To Photoshop or Not – A Photographer’s Perspective

by Kit Rodwell

So – do you want the image EXACTLY as I shot it?

#1 – Not straightened? Because the later it is in the day, the more tired I get and the pictures are not totally level. Okay, so maybe I can straighten it?

#2 – Not color-corrected? You have a white dog shot in the ring in a badly lit arena – do you want yourself and the judge to look like you spent enough time in the sun to turn a deep bronze color so that the white dog isn’t a white blob? Okay, so then I can do color correction.

#3 – That white “stuff” on your jacket that suspiciously looks like chalk, would you like it removed?

#4 – The lead that you threw on the ground at your dog’s feet, do you want it left there or removed? How about when I said “Please wind the lead up in your hand” and you chose to ignore me and three feet of it is dangling in front of the dog’s chest? Can I “clean” that up without offending your “No Pho- toshop” demands?

#5 – Last weekend I shot in a horse arena with gusting winds of 75 MPH. My camera and I were both sandblasted and no matter how often I tried to clean the lens, another ton of dirt at- tached itself. My pictures are VERY interesting with round spots, some small, others quite large, everywhere on the images. I have to use Photoshop to clean them up. It’s very time con- suming work, but I will be delighted to not have to do this and send the images out “Photoshop free” if you prefer.

#6 – We all agree, the subject of the image is the dog, but the people are part of the overall picture. So if I have a spectacular shot of your dog in image #1 but the judge looks like she is sucking on a rotten lemon, you do not want me to take her smil- ing face from image #2 (not as good of the dog) and change heads? Okay, you are the boss.

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Posted by Alex on May 19 2017. Filed under Current Articles, Featured. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. Both comments and pings are currently closed.