Where does a photo stop being a photo ....

[Darren Bradley]

I'm just going to tiptoe backwards back out the way I came without commenting on this one

 

[Pete Askew]

You'll be missing the highlights by dodging this one Darren. I'd have thought you'd be burning to cross processing swords with the PP pack!!

 

[Darren Bradley]

Haha! Fair enough, but it's one of those never-ending debates...

 

[Hamish Gill]

Well I suppose we need to differentiate between rescuing something with PP and taking a 'correctly exposed' and composed image and modifying it to get the effect we desire. The important thing is to make sure that the raw files contain the right amount of shadow or highlight detail that you wanted, is focused as you wished (whether sharp or not), displays movement blur or not and has the amount of DoF you need. Then you have the right starting point to go, however far that might be.

This seems to keep coming up recently this idea that rescueing an image is bad and that having the perfect photo to work on is a requirement for success ... Well on the whole I agree!
But, a point that is missed here ... And I think this is from working weddings ... And perhaps not being the perfect photographer ... The fact that an image can be rescued useing pp is a god send ... And not always to be frowned upon!
After all, it is the end product that most important!

Another thing ... When I was in Kenya, I really wants to get a nice photo of a elephant ... On the last day of safari I was starting to feel like I wasn't going to get one... On the way back to the place we were staying we saw some walking toward us ... I got Alex the guide to stop and took a load of shots very quickly ... He drove on ... The shots were over exposed for some reason and looked washed out
When I got home I looked at them and realised i could rescue one of them by making it b&w and increasing the "blacks" the out come was this

It took hardly any process to get to this from the washed out original and I only "saw" this image from the over exposed original ... If I had not over exposed the shot this probably wouldnt be the outcome ...
The reason it's on the front page of my (very out of date) website is that most people I showed my Kenya shots to said that it was by far the best! ... ... Not sure what that says about me as a photog ... But I think it makes a point in Te context of this convo ... After all said and done ... It's the end product that is what is important ... There is an ideal way to get there but we should disregard the other routes!

 

[Pete Askew]

Good point Hamish and I suppose it kind of equates to my comment about the role of serendipity in any creative endeavor (whether artistic, scientific or otherwise - look at the D-Day landing photos of Robert Capa as an example). And, of course for a working professional (especially a wedding photographer) being able to rescue or dramatically improve a shot can be a lifesaver.