be Ed Greenberg and Jack Reznicki at "Igotaquestion@thecopyrightzone.com". Ed and Jack write a column for Photoshop User magazine if you're interested in following their monthly advice. A search with Google for +legal +photography will provide a host of links with information and forms for model, minor, product and property releases. Another caveat, you always want to look at information found on the Internet with a jaundiced eye. Make sure what you're reading is verifiable. ASMP (American Society of Media Photographers) (link) appears to have some good information and examples of different release forms.
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Why is this important? One reason would be to protect yourself from law suits. Another would be to assure you have the right to be paid for the use of your image. Photographic images come under what is commonly called IP "intellectual property".(link) Basically the image is your creation and you have the rights to that image, as long as you have taken the proper steps to protect that IP. i.e. Copyright the image. A huge example of not protecting IP is why Intel Corporation names their processors with things like Pentium(r) or Core(r) or Xeon(r). Back in the 286 and 386 processor days Intel's chief competitor used the same numeric designations. The processor weren't the same, but the numbers were. Consumers were confused. Intel sued. The outcome of the suit was that a number cannot be copyrighted and Intel did not protect their IP. The actual Intel callout of the processors were I286 and I386 (eye286 and eye386). Intel, in ads and in daily correspondence, referred to the parts by their numbers only. The judgement was that Intel didn't do enough to protect their IP, therefore it didn't have IP rights on the names of the processors.
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So, what's this all have to do with today's image? Nothing really, since I have no plans of trying to make money on it. But, it is an image that could be used in some sort of advertisement. Without some sort of protection the image is fair game for anyone on the Internet using it for whatever purpose they wish. If you want to keep the rights to your intellectual property you'll need to do "something" to protect it.

this is madness i say

This was an editorial in the US Vogue Feb 09 issue. It's titled "It's a Madcap World". I've been browsing through old Vogue editorials and this one by far is one of the loveliest. I especially adore the photo with the balloons. Each outfit put together magnificently and the mixture of bright and dark colours is superbly well done. The lighting is a combination of soft hues which gives this editorial a relaxed mood, while the pops of colour add a "mad"gleam to the pictures. Overall, an editorial that deeply reflects my personal style...which might be why I like it so much.

"i took this out weeks ago for a bit of light reading." "that's light?"

As July comes to a close, I can't help but feel a growing anticipation. As of today I officially have a schedule for my classes for my first year of university. The coming month of August brings with it weekends that will be dedicated to an orientation sleepover for commuter students, shopping for back to school supplies, time spent scouting the campus to find my classes, and lots of fretting about the coming school months. Although I will be a nervous wreck for the next 4 weeks, I can't help being excited. I am about to begin a new chapter in my life, and no matter how scared or nervous I am, I'm also excited for the new adventures, new friends and the new lifestyle.

I feel it right to mention that I am an utter book worm. I love books. I could go days without communication with the outside world, as long as I have a good book with me. I cannot wait to get my hands on my school textbooks. I want to read and learn, and simply take in as much knowledge as my mind can possibly hold. I've committed myself to attempting to read War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy before school starts, although I have a feeling it will take me much longer than that to read it. In the meanwhile I am also reading lots about current world issues in order to broaden my mind and prepare me for my classes.

Since this blog is primarily a fashion blog, I thought I would mention how one of the things that I am most looking forward to about university, is the ability to wear no uniform. I will finally be able to have blog posts more often, and therefore, I will be able to showcase my clothing in a wider spectrum. Plus, I won't feel guilty buying new clothes because now I will actually be able to wear them.

Finally, I know I promised a Vlog ages ago, and I was going to post it but then I realised I hated my answers and everything I said, so I just couldn't bring myself to post it. So one day I will have a good Vlog. Blogger's Honor (like scout's honor).

Anyways, for those of you who are in university or done, how did you like your time there or how are you enjoying your time there at the moment? Any words of wisdom you'd like to pass on?

In general to everyone else, any book recommendations?

Ps. Who can guess where my blog title is from?

Sometimes You Just Get Skunked

Great weekend. Good time, great weather (other than the severe rains in the middle of the night on Friday), interesting location, and all the right gear. How could all that end up with today's headline? The shot accompanying this post was taken on Saturday at about 6:30 PM. It's the Point Judith Light Station in Rhode Island, as seen from the parking lot of the public fishing area down the beach a little bit. Early in the morning we had shot the fields of sunflowers in Griswold, Connecticut and then spent the rest of the daylight hours "scouting" locations for some sunset and night photography. Just after this "test shot" was taken we took a break and had a nice dinner in Gallilee, a couple miles away and the site of another shooting location. So, how could all this good "stuff" result in today's headline? To find out, hit the "read more".


Alright, what happened? We had three locations selected for the sunset and night photography. The lighthouse in today's post, some fishing boats (real fishing boats, not the tourist sport fishing yachts) in Gallilee and a lighthouse in Snug Harbor. Snug Harbor was on the way back to the hotel and would take long enough to get near to assure true night photography. After dinner, to kill time, we took one more lap around the peninsula. We had done a number of laps checking out various locales to shoot. Shortly before 8:00 PM we decided it was about time to head for our first location, the fishing area near the Point Judith Light Station. That's when it all started going wrong.
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Heading down the main road toward the light we noticed some fog was starting to roll in. Great, it'll add some drama to the shot and most certainly kill any of the wires running from the light to the small huts nearer the beach. The nice bright light making it's rounds of the sky would produce it's own form of a "God beam" streaking out toward the sea. The shot in my mind was getting better and better. We got to the parking lot of the fishing area and decided to take the short walk to the end of the lot before digging out all the gear. That's when I figured out why lighthouses have fog horns and cars have fog lights. From the exact spot that today's "test shot" was taken we couldn't even see the light, let along the lighthouse. So we were skunked at our first location.
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Back in the car we headed for location number two, the port of Gallilee, to get the rigging of the fishing boats in the afterglow of the sunset. We didn't even bother driving down the access road to the port. The fog had pushed in far enough that the road was shrouded in fog and it would only get worse closer to the water. Skunk number two. We started heading back toward the hotel with little hope of the lighthouse in Snug Harbor being any better. Route 1, heading toward Westerly, is far enough inland, at the cutoff to Point Judith, so the fog was gone by the time we got there. Our spirits bolstered, we had renewed hope for Snug Harbor. As it happens, Route 1 dips back down toward the ocean as you travel west. When we arrived at the turnoff to Snug Harbor we were back in some dense fog. Skunk number three. We headed back to the hotel without clicking a shutter, other than the "test shots" for most of the day. But wait, there's more. !!!
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The hotel was much closer to the morning shooting location than the beaches, about an hour west, back in Connecticut. The GPS showed us a "shortcut" that avoided the highways. That time of night is prime for people headed home and the highways are, typically, heavily traveled then. The shortcut was probably our best bet. We got about a third of the way back to the hotel when a misguided deer decided the road was clear enough to attempt crossing. It wasn't. I've driven for decades (several decades) and never came close to hitting a deer. For the second time in eight months, (and this is important) in Doris' car, I clipped a deer. The first time, the only damage was a broken headlight cover. This time? Nothing! A couple of hanks of deer fur, but that's it. The deer was pretty impressive. I figure he must have had prior practice on the move he put on the car once he/she got whacked. All I know is that the sucker's back legs were pointed skyward and he/she was attempting a forward flip with a half twist over the car. Stunned, it wound up in a heap in the grass along the side of the road. I thought of reporting it to the local police, but figured they wouldn't be that interested in arresting a deer for hit and run. Now there's two deer, one on either side of Connecticut, telling his/her buddies "you see this bruise on my hip? Yea, right there where the bald spot is...". For the rest of the ride to the hotel Doris preferred a speed that could best be described as a walk.

millions of water drops

Today I went to Niagara Falls, but on the American side. I don't want to sound biased, but the Canadian side is much better, there is just so much more to do and see. Although I enjoyed getting closer to the falls on the American side, it's just dull, while the Canadian side has casino's, restaurants, museums, rides, shops, just a lot more things. Anyways, it was fun nonetheless.

dress, Guess. sweater, Marciano. jewelry, custom made.

I mentioned the project the other day, so this is it:

Here are the details of the Pay It Forward Project:
I am entering into the following contract with the first 5 people who comment on this post saying that they would like to participate and then commit to do the same on their blog. Just read below and if you feel up to the task copy the following into your blog and leave me a comment. I would prefer to not ship out of the USA or Canada, but I might reconsider depending on where you are located, so just let me know where you are.

1. I make no guarantees that you will like what I make. Whatcha get is whatcha get.
2. What I create will be just for you, with love.
3. It’ll be done this year (2009).
4. I will not give you any clue what it’s going to be. It will be something made in the real world and not something cyber. It may be weird or beautiful. Or it may be monstrous and annoying. (unlikely!) Who knows? Not you, that’s for sure!
5. I reserve the right to do something strange.
6. In return, all you need to do is post this text on your blog and make 5 things for the first 5 to respond to your blog post.
7. Send your mailing address - after I contact you.

Welcome to everyone. I will however, make an effort to do something that you like based on what I see on your blog.

Come on, don't be shy. Even if you don't think you're the creative type, you might end up surprising yourself - and making 5 other people very happy too!

Anyway, feel free to comment on this post even if you don't want to participate. However, if you do want to participate, indicate that in your comment and if you are among the first five to do so, I will contact you for your mailing address. Know that it might take me a long while to figure out what to send you, so be patient. Also, remember that this is a binding contract, so if you agree to take part, you have to do your part.

Rules as found on the Ambiguous Alliterative Abomination blog.

Anyways, hope you're all having a lovely weekend.

i like the way you move

This weekend is going to be very busy for me since I'm going to a lot of fun places, so expect pictures everyone.

I was tagged by Frock around the Clock. :)

1. My biggest goal in life at the moment is to get into a very good law school. Of course I dream of Harvard and Yale, but those at the moment are still dreams, but maybe in four years they will be reality.

2. My grandmother gave me a viking boat pendant a year ago and I've worn it practically every single day for a year. The necklace was meant to help me "sail through life safely and with lots of good luck". I like to think that it's working.

3. Books are amazing. I especially love old used books because I think they give character to the book. It's fun to imagine what the previous owners thought of the book and so on. Sometimes old books have notes from previous readers, it makes the whole reading process so much more wonderful.

4. I hate knowing I'm right and having to convince someone that I am in fact right. Yet instead of leaving it alone, I will make sure I let people know that I'm right. Although it's definitely not the best attitude to have, it's one of "those" things that we each have about ourselves.

5. I hate it when people are disorganized. It freaks me out and makes me really nervous. When I was younger and I used to go shopping with my parents, I'd walk away from them and they'd end up finding me organizing the items in whatever store we were. (Clothing store - I'd be folding the clothes and picking them up from the floor, Book Store - I'd be making sure all the books were in order and neatly stacked). This is a reason I find it hard to be friends with people who are messy. I hate going to someones house and having to go to their room where everything is thrown about on the floor, it gives me a huge urge to just clean.

6. I always pick up pennies, but if they are tails up, I flip them over so that someone else will have good luck. I'll literally stop in the middle of the street to flip a penny around.

7. I like to talk about the same thing obsessively, and I never get bored about talking about it. I'll talk to anyone who will listen. Usually it's me just complaining about things. I love to complain.

8. When I was 4 I saw "The Amazing Panda Adventure" and it immediately became my favourite movie. At the same time I fell in love with pandas. Later that same week my dad bought me a stuffed panda and we became inseparable. I still sleep with it every night and whenever I travel I take Panda with me.

9. My closet is colour coded.

10. I recently sliced my fingernail right down the middle because it got caught in a ladder. I cannot type with my index finger on my left hand now. :(

That's me. I'm strange, I know. Lol. Anyways, I'm supposed to tag 10 people I think.

Ambiguous Alliterative Abomination

2 Percent

Sequin Magazine

Chic Heroin

dapper kid

Fashlynable

Louie in Wonderland

Nice and Shiny

The Drifter and the Gypsy

The Encyclolydia

Ps. I might be participating in this really interesting project soon which will mean some of your involvement. I'll let you all know about it asap.

Sometimes You Want to Concentrate the Viewer's Eye

I've written before about making the person looking at an image follow where you want them to go within the image. Here's a rather extreme example of the use of light and dark to guide the eye. A couple of techniques are in use here. Some of the color has been drawn out of the image, a severe vignette has been used to keep the viewer from exiting the shot on any corner or side and the areas of prime interest have been brightened. All of this is an attempt to match the concentration shown in the subject's action. The vignette isn't complete. You can see the shelves of pottery behind the potter. You get the idea that this is a vocation and, possibly, a calling. Someone showing that much intensity over producing a small, utilitarian piece has to have the power of the image match his work. The two key areas are his face and his hands. Everything else is darker and receding from those two points. To read more about the thinking behind this image, hit the "read more".

The origin of the shot was much fuller and more colorful. The brightness of the shop made colors that popped and didn't lend the tone of hard, concentrated work that the image needed. Decisions need to be made about each image produced and this is certainly a departure from the vibrant, richly colored prints I normally make. I wouldn't call this subtle, but it is subdued. There's a place for the loud, bright images I typically do and there is, most assuredly, a place for a restrained piece. Some of the best images I can remember have soft color shifts. One of the places I look to find outstanding landscapes is a site called "Landscapes 2.0" (link) . The images found there are typically, very soft, very luxurious, lush, opulent, and about any other descriptive word you can think of. The use of soft light, slow shutter speeds and (I'm fairly sure) the use of Neutral Density and colored filters is done with a deft hand by each of the photographers.
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Okay, does the potter match up with the images found on Landscapes? No, of course not. They're two different sectors of what may be called subtle colors. I haven't departed too far from my typical "in your face" style. Certainly not to the point of the images found on Landscapes. Before the summer is over I'll make a attempt at producing a Landscapes worth image. It's not like I haven't "reverse engineered" the "how" of the shots and I do have the ND and colored filters sitting in my lighting bag. So, all I have to do is tap into my sensitive side and show a modicum of restraint.
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I might have my chance this weekend. We'll be shooting along the shore in Rhode Island trying to get some sunset and night shots of the lighthouses. We'll see if I can keep my "normal" style in check and come back with quite a bit softer than my usual "stuff"

"Scared Potter?" "You wish!"

shirt, dad's old Ralph Lauren. skirt, Head. shoes, Aldo.

On Sunday I finally saw the sixth Harry Potter. It was really good, although I was sort of disappointed that they missed the huge battle at end. Nonetheless I loved it overall.

I'm updating my links list so if you want to exchange links, let me know. If you asked to exchange links before, check to see if I added you. If I forgot please remind me and you will be added :)

In the Still of the Night

I was playing out on the deck the other night at about 9:45 and came up with this image. Naturally the camera was on a tripod, but there is no unusual filtering. We'll be heading out to do some night photography in the next couple of weeks and I wanted to work out any kinks in the methodology well before leaving. I will admit to color correcting the image, but it was exactly the same workflow I use on daylight shots. What I see is three different light sources, with two color temperatures. The lights on the posts are solar powered LED lights. At best they give a soft glow when viewed in real time. Here they appear to be high illumination, powered lights. The next light source is a street light about 150' away. A tree stands between street lamp and the wall of the house, casting the mottled shadows on the wall. It shows the relationship of light temperatures between the white of the LEDs and the warm, reddish color of the incandescent street light. The third source lights the sky. It's light pollution from the center of town about a mile away. The reason for the red glow is the same as for the mottled light of the rear wall. The street lights and, probably, the lights in most of the buildings are the same incandescent type found right outside along our street. I may have to do something about showing this image to the town fathers and asking them to reduce the town's electrical bill by going to more energy efficient bulbs. Well, that explains the experiment. If you'd like to know more about the night photography project, hit the "read more".

Before getting to the project I'll have to explain a little about night photography. It is a little bit of "by guess and by golly" photography. There are a couple of traps to watch for and things to remember. First would be that it ain't like daylight photography. There's no grab shots in night shooting. You have to do some preplanning and you might want to bring a tripod, some sort of remote release, a flashlight, a chair and an adult beverage. You're going to be awhile. It doesn't hurt to be able to visualize what the camera to doing without needing to put your eye to the viewfinder. Trying to look through probably isn't going to help a lot anyway. It's also helpful to understand hyperfocal focusing. That's where the flashlight comes in. You may want to put a red filter over the business end of the flashlight so you don't wreck your ability to "see" in the dark. The red filter won't effect your "visual purple". http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rhodopsin Chances are you don't want to wait a half hour after each time you light the flashlight to be able to find your camera. Sort of counterproductive.
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Back to the original intent of this post. If you understand where the "in focus" range for a given focal length falls you'll be able use the flashlight to help set the focus using the focus ring on your lens. (Make sure you have the lens on manual focus, any vibration reduction off.) "Most" night photography falls into the wide angle category. If you're looking for star trails or a big ol' moon you'll get into longer focal lengths, but "most" will be wide. So, we're at a small focal length. Something like 18 or 24mm. If the camera is on a tripod, set to a "normal" height and you use a small F-stop (F11, F16, F22) your shortest focus distance would be about 6' or 8' in front of you. You "should" have everything in pretty sharp focus. If you're down low to get the rocks at the edge of the water you have an different set of focusing problems to deal with.
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Now, sit back, get comfy and have that adult beverage. You're on the bulb setting for your shutter speed. Make sure whatever way you have your shutter release set up you follow that routine. If you can click to start the exposure and click again to end the exposure, great. If you have to hold the release to keep the shutter open, make sure you use your non adult beverage holding hand. You can start making your exposures. With the lens stopped down you're going to be a while. One thing to keep in mind is that the write time to get the image onto your memory card is going to be just about the same as your exposure time. If your exposure is one minute, as in today's image, your write time will be about one minute. A five minute exposure would have about a five minute write time. Ten minutes = ten minutes. One hour = one hour. You can see that you won't be getting a lot of shots. You might as well take the camera off that high speed shutter, it ain't gonna help. There's other things to think of, but this is starting to get to be a ramble.
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The project is to get some decent, salable shots. Simple as that. I'm thinking no one will be paying for a print of today's image, unless your my wife (wait a minute, she won't pay me either. rats!) The immediate purpose is education. I'll figure out how to sell something later.

Believing the Lies

There are stories about doctored photos that go back to when photography first started. During the Cold War the USSR was famous for rewriting history to suit a political need. One of the more famous shots from the USSR was of a group of astronauts. There are two versions of the same shot. The story goes that one of the astronauts died in an accident. I'm a little hazy on if he met his end in space or in a launch pad accident, but in version two of exactly the same shot he was gone. Playing with the content of an image has been the subject of great debates. Over the weekend I was teaching a group some Photoshop tricks. I showed how the colors in an image (similar, but not the same as today's images) can be manipulated to convey a different version of "reality". One of the attendees called out that the simple change of color was "cheating". The "original", in today's case, is the smaller image. To get my thoughts on "cheating, hit the "read more".

The key to if it was "cheating" is intent. Not the moral conundrum of making any change being "cheating". The intent we have here is what is the image's function. If the shot were to be used for a story about "why there isn't any variety in kayak colors", obviously this type of manipulation would carry some serious weight. Photojournalist's have been fired over things like that. Rightly so. If a photo is trying to tell a "true" story, you'd better have a "truthful" representation of what went on. In the case of the USSR photo of the astronauts it was obvious that the "intent" of the second (doctored) photo was to mislead. There is a "code of conduct" for folks trying to make their living informing the public through photography.
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Another area would be pure nature photography. If a photographer got to the "dry darkroom" of the computer, only to find he/she had two "almost" good shots it could present an issue. One shot where the body of a bird looked great and the head was turned in an awkward position and another shot with the body looking clumsy, but the head looking great. It would be just as improper to switch heads as it would be to put a pigeon's head on a robin's body. Nature photography relies on accuracy, not believability. A photographer approached me at a competitive event a while back and informed me, in no uncertain terms, that my image was unsuitable to be in that competition. I asked him to explain his thinking. His claim was that, since there was no "hand of man", the image was a nature image and the colors in the image didn't exist in nature. Therefore, it was not a true representation of the natural world and shouldn't be used to give the impression someone could go to the place the shot was taken and see the same colors. He came so close. The one thing he missed was intent. It wasn't entered as a nature image. It was entered as a artistic, pictorial image. The intent was to have the viewer get a "feeling" of the place, not to believe such a place existed. One of last week's images was a garish image of the same stream. (I go back there semi often.) I don't think anyone would mistake it for a nature shot. Intent is what separates the use of a print or technique, not other people's interpretation of what your meaning is.
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That brings us to today's images and the person who thought I had "cheated" by changing the color of an object in an image. As long as the "intent" is "art" and not a realistic recording of an event or scene, manipulation of colors or objects or other changes to the original capture is not a problem. Hell, look in any magazine. The images of the models (female or male) in the ads aren't there as photojournalism, they're there for advertisement. It's trying to sell something. There is a trend that's gaining a little steam among some public figures that they be shown "warts and all". Sure, before going in front of the camera the makeup is flawless, but if there's a small "love handle" at the waist they want it to be shown "as is".
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There's a difference between the recording of an event or scene and the "art" of photography. Sometimes you get both. Check out my friend Kathy's blog (link) about the ballet event she just shot. You'll see a great union of recording a scene and art. The two (art and reality) don't have to be mutually exclusive. Intent is the key.

when the world seems to shine like you had too much wine, that's amore

I had a fantastically amazing day today. After doing some shopping in Buffalo, we came back to Canada and we went to Niagara Falls where we walked around beautiful gardens and near the falls, taking hundreds of pictures along the way. Next we headed down to a winery for some wine tasting, at which point we bought tons of wine. After that we went down to the little town called Niagara on the Lake, where we strolled along the street and took many pictures near magnificent flower beds. We sampled lots of delicacies in one little shop, and on the way home we stopped to buy some delicious looking cherries. Overall, it was a beautiful day, and it was made even better, while on the drive home I listened to Italian music with the sunlight pouring in through the windows.

dress, vintage. shoes, Steve Madden. bracelet, Honey. other jewelry, gifts.