When I started taking photography seriously a couple of decades ago, I had more fun manipulating the images I took than in the actual taking of them, in part because I knew they’d never be clear enough as is to hang on a wall as art. Once I Photoshopped the hell out of them, however, I though could perhaps have attained something original to display regardless of gigapixel or dots-per-inch.
About 10 years ago, I started to concentrate more on taking what I wanted to be good photograph, one that had the impact within the shot already, and one that required little adjustment afterward. A better camera helped, as did a subsequent long zoom lens. Over the years, I learned to crop in my head while framing a shot, and to do it more quickly. I often practiced on inanimate things like statues and doorways and sleeping animals—perfect models for learning how to focus.
So for the most part, the pictures I now end up with have very little darkroom manipulation, as it were. I crop some and boost the color and contrast a bit because I like how it makes the images pop. A newer camera made it all even easier because since I got it, it’s conscripted all my attention and I’m like some dehydrated Lawrence of Arabia wandering the desert in search of a photograph…any photograph.
Until this week.
I use Adobe Lightroom, liking it far more than iPhoto. For one, it doesn’t assume it knows what I want more than I do. Rare enough in these days of Apple hegemony.
And this week, I began to play around again with different parameters just to see what they would do to shots I might normally reject. Then I went back and tried things on shots that I wouldn’t reject.
What you see here today are some of those.
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All Words and Images ©2014 Brian Hallas.
No use without written permission. All rights express or implied reserved.
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