Creative Photography

There has been some debate in over the years as to whether photography can be Art and with the onset of the digital age and plethora of digital software, is there any skill involved with creating these digital images like there is with an Artist and his painting? Interesting point but that then begs the question, what is Art? Who decides what constitutes Art? 

I won't attempt to answer the big question  - What is Art? However, I would like to address the issue of 'skill'. It is fair to say that with the dawning of the technological age and the plethora of software available, it is now easier to produce 'Art' without using traditional methods, however using the technology is a skill in itself, maybe not to the exacting standards of the High echelons of Traditional Art but none-the-less it does have some skill.

Also, as with some Photographers using digital software or what is referred to as a digital darkroom assists in altering a photograph to bring out the best in it - either by colour, framing or by small adjustments as in removing an unwanted item in the photograph by a variety of techniques. We have all heard of model air-brushing to remove blemishes and soften features, the same is often done to many of the most amazing photos taken.

My photo's receive mostly a small framing tidy by cropping the picture to improve the main subject, others have nothing done at all but a small few are digitally transformed by a share-ware program I and many other photographers use called IrfanView which can be found at www.irfanview.com. Its a simple program that allows me to use some photoshop techniques to alter my photographs. Other software programs that can be purchased offer far more than IrfanView, including cropping individual items in a photo and replacing them with another or rendering different coloured backgrounds or changing the colour of a specific item.

Below are examples of some of my photo's that have been digitally altered:-

Top Left: A log taken in King's Park, Perth  Top Centre: Different section of King's Park Log Top Right: Different section of King's Park Log
Middle Left:Different section of King's Park Log  Centre: Tree taken at Night  Middle Right: Lichen on a treeBottom Left: Jellyfish  Bottom Centre: Stormy clouds  Bottom Right: Clouds made to look like oil painting

These were altered by adding in one or two special effects, changing the whole outlook of some of the photos. Take the Lichen on a tree most when they see the photograph think its an aerial shot of coral beds in the sea and very few guess what the four wood pieces are originally, even the jellyfish has most stumped. I used Irfanview for cropping originally and then later discovered what else I could do. Most of these are a result of a happy accident of fiddling around and seeing what happens rather than trying to create new pictures.

Here are some more examples of digitally altered photos:-

Top Left: Partly leafed Tree taken at night Top Right: This was originally a sunset photo at St Kilda Beach
Bottom Left: Origially a Vodka bottle but was being used as a water bottle Bottom Right: Moreton Bay Fig Tree

Most of the above are obvious what they are, bar the sunset photo taken at St Kilda Beach, Victoria. Here's the original sunset photo:-

Sunset at St Kilda Beach, Victoria

The digitally Altered version of the photo above

Some prefer the originals others like the digitally altered photos, as I said I just like to play with the program, just like I do with the settings on my Camera. Digitally altering photo's is not the only way to be creative, you can also alter the angle , as well as the distance and framing at which you take the photograph. Have a look at some of the examples below :-

Remember this? Its the top of a fence post at Ringwood Lake Park, Ringwood, Victoria most people think its a nut when they first see this

Looking up at the peeling bark of a Tree at Sky High Mount Dandenong

Using a rock in the foreground, focusing on the rock to left in the background to create an almost 3D effect

Using the foreground of the beach grass to frame the setting sun on Gunnamatta Beach

When your camera doesn't have the zoom power of the higher priced cameras, take the photo at normal distance, then use the crop tool on the digital software to zoom in on your subject, it makes for clearer sharper pictures 

Again a simple crop to highlight the Duck Menage a Trois

So, as well as providing fuel to add to the debate about digitally created images, digitally altering a photo with a simple crop can enhance your experience of a simple point and shoot, digital camera and turn Okay photos into great photos. Remembering of course to utilise and play, the different settings and alter your view of the subject matter to add a little creation.

I will leave with one final photograph that was simply shot by changing my angle and a small crop for framing purposes:-

Water play on the Crown Esplanade, Melbourne CBD, Victoria
Here the droplets of water pop out on the page when enlarged

Next time we'll take a look at how photography has helped my Art and Visa-versa .....