|
"In my humble opinion it really depends on whether you consider yourself to be making "photographs" or producing "art". "
Or photographic art of course. Obviously documentary photography has to replicate what is there, and you would not expect the photographer to be overly artistic. However, " Photographic art" is a completely different ball game. A photographer will construct their own sets in some cases, create their own props and yes, they will use photoshop and other editing tools. The camera at the end of the day is a tool and how you use it depends on the kind of vision you want others to see.
" it is improbable that the majority of darkroom workers ever attempted such manipulation. Likewise, it is improbable that many digital photographers (as opposed to graphic artists) would attempt heavy manipulation either."
When I first learned darkroom in college we were encouraged to dabble in manipulation by using the same techniques that Jerry Uelsmann perfected. I think you will find a lot more people do employ manipulation techniques in the darkroom than you would imagine. Be it bleach bypass, negative merging or masking etc..
Not being funny but I always feel the biggest critics of Photoshop are those that have never took the time to learn it or simply cannot get their head around it. They despise it because they cannot utilise it themselves.
Karen
|