01 Jul half. {26/52}
I had this photo in mind all week. The flower, the textures … all of it. And as I sat down last night and opened the original image, I settled in and smiled with the thought of the process ahead.
Style. Do you have one? I’m still not sure that I do, although I’m told this is the case. In life, my interests are wide and varied. Ask me to pin down a “favorite” anything and I’ll be hard-pressed to give you an answer. The same holds true when I pick up my camera. Everything catches my eye, everything is open for interpretation. But I’ve come to realize that I am most happy when I do something like what you see above – taking an ordinary photo and turning it into something else, something different. Before I even pick up my camera, I have the finished piece in my mind and off I’ll go on a hunt to gather what I’m after, what I already see.
From there, the entire creative process is, quite simply, food for my soul.
A few years back, I waged an inner battle with myself regarding the whole post-processing debate. Purists argue the merits of an untouched photo (and that in itself is a whole other blog post – in this day and age, what constitutes an untouched photo? I think I’d rather hunt for unicorns) and look down their noses at the slightest hint of processing in any form. I’ve been criticized more than a few times in the way I choose to present a final shot, my processing style. I’ve heard “sure, that’s gorgeous, but I’d like to see you take a normal photograph”. Seriously. And at the time, words like that swayed my judgement and made me question every shot I took, every shot I shared. Sure, you can tell yourself that a comment like that stems from an ignorance of the craft (you honestly can’t fix a bad photograph, no matter what you do to it – bad is just bad) but what the hell, I’m human. And it was hard not to take such comments to heart.
These days? I really could give a shit :)
Style. I love photographing just about everything – people, places, landscapes, sunsets … everything. And then I love to take that photograph and make it something more. So I suppose, in the end, my style is in the process. I love the process. I love the creativity that begins as soon as I aim my lens in your direction, right through until the point I sign my name on the finished photograph.
And if that’s not your thing? I’m okay with that :)
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*textures from the fabulous Kim Klassen – mouse-over the photo to see before and after
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Gwen
Posted at 11:53h, 01 JulyJan! What an awesome idea for half, I love it!
And I definitely have a style with my processing. I actually just spent an hour on my images for this past week’s prompt. I like my images to look a certain way. Sometimes I keep my images SOOC (well, with a little bit of WB correction in ACR), but mostly I add a little bit of my own flavor in post. I’m very particular, actually, and I can’t imagine not doing it that way. That being said, I have 200 images from LAST June still to process because I can’t just keep things SOOC and I just put them in the queue while I did other things. I have about 700 images total in my “to do” queue, for when I can devote a week to playing catch up. With four kids, I never have such time to do so. Sucks, because last June had some amazing photos. I’m sure I’ll just to a batch save to jpeg so that I have them. But I like to share them, and that’s where my style holds me back. It’s so overwhelming that I don’t even get started. *sigh* Will someone come nanny my kids for a week for free so I can get it done?
janice
Posted at 12:02h, 01 JulySO true!!! I’ve come to a point where I definitely take way less photos at one time because it’s just too much to go through them all. So I limit the amount. Like really, do I need 30 photos of ONE bird? LOL ;)
I still get carried away sometimes though.
melissa
Posted at 13:06h, 01 JulyThis was wonderful. Thanks for sharing. I go back and forth about processing too, mainly because of all of the opinions out there. But when it’s just me and I’m alone with the images I’ve taken and I’m not paying any attention to what everyone else does or thinks, I do enjoy helping some photos along or even sometimes creating something entirely new. Knowing the “rules” and opinions sometimes sucks the life out of my picture taking process.
janice
Posted at 15:43h, 01 JulyThrow the so called rules out the window, Melissa.
Do what feel right to you :)
Anna
Posted at 14:27h, 01 JulyI love your take on Half. Perfect and wonderfully unexpected.
I kind of wish I had more of a style, especially when it comes to post processing. I look at post as another step toward the finished product. A writer wouldn’t declare their work finished before revising and revising. So post production is a lot like writing a second or third draft. And how ever you reproduce your work, it’s yours and you should put your own spin on it. I honestly wish I felt more comfortable with textures, because this shot is perfect. And how cool that you had it in mind before you even began. I tend to see what I come up with on my computer and then post-product (I know, not a word) from there.
Love reading your thoughts on the process!
janice
Posted at 15:46h, 01 JulyOh I work that way too. Depends on the shot, for sure! But in cases like these, I usually have the shot already in my head … the textures come by trial and error. I usually try quite a few on before I come to something I like. In this photo, there are two textures.
It’s fun stuff, Anna. Jump in and give it a try!
Maybe I’ll do a tutorial at some point, but there are scads of great posts on the subject all over the interwebz. Have a peek :)
(Kim has great classes too)
christian @ eskimokiss
Posted at 01:20h, 05 JulyThat’s beautiful! Reminds me of “He loves me, He loves me not……” :)
janice
Posted at 18:05h, 05 JulyThank you, Christian :)