Can PhotoShop really fix everything

[LaFoto]

OK, let me ask you this for the sake of this discussion (I don't want to discuss the photo as such in detail, it isn't "art"! I know it. It isn't even good) - is this photo "an abuse of Photoshop"?

I'm asking because - while this photo was very (!) spur of the moment, taken out of the side window of a passing bus, and my intention was to capture the solitude of the countryside we were going through in Turkey, and the fact that not all had the comfort of travelling in a nice bus, but some had to walk - the man originally was walking right underneath that tree. That, however, felt so unbalanced to me for this photo that (for the first time ever in my life, I must admit) I decided to cut him out of where he actually was and put him to where you can now see him.

And upon looking closer, I did not even clone the part where he once was well enough, it shows ... Not good! But none of that is the point I want to discuss here.

My question is: Is this abuse in your eyes?

 

[K8-90]

Well, you can call photoshop "abuse", but at the and of the day, this is art. You create the image by composing, adding light, cropping, using filters, macro etc, all of which are tools to create and image, and interpretation, a meaning, that you desire.

Yes, photoshop can be misleading. But most of the time, our aim is not to create replicate what we see identically. So what's the big deal?

It's a choice we make as photographers, as artists.

 

[Arch]

The simple answer: Apart from focus and exposure (beyond a certain point), yes Photoshop can fix everything.... but then, when were you last able to fix focus in a darkroom either?

 

[Bigmojo]

The thing to remember is Photoshop isnt just for photographers. IMO its WAY too powerful for what photographers should be doing before their work turns into digital art of some kind.

You cant not use it but its VERY easily over done. Fundamentally if your shot is out of focus, its out of focus.

 

[Alter_Ego]

Photoshop can fix everything.

Dont hate

 

[ann]

there is a big difference from "fixing" because one is a lazy photographer and being creative.

I always encourge my students to do as much right in camera and use editing programs for creative expression. Big difference in my eyes.

 

[Gaerek]

It's interesting to me that no has made a comment on this part of her post.

I think a lot of people need to go back to film and learn the hard way. Maybe they would respect photography and what it takes to make a GOOD photograph.

Why is it that people seem to think that learning "the hard way," is the best way of learning? Let's follow your logic to it's obvious conclusion. If people need to learn the hard way, then why don't you go and use the wet plate collodion process to take pictures? I mean, you'll certainly learn a lot by creating your own glass plates. It's also a lot harder than working with 35mm film, so maybe it'll help you to respect photography even more.

Whether you shoot film, digital, or glass plates is irrelevant. The "hard way" isn't another way of saying, the "better way." "Hard way" simply means the "hard way," nothing more, nothing less.

As far as photoshop is concerned here, it can't fix everything. It can cover up mistakes, but getting things right in camera is your best way of making the best photograph. Let's not forget also, that just because you shoot film doesn't mean you can't use photoshop.

 

[Boomn4x4]

As I have read through the threads, I have come to the concussion that people rely on PhotoShop way to much. Statements made, such as " I will just photoshop that"

Now don't get me wrong I think PhotoShop is a great tool, but that is what it is, a tool, not a fix it all. I believe that if people spend more time looking through the view finder and learning their equipment better, the less time they will spend in PhotoShop fixing everything that show have never happened in the first place. I think a lot of people need to go back to film and learn the hard way. Maybe they would respect photography and what it takes to make a GOOD photograph.

Just my thoughts

I couldn't disagree with you more. "Photography" is an art... why you would suggest that you must limit yourself in what you 'should' be alowed to do is beyond me. The end result is what is important, the road you take to get there is irrelevant.

Is Andy Warhol less of an artist than Michelangelo because he used synthetic paints he baught from store instead of paints he made himself from natural Earth pigments?

Is "Toy Story" less of a movie than "Snow White" because they used computer generated graphics instead of hand drawing the frames?

It's interesting to me that no has made a comment on this part of her post.

I think a lot of people need to go back to film and learn the hard way. Maybe they would respect photography and what it takes to make a GOOD photograph.

Why is it that people seem to think that learning "the hard way," is the best way of learning? Let's follow your logic to it's obvious conclusion.

Agreed... to take it a little further. If I wanted to take up fishing as a hobby, should I have to cut down a tree, and whittle a rod out of it. Blacksmith a nail into a hook. And spin a line out of silk thread?

kelli_anne.... I respect your opinion, but you are way off base.

 

[burstintoflame81]

No offense to the OP, but we get these posts all the time. Photoshop is just one more enhancement tool to use and yes it can be abused or overused. A lot of that depends on taste though as well.

To answer your question more clearly though, no it cannot fix everything. It can enhance and maybe make a so-so picture more useable, but if something is complete crap or has huge technical issues, photoshop is not going to fix it. It will just look like a doctored piece of crap instead of a plain piece of crap

 

[Arch]

there is a big difference from "fixing" because one is a lazy photographer and being creative.

I always encourge my students to do as much right in camera and use editing programs for creative expression. Big difference in my eyes.

Spot On.
To me processing the image, be it Photoshop or other, is still part of the process of creating the final image. Photoshop should certainly not be seen as a 'fixing programme'.

There again i have been Art Schooled, and used PS for 14 years, so maybe i would see things differently to a 'photo hobbyist' or indeed to say, a product photographer.

To the OP tho, yes Photoshop can be overdone as many have said which can ruin an image... this is mainly down to lack of knowledge more than anything.

 

[Village Idiot]

It seems to me that there's a new spin on the same 'ol thread. +1 to the OP for creativity.

 

[LaFoto]

I think a thread of this kind is due once in 6 weeks to 3 months time. All those of us who have been here for long (like more than 6 years in my case) will just have to make do with them - and suffer them...

 

[Bitter Jeweler]

I <3 arrogance, and pompousness.







LaFoto, more like weekly.

 

[dom yo]

this thread is awesome, i wish the photographer at work would read it so i didnt have to spend half my day in photoshop fixing horrible photographs

 

[Overread]

In truth everything is fixable in photoshop if you are a good enough artist and photoshopper. You could fix everthing in a shot to be just perfect - however there comes a point where you are no longer correcting/enhancing/touching up a photo and instead working on a work of art on the computer.

Sure you can correct total underexposure (black) the same way an artist corrects a totaly blank sheet of paper/canvus/stone - however I for one know that if I spent months working on a work of art I'd want to be known as an artist not a photographer