Question--

mostlysunny · Dec 31, 2012

A photographer friend recently posted a picture saying something along the lines of.. You all think my camera is magical, but this is what a picture looks like right out of my camera--- She posted a right out of the camera, and one she edited..

Her before picture looks like pictures I take.. (those of you that have seen my pictures, know they aren't pretty), her edited was really nice..

So, I ask you.. Is she really a photographer? I know there are photographers that can make their pictures look like her edited one, but theirs is right out of the camera.

I will tell you what I think once I see your answers...

I think she does great work. I wouldn't hesitate to have her do my family portraits..

Buckster · Dec 31, 2012

Yes, she is really a photographer.

Photography is a process that does, and has always, included post processing. Once upon a time post processing was done in a darkroom with chemicals and other "hard material" (like filters) techniques, burning, dodging, sharpening, and most of the rest of the stuff we do today in software, and it was also done in shops where professional retouchers did airbrushing and so on to fix blemishes and much, much more. Even the snapshots that were sent to quick and dirty processors at drug stores and the like were post processed by a machine taking it's best guess, or even by a human helping it make those guesses.

That has been going on for the entire history of photography, refined and improved over time as new methods are discovered and used.

The fact that we do that today with software doesn't detract from the fact that it gets done somewhere, somehow, by some method.

Yes, she is a real photographer.

pic_chick · Dec 31, 2012

I feel it is never right to say someone is or is not a photographer. Art is art we all like what we like and that is fine. A great Photo is a great photo no matter how or if it was PP.

mostlysunny · Dec 31, 2012

I totally forgot about how I would manipulate developing my pictures in the dark room.

She does take nice pictures.. Like I said, I would hire her.

I happen to prefer my pictures a little under exposed.. Some people may think that isn't right.. but I try to set my camera to make it under exposed.

thetrue · Dec 31, 2012

Art may be art, but drastic changes and combining images that don't belong together is just that - art. A photographer may change colors or exposure, might retouch things, add borders, burn and dodge, and a million other things, and remain a photographer as long as the photo remains relatively OOC. Add a shark to a photo of a glacier, you're an artist. Sharpen some stuff, get rid of power lines, and move a tree closer to the scene to add drama, you're a photographer still.

baturn · Dec 31, 2012

No need for any more discussion after Buckster's post!

thetrue · Dec 31, 2012

mostlysunny said:
I totally forgot about how I would manipulate developing my pictures in the dark room.

She does take nice pictures.. Like I said, I would hire her.

I happen to prefer my pictures a little under exposed.. Some people may think that isn't right.. but I try to set my camera to make it under exposed.

Are you a Ken Rockwell fan?

xposurepro · Dec 31, 2012

like Buckster pointed out .. we've been post-editing long before Photoshop was invented.

I think a better question would be who has earned the title "Photographer"?
A. Somebody who can edit images that look awesome at 500 pixels on their Facebook, Website, Etc.
B. Somebody who edits images that look awesome when viewed as a 30x40 wall portrait.

KmH · Dec 31, 2012

And not just post-processing.

Pre-processing can happen too, both before the shutter is released and before the photographer gets to see a photo that further edits can be applied to.
All digital photos start as Raw image data files - Tutorials The RAW File Format

What a digital camera's analog image sensor actually records, looks nothing like what we see with our eyes until that analog information is converted to digital information, and processed in a number of ways using algorithms written by a bunch of camera software engineers.

Application of a gamma correction (curve). The camera's image sensor is a linear device. People see non-linearly. So to make the image look 'real' to people a non-linear gamma has to be applied. Gamma correction - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Color interpolation/Demosaicing, usually based on the pattern of red, green. and blue on a Bayer Array that is in front of the image sensor. Demosaicing - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Anti-aliasing, also known as an AA filter, blur filter, or optical low-pass filter. Anti-aliasing filter - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

ronlane · Dec 31, 2012

I would agree that she is a photographer. I watched a video of Scott Kelby doing post on some of his travel photos and he even admitted that they weren't good pre-processing, but after a few minutes in LR and CS6, they looked really good.

manaheim · Dec 31, 2012

.

If I ran TPF a thread like this would be provided with a dictionary definition of photographer and then insta-locked.

But instead this will just become another TFH.

pho·tog·ra·pher

/fəˈtɒg rə fər/ Spelled [fuh-tog-ruh-fer] (noun) a person who takes photographs.

Buckster · Dec 31, 2012

manaheim said:
.

If I ran TPF a thread like this would be provided with a dictionary definition of photographer and then insta-locked.

But instead this will just become another TFH.

pho·tog·ra·pher

/fəˈtɒg rə fər/ Spelled [fuh-tog-ruh-fer] (noun) a person who takes photographs.

Thankfully, you don't run TPF.

One of the challenges, as a human being trying to communicate with other human beings, is to know WHEN to take a word or phrase LITERALLY and WHEN to see that the other person is actually trying to communicate something OTHER THAN what the LITERAL WORD they used might convey per the strict dictionary usage, and then to work with them on that to continue the communication without getting all hung up as a spelling or grammar nazi about it.

The people who DO run TPF, mostly get that.

o hey tyler · Dec 31, 2012

xposurepro said:
I think a better question would be who has earned the title "Photographer"?
A. Somebody who can edit images that look awesome at 500 pixels on their Facebook, Website, Etc.
B. Somebody who edits images that look awesome when viewed as a 30x40 wall portrait.

Neither of them are a better photographer. However example B sounds to be a better image editor.

Bitter Jeweler · Dec 31, 2012

MostlySunny!

mostlysunny · Dec 31, 2012

Bitter Jeweler said:
MostlySunny!

And all this time I have been hating my camera because I couldn't get the look I see on all the ones that were already edited.. I do take good pictures, they just aren't what I call "pretty"-- I have been trying to get right out of the camera, with the likes of Ken Rockwell in mind....