Are you a Purist?

In the latest post on RAW – an amateur photography site, featuring a monthly photo contest and much more -the photography site at Boston.com. The article on the featured photographer begins with this sentence “Arnold Kaplan doesn’t subscribe to the notion that the image you capture in the camera is the image you have to end up with.” Okay!? So who does?

Occasionally I run across this notion that merely reproducing what you see is the start of the photographic process. As if the “merely” is as simple as pressing the shutter button. As Mr. Kaplan put it “just making a copy of what Mother Nature has created.” I didn’t know reproducing the three dimensional world on a two dimensional surface was so easy. Therefore, true artistry is manipulating what you saw into something “more”.

Am I disparaging the person who wants to do more with their images? Beyond adjusting Hue and Saturation,dodging and burning or selective sharpening, for instance. No. It’s a constant source of amazement what people are able to see. And create what they see. Sometimes I like what they create and sometimes I don’t. If I don’t does that make me a “Purist”?

It seems to me the only criteria for a good image is the “wow” factor. Such as when Scott Kelby chose the winning photo for his recent Photowalk. Photoshop Insider » The Challenge of Finding a Winner For My “Worldwide Photowalk” (and the winners are revealed!). How much artistry you apply to an image is of no consequence without that final effect.