Save the Camera

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Got this off of hellfirediva's journal. I'm reposting this because I want more people to know of what makes a photographer. :nod:

SAVE THE CAMERA by Paul Burrows, Editor

This editorial was in CAMERA magazine Vol. 5 No. 3 May/June 2008 page 4. Camera is a bi-monthly photo magazine published in Australia.

GET IT RIGHT IN THE CAMERA. This was always the golden rule when shooting film and it remains equally valid with digital capture.

I’ve hopped aboard this particular hobbyhorse again because I’m just getting so tired of seeing so many obviously ‘ Photoshopped ’ images turning up in competitions and on the printed page. It’s getting out of hand and, I’m afraid to say, it’s not photography. It’s photo illustration or photo manipulation or computer illustration or whatever, but-it-is-most-definitely-not-photography (I’d use all capital letters, but it looks too alarming on the page).

Let’s get back to grass roots here. Photography means ‘writing with light’ and to do this you require a camera of some type…it can be as simple as a pinhole camera (or even a camera obscura) or as sophisticated as a digital medium format rig with 39 megapixels on tap. You also require, of course, a light sensitive receiver which can be film, photographic paper or a digital sensor. These are the basic technical elements of photography to which is then added the photographer’s creativity. Camera, storage medium and vision represent the ‘Holy Trinity’ of photography.

A commonly presented argument is that “ Photoshop is just like the darkroom ” and, to some extent, this is true. In most cases, what happened in the darkroom was the final realisation of a vision through corrections for the limitations of camera or film (and, for that matter, chemistry and paper). A good example was using dodging and/or burning to deal with localised contrast problems, or cropping to help ‘tighten’ the composition because it hadn’t been possible to get close enough to the subject with the camera. Contrast remains a problem with digital capture, which is where Photoshop tools such as Levels and Curves – applied globally or locally – are perfectly legitimate. So are corrections to colour balance and exposure, although now these are likely to be the result of deficiencies in the photographer rather than anything else! The latest generation of digital SLRs have absolutely everything that you need to get it right in-camera. This is even more the case now that functions such as dynamic range extension and built-in filter effects are appearing, plus greater control over white balance. However, there are also plenty of external methods of dealing with sensor-related deficiencies such as graduated filters or TTL fill-in flash for contrast control. In fact, there really is now absolutely no excuse for not getting everything right in-camera except possibly perspective, given that PC lenses remain a bit of a luxury (and a digital view camera set-up is even more costly).

So perspective correction in Photoshop is acceptable too, because it doesn’t alter the essence of the image in terms of its content, composition and original intent.

Where the line is crossed is when the computer is used to create something different, thereby creating a manipulation, distortion or fabrication (take your pick). Perhaps more significantly, the computer (or software) then becomes the creative tool and, while there are undoubtedly some clever visual tricks being performed, it’s not photography because the camera had no part in it. Aside the from the aesthetics – just how many landscapes clinically purged of all the elements that give them character can we take – there’s a real risk of diminishing the camera skills which differentiate photographers from all other artists. After all, anybody can create an abstraction, it’s recreating reality in a visually appealing or informative way that’s the big challenge. This is where composition, framing and viewpoint – interpreted through lens focal length, exposure control and selective focus – give photography its unique elements, made possible through optics, mechanics and, latterly, electronics.

Photography is about how the camera ‘sees’ as directed by the photographer. It’s deeply ironic that as the emphasis in post-camera image manipulation grows – especially in professional photography – the camera makers are providing more facilities than ever before to enable the moment of capture to be the pinnacle of the creative process. Since its invention, the camera has been a powerful instrument of record, revolution and reflection. We diminish this power at our peril.
Signed, Paul Burrows
Editor
Camera Magazine
© 2008 - 2024 curiouzkatt
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aternity's avatar
I suppose that's true.. :nod:
But sometimes, what my camera captures is not exactly what I see...