Digital Manipulation: The Great `Reality` Debate

Digital Manipulation: The Great ‘Reality’ Debate
by Kas Stone
Tweaking images is nothing new. We all do it. Yes, even the purists who claim that in-camera
perfection is the only true measure of photographic worth, even they have been known to pan or
zoom their own interpretive stamp on reality in the field.
Masters throughout photographic history have enriched their captures with chemical wizardry in the
darkroom. And in today’s digital ‘lightrooms’ most of us have learned at least a few basic techniques
that enable us to remove spots and adjust tonality and colour to make our pictures pop. Indeed,
those who shoot raw are obliged to tweak the data from their cameras, just to turn it into pixels they
can see on their computer monitors. Some have gone farther, acquiring advanced skills with layers,
masks, filters and plug-ins, sometimes tweaking to such an extreme that the resulting images seem to
be more tweak than photograph.
Which raises some uncomfortable questions: Have you noticed that it is almost always the people
with the most sophisticated Photoshop skills who create the most compelling images and win the
competitions? Now be honest, if you aren’t a Photoshop expert, do you ever feel envious, maybe a
tad resentful of those that are? Do you find yourself peering suspiciously at beautiful images,
wondering if they might be fake? Or, if you are proficient with Photoshop, do you feel awkward or
even slightly guilty that your images are beautiful at least in part because of digital trickery?
Is it Real or is it Photoshopped? This has become the Question of the Day, often punctuated with a
venomous spit or a wistful sigh. But to my mind it is as irrelevant as the question “Film or Digital?” of
a decade ago. Instead I reply: Does it matter? Who cares, really? And if you care, why? These are the
important questions, and their answers lie, not in the images before us, but within ourselves.
So, let’s put aside our Photoshop paranoia for a moment. Let’s take a fresh look at digital
manipulation and address its challenges with thoughtful, rather than defensive, responses.
The Technical Challenge
The first challenge is a technical one: acknowledging that digital post-processing is a necessary part of
today’s photographic workflow, then investing the time and effort to learn to do it well and keep up
with the ever-evolving software. The people who resent digital manipulation most vigorously are
usually the people who haven’t done this – yet.
Technical expertise does not appear by magic overnight. No matter how user-friendly the image
editing software (and it must be conceded that Photoshop, the industry standard, is not), becoming
competent takes months of practice. Becoming an expert requires, it is said, persistence for at least
ten thousand hours to master the advanced techniques – just as it does with any other worthwhile
endeavour. So, if you want the skills, well, knuckle down and learn them.
© Kas Stone, 2014
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The Ethical Challenge
The second challenge is an ethical one: deciding how much manipulation is acceptable in an image.
‘Acceptable’ is a social construct. It pertains to viewers’ expectations about image authenticity, and
reflects their unwillingness to be deceived. Photographically the continuum ranges from As Shot
(think photojournalism and nature competitions) to Minor Touch-ups (portraits) to Anything Goes
(abstracts and creative competitions, where manipulation is not merely tolerated, but encouraged).
The ethics of digital manipulation depend on the context in which the image is viewed, and on the
photographer’s intent. A photographer who misrepresents his photograph in order to deceive the
viewer is, quite simply, cheating. This may happen if he has stolen the image, or knowingly broken
the rules of competition, or, in the case of a digitally manipulated image, if he falsely claims that it
depicts a real subject, place or event.
There is, in fact, no such thing as an unethical photograph, just an unethical photographer. The
identical image may be viewed either as a fraud or a creative masterpiece, depending on whether the
photographer presents it in a nature competition or a gallery of contemporary art.
And the way to avoid the question of ethics? It’s easy: play by the rules, and don’t try to pass a
manipulated image off as real.
The Philosophical Challenge
Which brings us to digital manipulation’s philosophical challenge: the relationship between
photography and ‘reality’. Whole scholarly volumes have been written on this subject, but what it
boils down to is the popular misconception that cameras record the physical world factually and
objectively, capturing a subject in faithful detail at a precise moment in time. However
photographers know that even so-called straight captures depend on technical things like lens length,
camera settings, and the direction and intensity of light, and can be significantly influenced by their
own visual design decisions through the viewfinder.
The spectrum of realism ranges from Strictly Documentary to what is usually called Photographic Art.
At the documentary end, the photographs are all about the subject. The photographer’s role is that
of technician who selects the camera settings that will portray the subject as authentically as
possible, with minimal, if any, digital manipulation in rendering the image. The most rigorous
examples are passport or forensic photos – images whose express purpose is that of accurate
identification.
At the opposite end of the spectrum are interpretive photographs that may bear little resemblance
to the original reality, and instead communicate the photographer’s emotional response to that
reality – aiming to evoke a response in the viewer too. A subject is presented imaginatively, perhaps
attractively, oddly or even disturbingly, but in the end the image says as much about the
photographer as it does about the subject.
© Kas Stone, 2014
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In the realm of photographic art, effectiveness is often achieved with help from digital manipulation.
This is not to say, I hasten to add, that Photoshop is necessary for the creation of photographic art!
Often the art is in the inspired seeing of reality and positioning of its elements in the frame. But
nowadays it is possible to complement artistry with software, and the photographer may cheerfully
alter, extract, combine and manufacture elements to suit his creative vision. The original images may
become mere ingredients; the photographer may mimic the painter’s blank-canvas approach in the
crafting of a photograph. Ultimately, if the image communicates the photographer’s vision to his
satisfaction, does it matter whether its origins are real or digitally constructed? (This question is
meant to be rhetorical!)
The Semantic Challenge
Perhaps digital manipulation’s biggest remaining challenge is a semantic one. The word ‘manipulate’
means nothing more than to ‘change’, ‘alter’, ‘edit’ or ‘manage’. Yet it is often paired with pejorative
adverbs like ‘deviously’, ‘unfairly’, ‘unscrupulously’ or ‘exploitatively’ – ethical censure that truly only
applies when a photographer cheats.
Why not pair it instead with ‘skilfully’, ‘adeptly’, ‘competently’ or ‘expertly’? Or better still, replace
‘manipulate’ with ‘enhance’ – to ‘make better’, ‘enrich’, ‘improve’, ‘strengthen’, ‘intensify’ – which
is, after all, what most of us are trying to do when we open our images in Photoshop.
Final Thoughts
Every photograph that accompanies this article has been digitally enhanced, first with basic
optimizing in Adobe Camera Raw, and then in Photoshop with editorial layers and masks, often with
filters, and sometimes even a little magic. If it matters, most have won awards at the national level.
Are they effective or are they fake? You be the judge.
Bio
Kas Stone tries to be a photographic artist. From her studio-gallery in Dublin Shore on Nova Scotia’s
South Shore she teaches digital imaging workshops and finds plenty of photographic inspiration in
the wild coastal scenery and changeable weather right outside her door. Visit her at
www.kasstone.ca.
© Kas Stone, 2014
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Photographs (Before-and-After Versions)
December Beach makes use of digital simplification to turn an ordinary capture in to a powerful portrayal of a
wild winter storm (Lake Erie, 2009). Peripheral branches and litter have been cloned out, colour has been
removed with monochrome conversion, and tonality and edge definition significantly enhanced.
Built to Last cobbles together an successful image from mundane beginnings at Toronto’s Black Creek Pioneer
Village. It required a surprising amount of tinkering, with several image elements repositioned, considerable
adjustments to colour and tonality, and a little help from Photoshop’s Poster Edges filter. The result is a tighter
composition, richer colours, and a rustic appearance eminently suited to the subject.
The Light at Cape Forchu employs a landscape photography tradition of replacing a boring sky with a beautiful
one. Heightened tonality and colour, along with geometric adjustments, turn the original bland image of this
Nova Scotia lighthouse into a strong portrait of a beacon that might indeed warn mariners off the rocks in
stormy seas.
© Kas Stone, 2014
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www.kasstone.ca
January Morning began as an unpromising capture during a snowshoe trek across Luther Marsh (Ontario). The
tree and grasses caught my eye, but much work with the clone tool was necessary to extract them from the
background, simplifying and making the scene more intimate. Sharpening and selective application of
Photoshop’s Paint Daubs and Watercolour filters created an etched, painterly effect. Then a knife-edge border
to enclose the scene, a few (Nova Scotian) starlings to add some life, and, hey presto, one of my most popular
creations emerged.
Frosted Aurora shows how two unrelated images – an ordinary landscape in harsh sunlight (Beach Meadows,
Nova Scotia) and an ice detail from a frozen puddle - may be combined for a pleasing result. The landscape was
converted to a black silhouette and sharpened to create crisp edges. The ice was tonally inverted and treated
with an overlay of colour. Then, with a bit of warping, the ice pattern slid nicely behind the trees to create a
dynamic sky reminiscent of an aurora.
Northern Light was inspired by a stunning sky over Quebec’s Gaspé Peninsula in 2008, but the image lingered in
my Cloud Bank file for several years until a Georgian Bay paddling trip in 2012 supplied some whaleback rocks
whose shapes seemed the perfect complement to the clouds. The tricky part was blending these elements with
the ‘water’ – actually a motion-blurred combination of Georgian Bay with an inverted duplicate of the Gaspé
sky – which involved masking and tonal tweaking to create the luminous quality and misty effect around the
rocks.
© Kas Stone, 2014
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Snow Forest achieves its unusual effect by
combining two captures of the same subject,
one sharp, the other blurred (an in-camera
pan). The blurred version introduces lovely
simple lines and a de-cluttered background,
while the sharp version provides selective
crisp detail that is emphasized by local
sharpening and contrast adjustments.
Monochrome conversion, digitally created
snowflakes and a compatible border
provided the finishing touches.
Songbirds was inspired by the comings and goings of a flock of starlings along hydro wires in Seaforth, Nova
Scotia. In the flat light of a grey day, their unexpected resemblance to a stave of musical notes prompted my
imagination to take flight and, with help from Photoshop’s pen, warp and graphics tools, compose this
harmonious construction.
13 - Night Sky began as a Photoshop experiment in creating digital stars and star-trails to add interest to a black
sky around a full moon over Lake Superior. The hawk helps to give the finished construction a touch of realism
at first glance, which fades to puzzlement on closer inspection – part of the image’s appeal.
© Kas Stone, 2014
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Further Reading
In Print:
Bruce Barnbaum, The Essence of Photography, 2015
David duChemin, Photographically Speaking: A Deeper Look at Creating Stronger Images, 2012.
Alain Briot, Mastering Photographic Composition, Creativity and Personal Style, 2009.
Freeman Patterson, Photography and the Art of Seeing 1985 + later editions.
Juergen Gulbins, Mastering Photoshop Layers, 2013
Online:
www.photoshopessentials.com/basics/layers/layer-masks/
www.luminous-landscape.com (Essays, Tutorials and Understanding sections are inspiring resources)
www.beautiful-landscape.com (Alain Briot’s “Essays” make good reading)
Just Google “digital manipulation” and settle back for weeks of reading on both sides of the issue!
Website Galleries (Canadian Photographers!) for Inspiration:
Barbara Bender: http://barbarabenderphoto.photium.com/portfolio229705.html
Katherine Keates: www.katherinekeatesphotography.com/collections
Richard Martin: www.richardmartinphoto.com/
Darwin Wiggett: www.oopoomoo.com/galleries/
Avi Cohen: www.avicohenphotography.com/collections
© Kas Stone, 2014
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