Comments on: “Photoshopped.”

By: Kenneth LeFebvre

Kenneth LeFebvre — Wed, 04 Jun 2008 02:19:09 +0000

I heartily agree with your sentiments… Somebody with more money than I can afford a camera that can make a lot of the adjustments, on the fly, that I can only afford to do in Photoshop. Does that make the wealthier photographer’s more “real photographs” than mine? Better, maybe (presuming he is wealthier due to his skill), but that doesn’t make his images more “real” than mine. :)

The only “true photograph” by such a strict definition, I think, would be a slide shot with a pinhole camera!

Journalism aside, the art of a photographer is the FINAL image, no matter how it’s produced…

By: Simon

Simon — Wed, 21 May 2008 14:04:50 +0000

My friends always claim im cheating by using photoshop. When will people realise photo editing in the manor has been around since the first camera. Editing has simply moved on from physical wet manipulation to the digital dark room.

By: Chris Beaumont

Chris Beaumont — Mon, 19 May 2008 22:29:28 +0000

Testify, brother!

/claps, waves hands in the air

Right on. The ‘hey you photoshopped that you fraud’ brigade is founded on ignorance.

By: Stew

Stew — Mon, 19 May 2008 21:24:15 +0000

Excellent post and right on the money.

Now if they’d said your shot was “over-Photoshopped”… Them’s fightn’ words! Actually, I’d probably just tell them that they can’t comment unless they prove that their monitor has been color-calibrated! :-)

By: Bryan

Bryan — Mon, 19 May 2008 20:26:48 +0000

My best advice is to not spend time worrying about people who make comments like that. Clearly they don’t understand, and they aren’t willing to come up with any legitimate questions. They think they know everything, and that’s why they just flippantly make rude comments. If you know that you’re doing good work (which you are), then keep it up and soon enough real praise will come.

By: Jim Goldstein

Jim Goldstein — Mon, 19 May 2008 19:30:22 +0000

Funny how everyone has their own take on what photography should be. I think many have this magical impression that photography is done entirely in camera. Much of it is, but styling (whether color correction or more aggressive edits) is an integral part in enabling a photographer to give their own interpretation and voice to an image. I wouldn’t worry about the nay sayers and stick to portraying the world as you see it.

Regards
Jim

By: Richard Avedon

Richard Avedon — Mon, 19 May 2008 14:21:56 +0000

Hey! Stop taking my quotes, rewording them and trying to make them your own…

By: Donncha O Caoimh

Donncha O Caoimh — Mon, 19 May 2008 11:47:09 +0000

I got an email recently from someone who wanted to know if I Photoshop my photos. I haven’t replied yet but I’ll be telling him that, “No, none of my photos are Photoshopped.”

Now, if he had asked about the GIMP, then that’s another story. I might change the byline on my blog to “No photoshop here” or something.

By: DAVE ID

DAVE ID — Mon, 19 May 2008 05:35:12 +0000

Right and photogs who work in a darkroom never dodge and burn their pictures either, yeah right. They don’t use filters either, yeah right. Enough with the PHOTOSHOPPED argument.

http://xkcd.com/331/

By: Trent Ernst

Trent Ernst — Sun, 18 May 2008 20:59:49 +0000

Reminds me of that old story about Picasso; Someone complained that his pictures weren’t real. He asked the person what he meant by real. In response, the fellow took a picture of his wife out of his wallet, and said “this is real”.

Picasso squinted at the image and said “so you mean your wife is two inches tall, two dimensional and black and white?

This has been something I’ve been working through, and haven’t come to a conclusion on. I have gone through a period where I didn’t even go into photoshop, but did all my tweaks in lightroom. Now, I’ve been going to photoshop again. We’ll see what happens when Lightroom 2.0 is finally released…..