Your Mission...

[highlandscenics]

Originally Posted by jinky

I agree with RedRovers' post...the true meaning of photography has been lost. Photography translates as "to draw with light"...not to manipulate, change and distort with Photoshop and Elements. Highland scenics
It`s an old debate that splits the readership biut in the days before photoshop and the rest dodging and burning and a whole range of darkroom tricks were done by the main photographers praised for catching the light. Were they cheating too? As for software a number of people put up images on here / elsewhere using GIMP and other such free software, download trials and elemts which is cheaper and odes much of what photoshop does. At the end of the day it`s how people want their images to look and what they want to do to get there. I vary from straightout of the camera to simple tweaks to "messing around in software" to the level can do somethign - which is low in my case but am in awe of those that master it and produce a masterpiece through whatever means.

Dont get me wrong I dont think those who use software to tweak images is cheating...like I said I do it myself if I think colours could be more vivid or an exposure is slightly under or if I want a mono image with more impact....I just think there is a line and some people cross it to strive for perfection...which there is no such thing...except for fake.
I was having a dig at Photoshop/Digital Camera magazine because it seems the only people who get a mention in the mag or have a showcase of thier work are those who use it....if you can refer me to an issue where a photographer who uses a bridge camera or a D-SLR TYPE model and no Photoshop work has had their best work showcased then I'll eat my camera bag....I dont want to rock the boat we are all drawn by the same passion..which is why we all have strong opinions and I respect yours 100%

[highlandscenics]

Having said all that...just took a look at your portfolio....very impressive...very impressive indeed...I'm jealous! I am very passionate about photography so some of what I say can be mis-read....a lot of what I say is through frustration...I have been doing photography for only 3 years..I'm not in it for the glory or the money....but I just would like to see us little guys and gals who only have the entry level gear, but still capture stunning shots get a mention for a change.

[jinky]

Thanks for your comments highlandscenic. Don`t get me wrong either - no offence intended / taken and it is a standing debate re: processing / software. When started back proper with digital SLR photography a couple of years ago I was like you - in awe of the magazine images and others wizardry. I was doing stuff straight from the camera and disappointed with mine in comparison. It took me a while to realise that images were different to my old film camera days because digital cameras just lack the dynamic range to get what you see at times. I have loads to learn and now have different bits of software - some bought , some free that have really enlivened my love of photography and set me even greater learning curves.
I`ll not go on about it more but really miss the ready access to other`s galeries which was so easy on the old DC Mag site and is more of a job on here. I am only just building a gallery on here which will largely be weekend comp entries I am afraid as I have got so used to usng flickr now for comment and am part of a great flickr Leeds active group.

PS Just paid a reciprocal visit to your gallery and left some commenst.Some nice work.

[pavman]

Originally Posted by highlandscenics

I agree with RedRovers' post...the true meaning of photography has been lost. Photography translates as "to draw with light"...not to manipulate, change and distort with Photoshop and Elements. Which brings me to my next point..every month we get a free disc with photo workshops...fine if you have Photoshop...what about the rest of us who only use the basic stuff to fine tune our images?.

Film processing is done in a dark room and a number of techniques replicated today in the "digital darkroom" (photoshop etc.) are based on the darkroom technique like dodging and burning for example
I personally do not manipulate images (cut out backgrounds from one images and paste into another image etc) but do use all the modern digital techniques available to me (I use Photoshop CS and Lightroom 1.4) and shoot mainly in RAW which does require some form of post processing and I do add a bit of sharpening, levels, contrast and saturation to most of my images.
Photography is an art form, there are very creative and clever people out there that create wonderful images, some I love and others not depending on my own tastes. Digital cameras and digital software has opened up the photographic world to many different styles/genre and photographers/artist should be applauded for creative skills and presentation.

Just take the WWW, you can take a photograph and within minutes of hitting the shutter you can download and send it around the world to friends/family, post it on a site like this and share with like minded people, one could not do that with film.
The modern form of photography/images making has room for all types of people.

[Rrob72]

the direction to enter the dc competition are full of ****!...whats going on? anybody ever heard of making things easy....just a suggestion

[Amy Davies]

Hello Rrob72

Can you explain more lucidly what the problem appears to be?

The full details of how to enter the competition are in the same section of the forum that you are posting to, clearly labelled under "Your Mission: Still Life" which is this month's theme.

Here's a direct link: http://www.photoradar.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1094

If you could read that and let us know if you are still unclear as to the entrance details, please do let us know and we'll be able to elaborate.

Thanks,

Amy