Enhancements

Actual Shot 2004 No PS

Light Crop Bug

Heavily Cropped Bug

After my smoke stack memorial post, a friend asked me how I put the sign in the background behind the horses. Long story short, I didn't. That was a lucky shot, a rare moment in light and time that froze in a way that the eye did not catch until after the shutter released.

With the exception of cropping and resizing, I don't enhance any of the pictures on my blog. I do not have anything against Photoshop or in my case, I like Gimp, it works better for me, but that is personal preference.

It wouldn't have been hard to do with today's software, but I made the decision not to enhance any of the pictures when I started this blog and with the exception of older pre dSlr day pictures, I have stuck to that. It is more of a way for me to get back to the basics and relearn the art I had felt I was losing to the ease of post production.

To me, technology has gotten to the point that picture alteration has become a whole new art and discipline removed from photography. How much change can be made before the picture is no longer what it was? How much before it becomes the realm of light-impossible?

I feel not using enhancement tools in my photos trains my eye to pay attention to the little things like light, color, contrast and shadow.

I still use Gimp for some of my personal photos. Mostly for getting rid of unwanted elements or adding desirable ones. My focus now is to become a better photographer.

I will point out if and when I use enhancements to the photos on my blogs.