Tag: Photoshop

Can a portrait of a person be considered fine art?

As many of you have learned over the course of following my blog, I look at a lot of photographs and follow several social media photography forums. I often see things billed as fine art photographs that I would not consider to be fine art. What I consider fine art is the producer is conveying what they feel about a subject or scene. It’s a photograph about something, rather than a photograph of something. Fine art photography, like any other piece of fine art, is about emotion and about the subject.

Can a portrait of a person be fine art?

Absolutely, a portrait can be fine art. It is capturing the soul of the subject. I’ve photographed Ariana on several occasions. She is very thoughtful and has dreams, which she is fulfilling. I feel this portrait of her is very telling of her. She is confident and looking off to the future.

Any subject can be fine art.

It’s all about how the artist feels about a subject or scene. The original scene of “The Stairway” looked like the photograph below.

It’s about the subject and how the artist feels about it. Fine art is about evoking an emotion about a subject to your audience. The audience may not all get the same emotion but it is about how they feel about the subject or scene.

Becoming a fine artist

If you want to become a fine art photographer, I believe you must learn how to take photographs about subjects. How do you feel about it. What message do you want to convey even if that message is personal to you. It isn’t difficult to show how you feel about a subject if you are just honest with yourself. Get to know the subject, even if it is for a brief moment. Let’s create art.

I read a lot of posts in photography forums. Yesterday, I read a post where a photographer was showing off all his high-end photography gear. I’m curious now, what do his photographs look like? I can’t help but look and see. I had an idea of what they probably looked like and I am unhappy to report I wasn’t wrong. To me, they were merely snapshots. They were what appeared to me to be the proverbial, “I see something, I point my camera, and snap, voila!”

Don’t get me wrong, I know we all have different styles of photography, but in reality, these photographs could have been taken with a cellphone, or entry-level gear. To me, it is sort of having a high-performance car and never driving over 25 mph. Maybe I’m a bit envious of someone who can indiscriminately spend thousands of dollars on top-of-the-line equipment.

In my way of thinking, if you’re that into photography, spend a bit less on equipment and spend some on photography training. I know, I’m really letting my jealousy shine, but I’m into results and to me, if you have top-of-the-line stuff, you should have top-of-the-line photographs.

My jealousy races on, but I guess I’ll just have to take my middle-of-the-line stuff and show what can be done with it to create art and top-of-the-line photographs. Now, I’m getting in gear and dusting off my abilities.

I will warn you ahead of time, I’m going to use some bad language in the post. If you don’t like cursing, stop reading now.

I know there may be people who wouldn’t call themselves artists because it may be considered improper in their culture, but if you create work you wish to be considered art and are not creating it your way, to match your vision, your imagination then it is all a bunch of bullshit.

I don’t think artists should always follow the current trends. So many photographers follow the current trend of what is popular. I remember the HDR phase, the Orton look phase, and the bokeh phase (which we are often still stuck). It’s bullshit. If you like a look, incorporate the style with your style, but don’t just follow the trend because everyone is doing it.

We all like to have our work accepted by others. No one likes to have their work talked poorly about in social forums. I have grown to believe this concept of being accepted has stifled our growth as an artist. We have become followers rather than innovators.

I’ve decided I’m going to follow my own path. I’m not sure what that is yet because I have, many times, stifled my growth by chasing the trends. It’s time to set myself free and create my work for myself. If others like it, fantastic. Join me, and create for yourself. Let’s see some fabulous original concepts.

I’m going to mention Ansel Adams again. Ansel Adams wrote a book series, “The Camera”, “The Negative”, and “The Print”. These books discuss Ansel’s process of making photographs. These are about film photography since they were first published in 1978. Something I want you to notice, two of the three books are about the process of making photographs after the click of the shutter. In other words, 2/3rds of Ansel Adams’s process was post-processing. Two-Thirds!

Last fall, A friend and I were on a photography weekend in the plains of Kansas. Coming back from doing some Milky Way photographs we stopped to photograph some night shots of the small town where we were staying. I thought a church was an excellent subject. I got my camera and tripod set up and took a couple of photographs, but a problem hindered showing the subject as I envisioned.

There was an ugly, no parking street sign, there were some weird reflections in the windows, and the street light towards the back of the church was a very different color temperature. Plus the top of the building was in the shadows due to the ambient lighting.

While it was possible back in the late 1970s to remove objects from prints I find it much easier to do today with Photoshop. I could also adjust the color temperature of the light, remove some of the weird reflections, and adjust the shadows and highlights (dodge and burn if you will).

The sign is gone, the weird reflections are gone, the color temperature of the light in the background is better, the shadows and highlights are adjusted, and a bit of street sweeping to clean up some debris in the street. This is how I envisioned representing this church.

Short of vandalizing the sign, I would not have been able to get this photograph without the power of post-processing and the use of Photoshop. I would not have been able to adjust the shadows and highlights or probably the color temperature of the light in the background.

Did I alter reality? I don’t think so because here is the funny thing. When I looked at this building and this scene with my eyes, I could easily look past those issues. My brain processed the scene as I wanted to envision it.

As you proceed on your photographic journey, remember the Ansel Adams books, “The Camera, The Negative, and The Print.” Much work is done through post-processing, not because you made a mistake but because of the limitations of our mechanical equipment to capture what our eyes and brain envision.

Today, I am going to borrow a quote from Ansel Adams, “You don’t take a photograph, you make it.” Far too often I forget this concept. I point my camera at something I want to photograph and click the button. Sometimes it works, other times it is mediocre at best. But, even the mediocre photographs I can work with and develop into something much better, at least to me and the story or concept I wished to convey.

Ansel Adams, was meticulous when he set up his camera to photograph something. He was even more meticulous when he began developing the image. I certainly don’t profess to be anywhere nearly as meticulous or good as Ansel Adams but I have often taken an image from mediocre to good or even very good with some digital darkroom work. I’ve taken some good images from good to an even higher level. This is why I always believe in post-processing. The process of making a photograph doesn’t stop after the shutter clicks. That is just the beginning.

Make your photographs, don’t just take them. Plan them, work them, massage them, and take your time. Just like a good meal, making photographs is planned. Use your vision both setting up to take images and then continue that vision with your darkroom work. Even re-visit some of those mediocre images and apply some post-processing. You make surprise yourself with some hidden gems.

After a getaway weekend, I am feeling revived. It had been a while since we were able to get away from home for some relaxation. I took camera equipment but decided I was going to use an older entry-level camera and lens as a personal challenge. I have yet to download the photographs I took but I feel like they are successful. Sometimes, those weekend getaways are what is needed to recharge.

Now that I’m recharged, it is time to rise and meet my photographic challenges. My photographic challenges are to take more photographs and hone my editing skills. They also include participating more in the group challenges that we run in a social media group I’m a part of.

Set challenges for yourself. By challenging yourself you grow as a photographer and artist. Don’t be discouraged even if you failed the challenge, in the beginning, keep working on it. As the old adage goes, Rome wasn’t built in a day.

Recently the topic of one-click filters came up. You know the presets or plugins for photo editing software, Instagram style. A podcaster I was listening to was of the opinion that he wasn’t sure about them and somewhat indicated he believed they are ruining photography. I’m not so sure.

The featured photograph of Dominique I shot recently. Dominique was one of my models for a day. The day we shot these photos was very unique in that it was super windy, the day started off with blue skies and big white puffy clouds but soon dark heavy storm clouds moved in. It was way too windy to set up a light and softbox I had brought unless I had an assistant, which I didn’t. In addition, my model had a dark complexion. Enter Lightroom.

One click on auto tone, and the photo was 90% complete. Lightroom adjusted white balance, exposure, highlights, shadows, white and black points, and saturation/vibrance. Now with the masking tools, a couple more clicks and some minor adjustments on specific areas are done. Two minutes. I will admit that despite all the lighting challenges I believed I encountered there wasn’t too much editing really needed.

I like using presets and these one-click filters even though I don’t use them as one-click and done. Maybe we think of these in the wrong way. One click to set the base and then you use the power of your tools to adjust it. The software and A.I. are getting very good. Why not learn to use them. It may get us away from the computer and out in the field more frequently.

We’ve all probably heard it at some point or another. Either you’ve been told this or heard it in talking about someone else. “You (They) really have the eye.” Often it is spoken about as if it isn’t something that you can learn but rather something you or someone else has been born with. It is often like others are talking about something that is a natural talent.

I’m not convinced there is such a thing as “natural talent”. I believe talent is something that is developed in us as we progress and are groomed. There are something things with our bodies that may do better with size. It would be difficult for a 4’6″ 90-pound person to become a defensive end in the National Football League, but let’s talk about being a photographer and artist.

I believe, given the desire to learn anyone can do this. I don’t mean to make the skill sound cheap or easy but rather the skills needed to become a good photographer and the ability to produce fantastic art can be taught and learned. It is all a matter of dedication, learning to see, and operating the equipment.

Like many of you, I have a daytime job. My 9-5 so to speak (although mine is more of a 6:30am-3pm gig). During my daytime job, I spend a lot of time around children. Children see almost every minor detail of things, or so it would appear. They will ask questions or point out details in the smallest of things. At the same time, I can miss a drink cup on a window ledge of what I think is going to be a wonderful nighttime photograph of a small train station (true story). Another thing I notice about children, especially younger children is their imagination and creativity. Virtually every one of us had those when we were young children. It’s just a matter of releasing that imagination and creativity again.

Open up your inner child to let your creativity and imagination flow again. It’s not as hard as we have made ourselves believe.

I follow a few of the current big names in photography on social media. Some are actually “friends” on a well-known social media platform. It’s interesting to see some of the things many of these people share on their personal social media accounts. Most, are just like us. They have concerns about things going on in the world, they share their photography journeys and trips. I’ve only found one, at least so far, that was an egotistical, condescending, and “I know better than everyone” type person (At least the way I interpreted their posts). I know we all have our days when we go out on a rant and need to vent. I’ve done it before and this post may be one of those in a sort of way. I had to stop following that person. They just were depressing and I was afraid they were going to eventually lead me down that dark path.

I know I’m not a big name in photography. I’m not sure I want to be one, but I try to leave us thinking about how we can make our photography better and how we can help others with their art. It’s about leading a positive lifestyle. We all have those days when the glass is half empty rather than half full. Most of us do our photography as a way to create art, relieve stress, get out, and express ourselves. One of my goals with this blog is to motivate and inspire others. As a result of that, I am motivated and inspired. Life is too short to live with a constant chip on our shoulders.

I am always on the lookout for people to follow on social media that are positive influences. We all know the world can be a tough and difficult place but we don’t need others to constantly drag us down that path. We need others to bring us to our happy place. To inspire us to create our art. With all that said, let’s motivate and inspire not only ourselves but the world around us.

Be the flower to brighten a day or even a moment in the lives of others and you’ll be surprised that by doing so your day or moment becomes better and we can show that by the art we create.

Do you give your artwork a title? I haven’t been but I believe I may have to start titling my work, and possibly a bit of a description/artist statement about the work or project.

I always thought it was interesting to go to an art museum and see a piece of artwork that was titled, “Untitled”. I never gave it much thought that I was doing the same exact thing. Not titling my work. Even when I would export an image from Photoshop or Lightroom the “title” (read file name) was often something like DSC_####. Every once in a while I would be creative and name a file something like “name of location # of #”.

Maybe everything doesn’t need a title, such as doing a portrait session or family photographs but shouldn’t we give them a bit of a description? I have found old slides and negatives I took years ago that vaguely remember taking but I have no idea of who some of the people in the photograph are. In fact, a couple of years ago I discovered I photographed a wedding back in the early 1980s for some friends, at the time. I vaguely remember the people but I cannot remember their names or the exact date and location where the photographs were taken. I’ve done the same thing with recent digital images. I’ve improved with giving keywords when importing into my Lightroom catalog. My filing system is still a work in progress.

One of the reasons I have thought about this topic is that I am working on setting up an online store to sell art prints. When placing images in the store, you must give the artwork a title and a description. Shouldn’t the same thing apply to our photographs even if they are set in our digital catalogs? It would make it easier to find assets for projects and refresh our memories when we review past work and help us gather ideas for future projects. Then, worst-case scenario, if something were to happen to us or others were to search our digital catalogs they would know something about the subject, location, why, and other particulars we thought were important enough for us to take a particular photograph.