The Sugarloaf in County Wicklow at sunset
Is Photoshop a blessing or a curse when it comes to Landscape Photography? We all know that manipulation is widespread in fashion photography and it’s been that way for years but is it now widespread in the landscape world as well? I think it is, but unlike a lot of photographers, I don’t think it’s a problem.
Some people are always going to dislike it. They like their images to be pure. That’s fine but I’ve rarely pulled an image from my memory card that was ready to go “as is”. Usually they need, at the very least, a little tweaking of some sort of adjustment. Maybe a hint of saturation or a shade more contrast is needed. At the very least it could do with slight sharpening. These are all helpful tools that help bring an image to the next level. We’re not talking about over doing anything here, just gentle nudging to get the best out of the raw material you have in front of you.
I always draw the parallel with music. When a band goes into the studio to record a song, the finished piece of music is polished up considerably. There can be multiple guitar lines to beef up the sound, harmonising vocals, maybe some background sound effects. In short the piece of music, while still retaining its raw character, is simply cleaned up and made better by the production.
This is what I do with Photoshop when I want to produce an image. I consider myself an artist and I’m trying to produce an image that will appeal to my customers. Is it so wrong to help the image along with little doses of image editing software? I don’t think so.
Incidentally, a fact that photographers either don’t know or completely ignore is how important image manipulation was to the great Ansel Adams, arguably the greatest influence in the history of American landscape photography. He regularly produced images that were different to what he saw in the negative. He developed the zone system and regularly used the technique called dodge and burn in order to manipulate the exposure of many of his images. I wonder how he would apply the use of Photoshop to his images? I think he would embrace it as he did view photography as a creative art. He has been quoted as saying “Dodging and burning are steps to take care of mistakes God made in establishing tonal relationships”. I think that’s just his way of saying that in order to make a great image it’s sometimes necessary to change things about slightly.
What we don’t need are these ridiculous looking HDR images that are totally over the top. Photographers need to realise that the sun never rises in the north, so don’t put it there. And if the valley needs a few more trees to make it look better then just move your position and find a better view instead of trying to add trees later on in the computer. There are many examples out there of badly manipulated images, but there are also some amazing looking images that simply wouldn’t exist without some sort of tweaking.
The trend now seems to be that if you use Photoshop you’re lazy and not a real photographer. Don’t listen to the naysayers. Use Photoshop or any other image editing software as part of your artistic arsenal. When used correctly, it can send your image into the stratosphere so use it wisely.
