Tag: Photoshop

This is one of those age-old questions. Is it more about technique or artistic style? I’m not talking about documentary photography but rather a photograph as an art form. At this point, it would seem rather obvious, a photograph as an art form is about artistic style and expression, but is it?

Certainly, the technique is important as well as artistic style and expression. Without technique can we really pull off our artistic style and expression? It is sort of a quandary, at least for me. What if I totally screw up the technique but I employ artistic style and expression? It can still work. What if I nail the technique but screw up the artistic style and expression, the result most likely won’t work or at least I have discovered in my experience.

My thoughts? Artistic style and expression are more important in creating a photographic work of art with a lesser amount of technique, but the technique is still important.

Sometimes I have to remind myself that photography should be a way to alleviate stress, not to create stress. I say this because every couple of years, so it appears, I get involved in some sort of group that creates a tremendous amount of stress. I just recently left such a group. The vast majority of people were fantastic. I met some new people, both photographers, and models. Made many new connections but the overall experience was often overwhelming. Lots of people in a crowded environment and the behind-the-scenes stuff was drama after drama after drama. It shouldn’t be that way but in the three times I got involved in large group settings it has turned out that way. Once I moved away from the stress of the large group, I was able to achieve some of the photographs I had envisioned during my participation, which made the experience worthwhile.

It’s always fun to spend time with other creatives but many times you can get too many people and lose your creative focus. Maybe a short stint now and again to expose me to a variety of concepts and ideas and then move on to achieve my goals and complete them and photographic projects. I don’t want to become a one-man island but I don’t want to be just another small face in the hoards.

I hate to admit it but I do believe that is true. I used to be a gear snob, despite my writings and words that may have indicated otherwise. Why do I say this? I say this because I just bought a lens that is, at least, 23 years old AND spent only $140 on it. I bought the lens to use in place of my expensive 70-200 f/2.8 lens. The lens I bought is a Nikon 70-210 f/4-5.6 lens. This may not mean much to you all but suffice it to say the lens was manufactured somewhere between 1993 and 2000. It isn’t as fast as current “pro” lenses nor does it have all the fancy lens coatings all the things I used to think were necessary despite what I would often say.

I don’t mean this post to be a review of gear but rather that it isn’t always about how much something costs or how new it is. Photography is about photographs, not gear. Quality can be achieved through many different options. It is about using the tools you have to achieve. Don’t be a gear snob, be a quality photography snob. You don’t even have to impress anyone other than yourself.

I went for a short outing yesterday to try and get some photographs. It was reasonably nice weather, not too cool and it finally wasn’t raining and muddy. I went to a nearby lake. This lake I haven’t been to in years. During the outing, I only took 19 photographs. There isn’t really anything wrong with the 19 pictures except they just don’t seem very interesting, at least to me. The plus side is that I did get out and get some practice. I even used a circular polarizing filter that I had not used in a couple of years.

As far as the photographs it didn’t work out but as far as the outing and the practice it was fine.

A few years ago, I had a photographer say to me that anyone can take a good photograph of a flower. His thought was that a flower, in and of itself, was beautiful and therefore, it was impossible to take a bad photograph of a beautiful subject. At the time, I really didn’t believe this but I didn’t debate him about the topic. Over the years, I have seen terrible photographs of flowers. I’ve seen horrible photographs of beautiful or handsome people. I have seen fantastic photographs of subjects that were less than beautiful or handsome. On top of that, modern equipment and software, especially with “built-in” filters and presets, it is easier to create “artistic” styles, but does that mean the result is beautiful?

I love modern gear. I love modern software and filters, presets, and such. I have nothing against altering reality. I have nothing against attempting to copy reality, although that is often not my style. Those things don’t pose a challenge to me.

My greatest photographic challenge is not a genre. It is not a location or session. My greatest photographic challenge is not software or editing. My greatest photographic challenge is not a time of day, weather, or season of the year. My greatest photographic challenge is me. I pose the greatest photographic challenge to myself. How? I pose the greatest photographic challenge by my not clearing my mind of preconceived notions and ideas. Often I find I have already decided in my mind what I want to do at a session before I even arrive at the location. I don’t think it is bad to have concepts in mind but do not open your mind to what is possible once you arrive at the location is a horrible mistake. Even if I have been to a location hundreds of times, I haven’t been there today. The weather may be different, the sky may be different, and I may be different. Over the next steps of my photographic journey, one of my goals is to open my mind and eyes to what is possible and work to not miss an opportunity that may never present itself again. Likewise, I challenge you all, don’t get locked into a style, genre, or preconceptions of what you want to photograph and how. Open your mind to the possibility of something you didn’t think about. Look at subjects and the environment in ways you haven’t thought about before.

Yesterday I participated in a photo session dedicated to dealing with grief and while I took a lot of equipment I foolishly didn’t use what I should have to ensure quality photographs. I had intended to do some double exposures and multiple exposures to combine in Photoshop to resemble ghostly apparitions so I brought a tripod. What I forgot, was the tripod collar for my heavy 70-200 f/2.8 lens, so mounting the camera with that lens to the tripod was out of the question. Even at that, I didn’t mount the camera to the tripod even when I used another lens. Needless to say, this rendered most of those images unusable. The couple I was able to save required a significant amount of post-processing work.

Lessons learned:

1. Slow down. I’ve talked about this concept in the past but I still fail to do this frequently. Why? I haven’t a clue. I get distracted and start to hurry along even when there isn’t a need. Often it may be that I feel like I’m in competition with others at the photo session (there were three of us as photographers with one model).
2. Use your gear. I have a decent amount of equipment. Things like neutral density filters, tripods, light meters, gray cards, remote triggers, speedlights, etc. I bring these things but rarely use them in recent times.
3. Think! Along with all the equipment I have I’ve been trained through an actual school in addition to the school of “hard knocks” and yet I still make mistakes.

All that being said, the outing wasn’t a failure. I was able to get multiple photographs that were quite usable. The outing also served as an important reminder to use my knowledge and gear more effectively. I reminded myself to slow down and plan the shots. Sometimes we have to re-learn the basics. Yesterday was a day to remind me of the basics.

Normally, I write my blog entry first thing in the morning. Today, I had a photo session that was set up for a couple of weeks. A photographer friend recently lost a dear friend and wanted a way to deal with the loss. We all discussed a “grief” photo session. We met at a cemetery that has some very old graves and some elaborate mausoleums and crypts. The weather even somewhat cooperated. It was overcast and a bit cool but it provided good soft light.

As you may have learned if you’ve followed my blog for a while, I’m not typically one that renders photographs to reality and will expose and process my images to fit a particular mood or concept.

While many may find the style I chose to be dark and depressing I believe they are more than that. While they are dark they express the sense of loss most of us feel at the death of a friend, family member, or loved one. This is something I intend to make a longer-term project. It’s always better late than never.

I’ve written about this before, but I believe it bears repeating. My goal is to create art not a carbon copy of my subject.

After listening to a podcast, I started to think about this topic again today. The podcaster talked about William Mortenson and the “war waged against him” by members of Group f/64. If you’re not familiar with Group f/64 click here. The exciting thing is that even the “straight photography” of the members of Group f/64 were not true depictions of their subjects.

Let’s face it, as photographers we alter reality through the equipment we choose. We alter reality through the aperture we choose, through the lens, and through the media we choose.

For me, the greater challenge is to create art, not a carbon copy. I can create a carbon copy by using my cell phone. The art I create can even change from day to day, maybe even in a matter of hours, and is influenced by my mindset. For me, creating art is giving others a view into my soul and thoughts. I believe once you set yourself free to create art rather than a carbon copy you may never go back. Give it a try, experiment, play, test, and try new things. Creating art, for me, is much more rewarding.