Black & White
I always take pictures originally in color, but if the image calls for it I convert it into black & white, usually with the brightness and contrast tweaked to optimize the visual experience. This is the power of digital photography. One can also do sepia tones to make an image look old.
In the image of the bison below, there was originally a third bison to the left, which I removed in Photoshop® because it detracted from the composition. I love how the bison and the cedar bushes relate to each other in this image.
Every artist has an ethic, whether s/he realizes it or not. My ethic is this: it's OK to remove visual elements that don't belong, but it's not OK to insert elements that were not there in the first place. In other words, everything in an image should be necessary for the meaning of the image, and nothing that is not necessary should be there.
Ansel Adams was one of the greatest photographers who ever lived. Many people think his images were just as the camera recorded them. Not so! He used every trick in the book to bring out the "truth" of an image. Ansel said, "Dodging and burning are steps to take care of mistakes God made in establishing tonal relationships." (Dodging and burning are darkroom methods for over- and under-exposing specific areas while exposing prints from negatives.) I like to say that I never do anything with digital photography that Ansel Adams wouldn't have done in the darkroom!
If you think about it, these statements lead to an interesting conclusion. If you had been standing right next to Ansel Adams, taking your own pictures when he recorded "Moonrise, Hernandez NM, 1941" or "Moon and Half Dome, Yosemite National Park, California, 1960", your image would not have looked just like his. It would have reflected your own artistic vision.
Fine art photographers I've interviewed say, "If it's 'art', anything goes!"
According to Tito Herrera, the most successful photographer in Panamá, photojournalism demands another ethic. It should convey what actually happened. In other words, it should not mis-represent reality. (Think of those old National Inquirer front pages showing space aliens abducting the President of the U.S. next to the grocery story check-out counters.)
Bottom line: it's up to each of us to decide if our photography is "art" or "journalism", and to be true to the ethic that each demands.
Click on each image to see a larger version.
In the image of the bison below, there was originally a third bison to the left, which I removed in Photoshop® because it detracted from the composition. I love how the bison and the cedar bushes relate to each other in this image.
Every artist has an ethic, whether s/he realizes it or not. My ethic is this: it's OK to remove visual elements that don't belong, but it's not OK to insert elements that were not there in the first place. In other words, everything in an image should be necessary for the meaning of the image, and nothing that is not necessary should be there.
Ansel Adams was one of the greatest photographers who ever lived. Many people think his images were just as the camera recorded them. Not so! He used every trick in the book to bring out the "truth" of an image. Ansel said, "Dodging and burning are steps to take care of mistakes God made in establishing tonal relationships." (Dodging and burning are darkroom methods for over- and under-exposing specific areas while exposing prints from negatives.) I like to say that I never do anything with digital photography that Ansel Adams wouldn't have done in the darkroom!
If you think about it, these statements lead to an interesting conclusion. If you had been standing right next to Ansel Adams, taking your own pictures when he recorded "Moonrise, Hernandez NM, 1941" or "Moon and Half Dome, Yosemite National Park, California, 1960", your image would not have looked just like his. It would have reflected your own artistic vision.
Fine art photographers I've interviewed say, "If it's 'art', anything goes!"
According to Tito Herrera, the most successful photographer in Panamá, photojournalism demands another ethic. It should convey what actually happened. In other words, it should not mis-represent reality. (Think of those old National Inquirer front pages showing space aliens abducting the President of the U.S. next to the grocery story check-out counters.)
Bottom line: it's up to each of us to decide if our photography is "art" or "journalism", and to be true to the ethic that each demands.
Click on each image to see a larger version.
