I have a job interview today. This would be a job that I’d like to have because it’s at the University and because it’s full-time. This means that I’d get good benefits and my schooling would cost a mere $25 a semester. I could go to Grad school for $25 a semester! Amazing!

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During this free month, I’ve really been focusing on my photography. I’m trying to find my photographic voice.

In that time, I’ve had conversations with myself and others about the use of image software in photography. I have long been an advocate of not using too much post-processing in the delivery of my photographs. Lastely, I have used it to convert from color to b&w because my camera doesn’t do b&w but otherwise, I’m pretty conservative on my processing uses.

As I’ve read more forums and watched more photographers deliver their images, I’ve found that most of the popular photographers on photoblogs.org use post-processing HEAVILY. I’m not just talking about cropping, resizing, a little contrast, etc. They use it to completely change the image from what it was to what they’d like it to be. They blur backgrounds, they use layers to draw out colors in specific areas and not in others, they do things that I’m only learning that you can do. I’ve seen some wipe out entire elements in their images using the cloning tools. I’m blown away by this.

So, I’ve talked to a few people that I respect completely in this field. I posed this query:

I’ve always felt that the skill is in taking the picture. However, I’ve come to find out that most people who post things on the web use Photoshop to dress up their images…some even change the entire thing, making it incredible through post-processing. I’ve played around with it a bit more lately and I find that it’s fun but I also fear that I may be betraying the art itself. Am I a true photographer if I’m tweaking it with a graphics program or is that just a tool to make the image what I feel like I saw when I took the picture?

It’s so confusing and I feel like it’s almost an ethical question. You know?

One person is a teacher of photography (and has given me GREAT advice in improving my own photographic skills). She said,

I don’t have any answers. What is the purpose of the picture? all the discussions on my listserv are about chemical versus digital and they aren’t going near the tweak question yet. there are considered ethical
considerations in major photographic magazines, considered wrong to modify nature pictures digitally etc. but it is going on. I’m not sure what kind of answer you are looking for. there was a time when dodging and burning
were considered perhaps “cheating”, and that phase is long gone. What is reality? do we know.

As an amateur you get to do whatever you feel like. As a professional you will abide by the rules of whatever your employer has asked for. and that will depend on their purposes and goals. so it is an open question and is
unlikely to become a closed question in a hurry. People are as nervous about what we can do now as they are about genetic engineering. i don’t think we want to create the big lies in our pictures but we do want to make people look, think and feel.

so there you go, no answer.

Another person, a professional in photography and graphic arts said this:

You are talking about photography but the medium you are using is imaging. Working with film is very different from digital, let the medium that you use mould you. That said struggling with these issues is part of the process and your questioning is an indication that you are very involved in the process. There are no answers except the ones that you already have, there are no rules, rules are like influence they hold you back. Language and culture are very closely related, imaging is like a language, become fluent know the language and you will be part of the culture. “The medium is the message” a famous Canadian Marshall Mcluhan said that quote I hope that it has meaning for you.

In reading their words, I feel so much better about my struggles. I feel that this is a part of the growth process that is required of someone in a new field.

I have to find out what is right for me. I have to find that place where I’m comfortable, not crossing a personal ethical line, and still producing something that makes me proud.

I’ve looked through my archives. I’ve come a long way in 10 months. My skills are improving constantly and the work I’m producing now is by far much better than it was last August.

I hope that by next August, they will have improved even more.