"Was it real or Memorex?"

The other evening I return to Queen Ann Hill’s Kerry Park in Seattle to update my images of the Space Needle, the Seattle Center, downtown Seattle and Mt. Rainier. Seattle has experienced considerable development over the last severalyears; about the same age as the last images I took from this spot so it was time for an update of the Seattle skyline.

In my years living in Seattle and more specifically, being involved in Photography, I have probably ventured to this spot around six times for pictures of this skyline. This is actually a very nostalgic spot for my as my grandparents lived about two blocks from this park and my wife retains many images of me as a 4 and 5 year old taken from this park overlooking Seattle. In none of my more recent visits have I been the only photographer here. This Thursday I found an even higher number than I last remembered with somewhere between 10 to 12 individuals with quality digital cameras capturing the fading light. I do think this number has steadily grown over the years, encouraged by the ease of technology, the economy and the social dynamics of our population. But maybe this evening’s warmth, sunny and relatively clear spring weather helped entice all of us to the top of Queen Ann Hill for the sunset.

Recently, I spent some time talking to a family member about photography and we talked of one of my trips to Monument Valley. He chided me about that being a well-photographed location. Actually, I think there are a lot of well-photographed locations these days, and this spot on Highland Drive is right up there and it represents the increased supply of quality images available in the market. With the advancement in digital equipment there is really not a lot of separation between manufactures so it is up to the photographer and his marketing to distinguish himself.

After parking my car across the street from Kerry Park and gathering my equipment, the very first think I was confronted with was a full seize picture like the one above pasted to the side of a touring van. Obviously, that photographer had done well with his or her image from this spot. However, the closer I looked at the picture, the more I realized this image was not to be had from this location since it had been Photoshoped. The actual image is below. They had cropped out Mt. Rainier and enlarged it enough to enhance the mountain without making it overly dramatic.

So what is and is not appropriate in augmenting an image. What a tough question! For the photographer of the van image, she was able to provide a dramatic photo to help entice people to Kerry Park to watch the sunsets. She was able to differentiate herself from the rest of the crowd with a unique image and generate for herself a nice return.

While it may not exactly be the same thing, but photographers have been enhancing images long before digital photography and Photoshop came into play. Double exposure was used for years to either capture the moon by changing the exposure setting or for help in making the moon larger with a different lenses. What made Ansel Adams great was to a large degree, his darkroom techniques in addition to his sense of the scene. His ability to dodge and burn; lighten and darken areas of the photos to make them more dramatic was his trademark. Scenic film photographers used different films and filters to enhance their images of nature. With digital photography, Velvia has been replaced with “saturation and hue” control.

Unfortunately, about every six months or so we hear about some photographer who had just won an award, shot a prized photo or used an image in an important story that was found out to be altered. However, people are getting better at altering images and it is harder to detect. But images are going to be altered and in the art realm, the lines between what was capture and the final product continues to widen. If one really wants to enter fantasyland consider the subtle and/or not so subtle changes and enhancements done in the glamour industry. In a seminar I took a couple of years ago, one of the leading glamour photographers showed us the changes he normally makes to Hollywoodpersonalities, with enlarging the eyes, narrowing the face, etc. While I do not take wedding pictures, I would imagine successful wedding photographers have had to add these capabilities to their business portfolio.

A while ago I was enraged at an image that the USGA used in one of their magazine articles about a golf course in Nevada. The artist/photographer had done such a bad job of combining the early morning light of the golf hole with plopping a couple of deer on the course that it was an insult. In addition to using a graduated colored filter to enhance shy, there was no shadow from the deer and they were floating above the green. If one is going to cheat, at least do a good job of it. It was so bad that I took the time to write and complain; never heard from them.

For me, I guess I am a traditionalist. Other than the normal color enhancing, saturation and use of graduated filters, I vary rarely change an image except for enhancing the moon, a project I find rather difficult to get right so as to look natural. I have found myself replacing the sky on some images, most recently a black and white of the wheat fields of the Palouse. The evening I was there, the sky was quite devoid of clouds and rather hazy. For this image I replaced it with an earlier shot of a clearer blue sky with nice wispy clouds. However, this is for a fine art sale and my changes are in keeping with “art.” In another blue sky was substituted for gray to enhance the yellow of the building. These are my exceptions.

As it has always been the case, bottom line is honesty in representation. In not pretending what we are. There are some really great photographers out there who take some wonderful shots and who have no need to go through back-office routines.For others, there should be the challenge for achievement and improvement. But equally, there continues to be a viable market for images that make more of the world than it really is. For me, I will market my image above but I will also market it as an enhanced image and I would not try to enter it into a contest where they are looking for original art.

Here is one more altered photo, an image of Oai on the Island of Santorini, Greece. I choose to enlarge moons in their natural setting with the light consistent with scene. I find it harder to make the moon look natural the greater the exposure difference between the scene and the one use correctly for the moon. Here, the moon was present and in this image approximately where I put it with a larger version. I just shot it separately and added it.

Earl