Where is Photography going???

I'm one of the "younger" ones I guess . I find pleasure in both realistic (straight from camera) shots and shots that are tweaked.

When I do my shots I have an intention either to show it realistic - eg- my macro work as an example. Other shots - as my HDR's - are shot with this intention, with composition, light, an ev compensation in mind. I know what I want when I push the button.

The last part is what I find important. If you know what you want with the shot I don't mind the PP work afterwards.

I agree with Martin, that you need the right material for shots - you need to figure prior to a snap what you want. (still I love you shot for the competition - i love the soft glow )

I hope it makes sense - just wanted to share my view - as I fnd heavely manipulated images just as good and interesting as the complete opposite.

Just love the way everyone sees everything differently, one of the reasons I enjoy being here!

My take on it goes something along the lines of:-

'Need something Ugly for the Ugly comp! er...I know that bl***y building, can't be bothered to go out and shoot that. Ang on, I'm sure I took a shot of that when out testing my 43Ltd, found it, right, now lets make it really ugly!'

So, all the quotes could apply to it, and I could come out with some rubbish with the word 'juxtaposed' in it, and I can just picture some beardy types in berets discussing the merits of the message the artist is trying to get across. But the thing is I was just playing to see what I could do with what was essentially a shot taken to test a new lens against a bright sky!

So am I some kind of new age, post modernistic genius portraying a unique vision of the future in an apocolyptic, angular style, juxtaposing past architecture with modern communication mediums or....

Some bloke sat at home moving some sliders up and down on his new shiny computer using a test shot?

When does photography become art? I just dunno! Where is photography going? Anywhere you want it to I suppose!

PS. I'm chuffed to bits you all like it, cheers!

PPS. After all that, I still can't work out a lot of John Riley's shots either! Some are really, really good, others just make me go 'uh?'

Your vote doesn't count here.You are considered biased coming from Denmark.
Martin.

Thank you. I think.

I just content myself with being a Genius before my time...

What an interesting topic!

Can I add a newbies point of view?
I came to this with an un-founded belief that the photograph should be right in the viewfinder, as Henri Cartier-Bresson. ( Not that I can do it yet ).

Having said that, I was amazed by Lilly's manipulation of, ( I think) my first posting, to bring out the colours. I think things like colour picking are great and Lilly's mono pictures, well they just blew me away.

I've just read a book on photography, ( can't remember by whom ), and was shocked when he said he'd cropped the sky out of a picture and added another one which looked better. In my mind, that would be a step too far.

But I know, that no matter how much I can do with Paintshop, what I need to do is learn how to take a good photograph first. Without that, it may be art, but it won't be photography.
Which is why I'm now reading a book called "How to look at photographs". I figure if I know how to look AT a photo, I'll learn how to look FOR a photo.
( Well, that's my humble opinion)

Don't mention that to J.R.

With the exception of the "Public Transport" entry, you rarely know with John whether you are looking at one image or a collection of images cleverly stitched together

Ooops

Thanks Hyram
Just when I thought that evil ghost was back in the bottle, you unleash it , again!

Do you think he's wondering if he's ever going to live that down?

I think it's our civic duty, of course, to ensure that he doesn't...

Quite right too, don't let him get away with it!

Hehe - that's right but I thaught the softnes was something you added to the shot

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At the age of 13 I started using graphics software (namely Photoshop 7 and Maxon Cinema4D). By the age of 15 I had my first camera (K100D) and used photoshop all the time to edit my photos, and boy did I love HDR . Now, 16, K20D, I adust minorly the temp, exposure, contrast of a photo in CameraRAW.

Thing is, people going the other way, photography to graphics, tend to want to experiment for fun with heavy editing.

Are you trying to tell us you're getting old?

Seriously, you're right. After the initial euphoria of being able to do all sorts of things to images we settle down to something more rational.

Agree with this sentiment almost 110% I try and modify as least as possible after the fact. Usually I have to adjust the levels slightly on the highlight side and rarely on the shadow side and some cropping of course. I use manual metering mode 90% of the time with auto focus.