Artistic vision versus a cliched snapshot
Dec 5, 2018 16:50:34 #
First time around, I could not view page 2. I reloaded and scrolled down to your photos. I'm not at all put off by your "cliché." Guess I'll post a few and folks tell me if any of them are artistic or if I'm stuck in cliché mode. 
Dec 5, 2018 17:07:13 #
I think Ansel was pretty big on post processing...something about expose for the shadows and develop for the highlights....
Dec 5, 2018 17:18:27 #
Artistic or stuck in the Twilight Zone of clichés? I'm not sure I have any artistic vision...
Dec 5, 2018 17:19:25 #
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So-called "artistic vision" is severely
polluted with very highly concentrated
doses of "artistic" cliches. A pure and
joyous snapshot aesthetic, practiced
with at least enuf skill to avoid rather
annoying technical flaws, can be the
fountain of unpremeditated creativity.
.
So-called "artistic vision" is severely
polluted with very highly concentrated
doses of "artistic" cliches. A pure and
joyous snapshot aesthetic, practiced
with at least enuf skill to avoid rather
annoying technical flaws, can be the
fountain of unpremeditated creativity.
.
Dec 5, 2018 18:37:43 #
Dec 5, 2018 20:54:05 #
Great discussion. It made me search some other Angel quotes. One I like is: “A good photograph is knowing where to stand.” I guess I should send my feet to school, lol. Seriously tho, Nightski of the critique forum encouraged me to “work the scene.” Don’t be content with your first shot but look for other angles, different lighting or a different focus. Her advice has helped me, even though I don’t claim to have a good “eye” for the best composition.
I have also found that using live view on a tripod helps me with composition. I feel it has to do with using binocular vision instead of just one eye through the viewfinder. I’m guessing Angel had the ability to see a great photo before he ever set up the camera.
I have also found that using live view on a tripod helps me with composition. I feel it has to do with using binocular vision instead of just one eye through the viewfinder. I’m guessing Angel had the ability to see a great photo before he ever set up the camera.
Dec 5, 2018 21:16:13 #
wdross
Loc: Castle Rock, Colorado
Shel B wrote:
I think Ansel was pretty big on post processing...something about expose for the shadows and develop for the highlights....
The raw image of Moonrise over Hernandez looks nothing like the the final image. If Ansel Adams had lived long enough to use Photoshop, Lightroom, etc., he would have felt like the biggest kid in the world's biggest toy store. If someone had told Ansel Adams real photographers don't manipulate their photos, he probably would have laughed until he cried.
Dec 5, 2018 21:31:21 #
gvarner wrote:
Glad to see that I’m not the only one working on the "taking" versus "making" issue. What I’m becoming aware of is that much of my photography is in the documentary mode - documenting where I’ve been, what I see, things that interest me, that sort of thing. From time to time I generate what I believe is a good photo. It seems that I’m in a good crowd.
Isn’t EVERYTHING we do, basically documenting! No matter WHAT we shoot, whether it’s in a studio, a vacation or a sporting event, it’s all just documenting what we see and recording that forever.
What makes documentary, documentary, is that it has to be kept realistic as we saw it and not altered beyond what is acceptable as truth. It’s when we PP the crap out of it that we release it from the documentary genre!!!
SS
Dec 5, 2018 21:46:12 #
Shel B wrote:
Artistic or stuck in the Twilight Zone of clichés? I'm not sure I have any artistic vision...
I think you do--the contrasts in textures and colors, along with the composition are fine. For me, however, a serious drawback is the overdone color and blurriness. If they bother you, the color is easily fixed, the effect will take more work. Viewing other who have manipulated their photos in the way you like is a good starting point. You will get to artistic if that is your goal, and you work and look hard--the innate sense seems to be there.
Dec 5, 2018 22:04:26 #
Vision verses Cliche?
Dean Collins arguably one of the more successful commercial photographers of our era summed it up so elegantly...
"beauty is in the eyes of the checkbook holder"
believe he go it right...
a.k.a. this is all that really matters...
Dean Collins arguably one of the more successful commercial photographers of our era summed it up so elegantly...
"beauty is in the eyes of the checkbook holder"
believe he go it right...
a.k.a. this is all that really matters...
Dec 5, 2018 23:35:42 #
roadsideron
Loc: Apache Junction, AZ
I've been on that road many times on my motorcycle. One time some fool coming over the crest of that hill drifted into my lane not paying attention to what he was doing.
Dec 5, 2018 23:36:16 #
Dec 6, 2018 01:41:08 #
lamiaceae wrote:
I've had similar happen more times than I care to think while travelling along a highway. Sometimes the location was far away and a long trip for nothing! Here I really mean we did go back or stop later. I think I have one of those "ah ha" spontaneous finds that worked out. And even that took a couple trips. Two different version of the several shot with two different cameras (one IR Converted).
I also love open empty roads with leading lines deep into the distance. I can see why this spot attracted you; I prefer your version #2. I take all kinds of photographs and then pick out the ones that I want to labor on with post processing. Here are some of my own "open road" photos, having worked on them in pp.
A Side Road Off Historic Route 66
A Vast Empty Stretch of Old Route 66 in Arizona
This Dirt Road Runs All the Way to the Mountains
Heading Toward a Majestic Mountain Range
Dec 6, 2018 11:42:00 #
For all those grappling with the idea as to whether what you're doing (photography) is art or not, consider this working definition. If what your doing produces an abstraction of your reality, experience or feelings, that can be shared (successfully or not), then that is art, the process is artistic and you, therefore, are an artist. Like it or not, being good at it or not, and even if you don't intend to be, you are, none the less, doing art. Any representation of something that is not actually it, is an abstraction. A flat two dimensional image, on a piece of paper or LED screen, of a mountain range is an abstraction of reality and that makes it a work of art.
The photographer's mantra: If it's an image of just what you saw, it's a snapshot, if it has good composition, it's a picture, if the image provokes an emotional response in the viewer it is a photograph.
Now, who would like to tackle the phrase "fine art?"
The photographer's mantra: If it's an image of just what you saw, it's a snapshot, if it has good composition, it's a picture, if the image provokes an emotional response in the viewer it is a photograph.
Now, who would like to tackle the phrase "fine art?"
Dec 6, 2018 13:27:37 #
wdross
Loc: Castle Rock, Colorado
scsdesphotography wrote:
For all those grappling with the idea as to whethe... (show quote)
Very good! This is a good range for all of photography. It allows for a lot of gray areas and differences of opinion. And I am not sure I would be up to the task of "fine art".
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