Lately I’ve been posting some Photographs online only to get the old-fashioned, tired, lame, “that looks so good it could have only been done in Photoshop” comment.
Really? 1995 called and wants its excuses back!
Just because YOU can’t make a photograph doesn’t mean that someone else can’t. It’s easy to “blame” Photoshop. It makes for a good excuse. But it’s BS.
First let’s be clear – there is NO such thing as truth in photography. It never existed – it doesn’t exist – it can’t exist. You can capture a moment in time as it happened and THINK it’s truth but really it isn’t. You have no duty to even worry about that – unless you’re a photo-journalist.
If you use a slow shutter speed and photograph a waterfall and you don’t TOUCH the picture in post. Is that real? Do waterfalls really look like cotton candy?
How about underexposing a sunset to make the colors richer? Is that “real?” Please – get over this.
It’s simple. If you want to make excuses for not getting the shot and blame those of us who use post-processing – be my guest. But know this – you aren’t fooling anyone.
Photoshop, Lightroom, Aperture, iPhoto, etc are all now part of the normal workflow for digital photography. This is our new darkroom. You may disagree, but my position is that if it starts its life in a camera, no matter what happens to it in post, it’s still a photograph and it takes talent, vision and dedication to make that final image – however you get there.
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Scott Bourne
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