Water bottle and phone

[McNicks]

This photograph has confused me a little, so I thought I would see what you all thought of it. The sun came streaming in my office window at around lunchtime today, and I thought the light refracted through my water bottle looked lovely, so I took some photographs with it.

When I got home, I found that the photographs had turned out fairly well. However, I could not resist bringing my best shot into Photoshop to see what I could do with it. I picked out the specular highlights using a layer mask on a screened layer, added a strong vignette using another layer set to multiply and sharpened. Before, the shot looked quite nice but I felt that the final version looked superior: the original looked a little limp in comparison.

So, I have a shot that I like. Great. But I am now wondering if I cheated? Does photography have to be authentic? Or perhaps I would be better asking: does my photography have to be authentic? I am actually not sure what I mean by authentic, since the light ended up in a digital medium straight after it hit the sensor on my D40.

Anyway, I would appreciate your thoughts on the photograph and on my subsequent pondering ...

[jiminyClickit]

McNicks,

Certainly a laudable effort, even without the original to compare. Your question used to make my head explode a little, as it may be asked of any artistic work. I learned drawing by tracing magazine photos. At the Art Institute, we used projected images to do some art projects, actually being taught how to "copy." Where speed is of the essence, they do not care if you've spent 2 weeks or 2 hours on an image, it has to be done at deadline.

Painters will sometimes say photography is not art, so much as a science, since the photographer "doesn't invest the work with a personal expression or reveal blah blah" You know how many choices are possible in the space between shutter release and final "Save as . . ." Each step chosen is an expression of some vision of your own, even if you're trying to replicate a technique.

It's the context in which the question is asked that determines an answer. If you've read the thread on news photographers who've 'adjusted' aspects of their photos before printing or broadcasting publicly, the jury is still out (and so are more than a few photographers). Basically the venue will determine "cheating" to be presenting an image that is intended to portray "reality" after alterations have been applied, and I guess not indicating that it was altered.

Here you have clearly offered a photograph for semi-public viewing with the unmistakable message that it is different from what the camera presented you with. That changes everything. Authentic? Genuine? Real? Questions that each answers in their own way.

[Saralonde]

If your asking if it's cheating to use post processing to enhance and improve you image, I have to say no. Post processing is a part of photography. I don't believe it is any less authentic than if you used auto focus or a flash instead of natural light. They are all tools we use to complete the final image. Some of the most repected photographers in the world used the darkroom to enhance their shots (Ansel Adams). Photoshop is just the modern day darkroom.

[Griffin2020]

The key thing to keep in mind is your. It is your photograph, and your photogrpahy. It is your art. If you want to massage it, that is fine, if you want to change it into something completely different, that is completely within your right. Photography has always been about interpretation, and even on film and paper, there has always been many things that the artist could do to make the final product exactly what they wanted, and perhaps make it bear no resemblance to the original image.

The question is do YOU like the image? I personally like the pool of light, and the hightlights and shadows. I feel that the phone is distracting, and would reshoot it with the bottle more to the center of the light, and the phone set aside in the shadow. You could also try removing the label to allow more of the refraction to occur.

[hpebley3]

Here's an article a friend of mine wrote about this topic:
http://leggnet.com/2006/12/how-much-editing.html

Cheers,
Harley Pebley