Making Sausage…

A high-brow is someone who looks at a sausage and thinks of Picasso.

A. P. Herbert

… Is in the Details

In my opinion the original photograph is just the starting place. My attitude regarding the sanctity of the original changed with the digital age. When I discovered that I could make what I took look like what was in my head when I took it, everything changed.

I present to you three photographs. I was with some friends in a local park. I had my tiny Canon G7x Mark II camera. My friend called it my walkabout camera. It is. I can easily fit it in the palm of my hand.

We were sitting and talking and I had the camera in my lap. For some reason, and here is where the mystical comes into play, I turned almost 180 degrees around. I spotted the scene, the shadows, the sunlight, the deep color of the umbrella and the kids’ clothing. I took two exposures. I knew I had something in the second of the two. I turned back around and re-engaged. (I am a rude, ADHD laden photographer.)

Next is the first edited image. I cropped tightly. I lost detail, but I did not care. It was the color and composition I was after. I enhanced the color. But do you notice the kid playing above the umbrella? The color of his clothing matches, but he is a distracting element visually speaking. Nothing personal, kid.

Below is the final image. I exported the file from Lightroom and then imported it to Photoshop Elements. I used the Elements cloning tool to remove the child above the umbrella. Because the image is soft, the cloning tool edits are not as noticeable as they would have been had the image been sharp. The end result is more pleasing to the eye, a much better composition.

I don’t have to make every image razor sharp. The tiny Canon camera has a small sensor. If you photograph with it, and you use the telephoto, and then crop, you can expect the result to not be sharp. But I knew that when I started.

The point is, have a camera and be there. Then match the results to the image that you remember.

Selah.