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Teresa wrote:Chad, if you're interested, and not familiar, I'd suggest you look up the history of photography. With the possible exception of some news photography, where a person really was in the right place at the right time with a Polaroid camera, (or possibly the Zapruder film of the Kennedy assasssination, and some don't believe that) it's all doctored images.
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Photoshop just made the process easier and less messy. All pictures are in the mind's eye. It's just a matter if people can get them on paper, or not.
wyandottecaver wrote:But the question is where is the line? One photo I remember from the Salon in 2007 had a cave entrance looking out on a nice blue sky with white clouds....Then you noticed the small white ring between the sky and cave entrance edges.... Some enhanced images make their enhancements obvious, but most (mine included) are designed to make the picture "better" without obviously showing it has been enhanced. Yes, darkroom techniques did much the same in many cases.
Some of the better cave photographers I know intentionally shoot in RAW format so they can more easily and extensively manipulate the images. I suspect many photos we now see in the salons are enhanced in some significant way...so are they really photos or art? I wish we had a "classic" category where only very basic adjustments like ISO, White Balance, Ect. were allowed to be manipulated. The truth is, many people who have never been in a cave could create virtually any cave scene they wanted and doctor it so that it looked like a normal photo and submit it. Would their award (if they got one) be for technical knowledge of software or for having the artistic inspiration to create a cool image? It certainly wouldn't be skill or eye as a photographer.
Teresa wrote:It takes a pretty sophisticated photographer (and camera) to dink with white balance, for example.
wyandottecaver wrote:Compare between mostly unenhanced work and pictures that have had a lot of help.
Ralph E. Powers wrote:But take a gander at this photo... undoctored... I don't have all the specs but know that it was taken with a Canon DSLR (I forget the model) and one of those big Vivatar flashes
xcathodex wrote:I agree; HDR or otherwise digitally composited (or just plain faked) images need a separate category.
xcathodex wrote:Teresa wrote:It takes a pretty sophisticated photographer (and camera) to dink with white balance, for example.
Maybe off-topic, but I strongly disagree with this statement. Nearly every recent (last 3-4 years) point-and-shoot camera has white balance options directly on-camera, even the POS Kodak my wife bought a few years back. I don't think scrolling through these settings (or simply selecting one instead of using the "automatic" setting) qualifies one as anything more than "curious," or maybe "vaguely cognizant" of the white-balance concept.
In fact I do agree with your principal argument, but inserting wild claims like this into your case only serves to weaken it.
Teresa wrote:My point here was and is this: "white balance" is nowhere near as simplistic as just turning a dial to select a virtual filter on a camera.
...long, ridiculous response snipped...
Teresa wrote:My point here was and is this: "white balance" is nowhere near as simplistic as just turning a dial to select a virtual filter on a camera.
NZcaver wrote:Teresa wrote:My point here was and is this: "white balance" is nowhere near as simplistic as just turning a dial to select a virtual filter on a camera.
Teresa - I agree the theory behind this may be anything but simple, but the action of changing the white balance on modern digital cameras really is as simplistic is selecting the correct setting. I think that's what Jeff was meaning.
I guess we're drifting off-topic.
wyandottecaver wrote:also ... I would lean towards a more strict definition for enhancement. although adjusting brightness, contrast, and other underlying features may well be allowable. Painting in your fake sky though....... Essentially where is the line between an enhanced picture and an enhanced painting?
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