minniev Loc: MIssissippi

I think this is a masterful and lovely version of the photo. It captures the essence of this parent/chick relationship. How you've rendered the lighting makes the best of the natural environment without introducing the harsher colors that raising shadows alone (which is unnatural by itself) introduces. You have successfully tamed the beast of intense mid-day contrast. I agree that you should start offering classes. There's hordes of photographers who waste precious shots that they can't retrieve or fail to take them because it isn't the magic hour.

minniev Loc: MIssissippi

Please keep wrestling with the quandary, but I will secretly hope for you to come down on the side of art because I firmly believe that photography IS an art and not a science or a craft. There is no camera that can capture what our eyes see and our eyes fool us as well because of their remarkable ability to adapt and "screen out" the problems inherent to light/dark extremes. Taking the best shot we can and using the wonderful array of tools we have to turn that shot into our vision is truly a personal artistic endeavor.

But its a complex issue and there's lots of (valid) views. Just hanging around in this forum is a fascinating exercise in how different people interpret the same scene. In the end, the photographer (in this case, you) are the owner of the photo and the only one whose vision really matters. It will be up to you to decide how YOU want it to look. Just beware of choosing to make it look like someone else tells you it should or how the prevailing "rules" tell you it should. Find what conveys the emotion the scene created in you that made you want to keep it in the first place.

That concludes Min's Monday Morning Sermon. Thanks for listening!

Graham Smith Loc: Cambridgeshire UK

I totally agree with you minniev. The photographer has in their mind, when they press the button, what they are expecting to capture. When they view the image later it is often far from what it was that told them to photograph that particular scene. Editing can then be used to reproduce that missing something and to make an image that conveys what the photographer felt/saw. It is up to the photographer to decide if they want a realistic reproduction or a more art driven interpretation to convey their original idea. It is very useful to be able to see how others would treat an image, but often that treatment takes away all of the photographers original concept, it makes a completely different picture.

Graham

davefales Loc: Virginia

I'm really enjoying the quality of the discussion here. Thanks for hooking me on Hedgehog.

A little background: I was a P&Ser (Canon) until five years ago. I then started with the Nikon D60 kit and moved onto the D7000 in late 2010. I used kit lenses until I treated myself to a f2.8 17-55mm which I rarely take off my camera now. I began using PS Elements9 but moved on to CS5 and CS6. The learning curve between Nikon and Adobe products has been a challenge. At 69, my learning process is a bit slower than I'd like.

But I can tell I will learn plenty here. Cheers!