Oooo photoshop, my careless love.

I took this picture of another A2Ker.

Can you help?

Hey! I don't allow photos of me to be posted online!

It's Totally Girly And Such!

I, like, totally LOVE her!

I love you too, soz.

Here's what I'm talking about:

This is the photo I started with:



Here is one of the versions I ended up with:



I'm wondering how much of what I do is still really photography and how much is computerese.

And if it really makes a difference.

Well, I'm guessing those bottom three aren't a direct product of the picture you started with.

My picture above actually started from the same photo.

Good work boomer.

Nice work! I'd say it doesn't make a difference. I always tinker with my photos. usually that works to my advantage.

Thank you both. I like the finished photo pretty well. I think the person I took it for will like it too.

But it really seems that it isn't so much about photography anymore. The image is still important but the process is so different that it just seems... phoney?

Not too awfully long ago the photograph would have immediately been in my reject pile. No question about it. There is too much wrong with it.

Really anyone with a camera, Photoshop and a little bit of time could do what I did to that photo.

I guess what I'm trying to get at is --

At what point does being a professional photographer make any difference?

Why would someone hire a photographer when they could really do the same thing themselves?

Where does the "value" come from for someone to pay for such a service?

I'm on the verge on launching a new aspect of my services and frankly, I'm not sure where the value lies.

I know that the people I've worked for LIKE the stuff I'm shooting, and they are willing to pay for it but it seems to me that I'm.... I don't know.... cheating?

I mean honestly, look at that top photo, anyone in the world could take that.

Here's another version working from the same image:



Am I still a photographer or am I something else?

I love the footsies!

Boomer, not just anybody could make that set of photos. You are still a photographer, believe me!

Definitely!

There is an eye at work, not just the technical thissing and thatting, and it's a fine eye.

Boomer,
You are indeed a very talented photographer with a unique eye. Photoshop is just a tool that gives you the ability to edit that painters have always had.
No shame.
No foul.

Run with it sister...

Interesting.

Thank you.

This is really a bit embarrassing but this is the original "feet" photo:



IT'S HORRID!

I can't even believe I took it.

I guess where the problem really comes in is that with a lot of this stuff I can't even imagine letting the person see the original photos.

I've always sold off of proofs and I would no more proof these and send them out than I would cut off my thumbs. I would be embarrassed for anyone I was shooting for to see the first images.

And that feels really weird to me.

Recently someone sent me some photos that they had taken and asked me to do a layout for them. I was happy to do it but it really made me think about what it is I do. Is it the layout that makes it work? Or what?

Then I shot these photos and I REALLY started thinking about it.

At what point does it become graphic design? Or scrapbooking? Or something else?

Boomer,
You are doing the classic "overthinking" that all artists worth their salt go through. Trust your eye and your gut.
There is no shame in having "professional secrets".

You are a talent...Believe in that.

Run with it.

You make the shot, you crop the shot, you adjust it just right...... I think that the tootsie shot is all the more impressive knowing what the original looks like!

littlek is a wise woman.

Indeed she is!

I don't really have a problem with not being a photographer as long as I can continue doing what I like to do, though.

You're both right, in a way, in that doing the Photoshop thing is not too different from what I could do in the darkroom -- just easier, waaaaaay easier.

I've always considered myself to be more of a craftsman than an artist but it seems that a lot of the craft is no longer necessary.

Or, at least, that the crafting has changed.

Photography has always walked the tightrope between art and commerce. I have no problem coming down on the commerce side so it's not a question of "selling out" but more a question of remaining true.

I confess when someone wanted me to help with their layout I was torn between "oh man this has serious marketing potential!" and "ack, that's mine, mine, mine, mine, mine".

Doing it for them (I volunteered to do it, I enjoyed doing it and I would volunteer and enjoy it again) was a GREAT excercise and I would really like to excercize the muscle a bit more.

I'm GLAD they asked me to do it. I'm FLATTERED.

But in a really weird way it was kind of soul-crushing.

You used your material to compose a layout for what? Advertisement?

I used THEIR material, their photographs, to produce a layout -- like mine -- for them.

It was just for kicks.

Just for a friend that needed a hand.

I used their photos, but did it in my style.

Really it was cool. I was happy to do it.

I thought "Holy cow! I could probably make a fortune working with other people's photos!"

It was a phenomonal excercise. I had to restrain myself from editing and dedicate myself to arranging. In a big way it wasn't that much different from what I do now.

I had to restrain myself from opinion and commentary and that is something I have to do every day anyway.

And it made me think -- maybe I don't even need to go out and shoot. Maybe I can just arrange. Maybe people just want arrangements. Maybe I can just sit at home and arrange things. What could I charge for THAT?

Then I shot these photos and they were mediocre and I started arranging and they started looking pretty good.

And I started thinking that maybe I'm a good arranger. Maybe I'm a better arranger than I am a photographer.

But I like photographing.

Additionally, we just had Mo's birthday party and I had his photo album out. He has a gigantic and impressive photo album. People were drooling.

And I thought some more about arranging things.

Honestly, a lot of things have come together over the last few weeks that make me wonder where I'm going and what I'm doing and where I want to be and what I want to be doing.

And wondering how I can best make some money doing something that I love doing.

I see..... hmmm... sort of.

What was it you arranged? Can you tell me what a layout is?

I arranged their photos into a collage like the one's I do - with the big photo, some smaller photos and a caption that they provided.

It looked like my work with someone else's photos.

I know this sounds insane and insanely vain, and I don't mean it to be that way, but it was like an homage to myself.

It was kind of freaky!

But flattering.