Saturday, April 24, 2010

Happily Photoshop Learning

A little BEFORE . . .
and AFTER . . . 

I've been busily learning away in the last 24hr. And man-oh-man, what a marvelous thing Photoshop is! I was plenty happy with this pic before I learned all about the fantastic ways you can adjust colors with curves and add glow and, and, and . . . but now I LOVE it. Printed out both and am marveling and the difference. 

There is an artistic dilemma. Or maybe not. What do you think? Is it "cheating" to do post processing? Should the photo be what you saw in your mind's eye SOOC? Frankly, I'm not sure how much I care. Art is creating something unique and uniquely yours. I do hesitate in "fixing" the faces of people who I believe are beautiful just as they are. We have become too accustomed to a false ideal of beauty. Humans have dark eye circles. We have uneven skin tone and blemishes. We show our age in our eyes and smile lines. When we keep erasing these artifacts of living, we deny who we are. Now, don't hold me to this when you see pictures of me finessed! 

3 comments:

georgia b. said...

no... no dilemma. there is a time and a place for both. and you are so right. art is creating. there are so many ways to do that. if it was to be purely what our eyes see, what is the point? then we should have no paintings or drawings.

true... we have become accustomed to a false ideal. but especially in this photo, you have not created a false ideal. you have only enhanced what is true and really there. i think so, anyway.

no matter what the final vote, i LOVE what you did here. i want to take some classes from you. i'm learning a lot, too. but i really want help with people pictures. excellent job, heather!

Heather said...

Thanks, Georgia! You are so thoughtful in your response. I'm not sure you would be able to learn so very much from me . . . the key seems to be light and lots of practice. Bribery probably doesn't hurt either;) for the subjects, I mean!

Unknown said...

In the second pic she looks like an angle! o:)