\u201cHead, heart and hand play a simultaneous role in the creative process,\u201d according to Herbert Bayer.<\/p>\n
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\nYes, that\u2019s true, but while we make digital photographs with our hands and heart, I think our brain is the visual master. Try printing without it. Not only must we use our brains to create unique imagery, we must also use our brains to edit out the lousy stuff. We must anticipate in order to escape imagery that is thoughtless and pictures we have done before. This is your brain on Photoshop.<\/p>\n
When your friend shows you an image she raves about, you know her \u201cheart was in it,\u201d and she loves the photograph. Surround yourself with like-minded photographers to support your process. And invite your brain to work. Let\u2019s look at seven working principles.<\/p>\n
The seven principles of the photography process are purpose, character, form, tools, methods, creativity, and balance. To have methods, tools, and form means using your thinking brain to critique your imaging. A good critical question to ask yourself is \u201cSo what?\u201d For instance, I look at my pictures and ask, \u201cSo what about the method?\u201d and \u201cSo what about the form?\u201d of the shot. Let\u2019s start with purpose.<\/p>\n
1. Purpose<\/strong> is how ideas are revealed. When you manipulate a digital image in Photoshop, you don\u2019t have to have to have every step planned, but you can ask, \u201cSo what is my purpose here?\u201d My purpose at right was to capture a subject flying over a rainbow. For the rainbow-and-pelicans picture above, I shot the background long before I shot the birds. The method required adding artificial light on the birds that matched the direction of sunlight in the rainbow background. I accomplished this trick using Photoshop\u2019s Filter > Render > Lighting Effects <\/strong>dialog. Matching the light on the birds with the background meant applying Lighting Effects in a new way, letting go of the initial purpose for two separate images. At lower right is the first version I discarded because it wasn\u2019t balanced.<\/p>\n Since the pelicans were cut out from a separate image, and pasted in above the rainbow, they could be moved around. The decision to place the pelicans just above right of center came from puzzling over Principle #7: Balance.<\/strong> The pelicans balanced with the boats when the edge of an uplifted wing formed a triangle with the white boat at left and the yellow dinghy. Why did I want to create a triangle? Because I learned in a Freeman Patterson workshop that triangles are a basic visual design element. The final picture seemed to fit the title \u201cFlying over the Rainbow.\u201d So what? The purpose was to learn more Photoshop, practice with novel tools, and let my brain find a balanced composition.<\/p>\n In this dual portrait of Colorado\u2019s former governor Richard Lamm and his wife Dottie Lamm, they were speaking at two different events, but I wanted profiles and a three-quarter view of each of them. The trait I wanted to convey was the straightforwardness these politicians have when they speak, as I tried to reach beyond their appearance to their character.<\/p>\n In nature photography, honesty defines character, so be honest about your Photoshop use. Consider the context where you publish your photographs.\u00a0Use forethought. Do you owe the viewer a disclosure of how the image was changed or altered for artistic or commercial reasons? The blue eyes at left and below do not show how a real red crowned crane appears. This is a digital composite, so that fact was included in the file information. The File > File Info<\/strong> tool in Photoshop can add a credit, copyright or caption about the image before you sell it.<\/p>\n 3. Form<\/strong> means that someone has to live in your photo as if it were a home. It is the body of the subject. Lighting defines form. Side-lighting and back-lighting are marks of photographers who think about light and seek it out for its own beauty, chasing it after others have gone back to the car. Practice photography in the dark, at dusk, in coalmines, and with all kinds of artificial light. No lighting situation is too dim for modern imaging digicams. Below, the mirrored image of a flower in my hot tub was lit from above with sunlight, and I painted over distracting highlights in Photoshop.<\/p>\n Photographers sometimes tell me they used only \u201cnatural\u201d light, and they \u201cdidn\u2019t manipulate this in any way. It\u2019s all natural.\u201d Fine, but be cautious. You may be setting yourself up for making images that threaten to fall into monotony as they exclude an entire universe of forms where exquisite light can be added to enhance your purpose.<\/p>\n 3. Form.<\/strong>The mirrored image of a flower shot in my hot tub was lit from above with sunlight, and I painted over distracting highlights in Photoshop.<\/strong><\/p>\n 4. Tools. <\/strong>In this image, taken at Denver\u2019s Fort restaurant, on-camera and remote flash were used during a snowfall.<\/p>\n 4. Tools<\/strong> can be film, digital, scanning or any alternative process that lets you capture light, as long as it is used when your brain is connected to it. An economy of tools characterizes the artist. There are great imaging artists that work with a scanner and paintbrushes. However, at times, photographers need extra tools. Forget your tripod when you travel and you risk photographs that look rushed, as if you were on a quick tour and didn\u2019t have time to get off the bus and plant your feet. Take your Mac\/PC laptop or mini computer and memory to back up your digital images when you travel, so you can work while the image ideas are clear in your mind\u2019s eye, and your tools will serve you well.<\/p>\n Plan the shot in advance. For example, Photoshop-added light works really well when you\u2019ve already used an on-camera or remote flash. In the image above, taken at Denver\u2019s Fort restaurant, on-camera and remote flash were used during a snowfall. This flash was bounced off a white canvas at camera right. While I lightened the campfire behind the couple, the detail in the fire was already there from the on-camera flash. Without the tools of tripod, three light sources, and chosen shutter speed duration to catch the snowflakes, this image would have been a dark blur. The shot was made at night, in twenty-five degrees Fahrenheit, but it conveys warmth.<\/p>\n While the main shot was taken at D Thomas Floyd studios with a tripod, I was playing around with the Edit> Transform > Transform Again<\/strong> Command (Shift + CTRL\/ Command + T). The end result ( left) was thirty transformations of the figure. These background motifs give movement to the model as he holds the gun. This seemed to establish an \u201cin-your-face\u201d character in the portrait where, perhaps, the use of a blur technique would not have been as effective. The picture became a concept advertisement and was not titled. Its purpose? To learn a new process in Photoshop that is useful. Read on for principle #6: Creativity<\/strong>.<\/p>\n 6. Creativity <\/strong>For Picasso, art was change. To be creative and make pictures that are ahead of their time, you must make changes. Change the tools of your vision with each year. Change your approach. I invite photo students to say to themselves, \u201cIt\u2019s okay to make bad pictures\u201d to get them to loosen up and take more images. If you\u2019re basing the forms in your pictures on emotions, suggest to yourself that you may use mathematics or music as guiding forces of your compositions. Many photographers are inspired by jazz, for instance.<\/p>\n The image at right of another crane at the Denver Zoo is number fifty-six of sixty shots. Fifty-nine were edited out; no one will see them. Were they failures? The specs of the three-year process were a Canon D-30 three-megapixel camera, Canon 180 macro L lens, wide aperture and fast shutter, tripod, and Photoshop 6.0 with a custom action to run several filters at partial opacity. I discarded pictures I\u2019d shot that showed more of the body of the bird, because the white feathers would have thrown off the balance. So what? The movement of the bird\u2019s head balances the stillness of its body. The saturated color of the red balances neutral colors in the background. A question I asked was, \u201cI\u2019ve seen thousands of African Crowned Crane pictures, but have I ever seen one like this?\u201d<\/p>\n 7. <\/strong>Balance is the seventh and final principle of vision discussed here. It\u2019s a lot like balancing a boat. You try to have the visual weight of the parts of the picture spread out, so no one area has too much weight. Balance is the rhythm and proportion within a photograph. To get it, you can use negative space, under-saturate some colors to balance bright color, or use motion to balance stillness. Another way to balance is to fill the frame, as in this photograph of two dogs in a rowboat. Challenge your brain with Photoshop, and your heart and hands will find their own creative balance.<\/p>\n Text\/Color Images James Austin M.A., A.C.E.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.apogeephoto.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/july2004\/Dick%20Lamm%20and%20Dottie%20Lamm.jpg\")
\n2. Character<\/strong> is the photographer\u2019s inner life and attitudes toward a subject. Attitude drives your photographs. Why? As Emerson put it \u201cThat only which we have within, can we see without.\u201d<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.apogeephoto.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/july2004\/file%20info%20crane%20picure%20copy.jpg\")
\nThinking ahead to how your hard-earned images will be used will keep you a respected photographer. Ask if your pictures could do anyone harm. Do you need to refrain from taking a picture? In today\u2019s climate, where you can be imprisoned or detained, forced to erase pictures from your digital camera by the police, or fired for taking a picture, thinking ahead may be a vital skill. Have integrity.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.apogeephoto.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/july2004\/austin3.jpg\")
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\n5. <\/strong>Methods are the techniques of the working process. As a fisherman casts a wide net, I photograph everything when I hold the camera. Some images are stronger. Later, I work like an architect with these stronger compositions, planning and building space and light within the image. At left is an example of a repetitive method to add motion in Photoshop.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.apogeephoto.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/july2004\/austin4.jpg\")
Creativity is not technology. We can\u2019t just take our pictures, run a Photoshop filter, and call the image creative, because a machine can do that and do it faster than we can. Like clothes without the emperor, too much filtering makes us see the exterior when the subject matter has been wiped out. Creativity comes from the brain; it is a process of seeing and meditating. When you make a print, put it aside and meditate on it for a day or a month. I like to think that the word \u201cedit\u201d is in the middle of meditate.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/www.apogeephoto.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/july2004\/austin5.jpg\")
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