Digital Manipulation....

No.1 - Original Raw File

What a strange place the digital world is. I was preparing my selection for the British Wildlife Photographic awards before I finalised my selection I let my wife view them. This is always a good idea as it allows me to verify my selections and get feedback. We came to one photograph that, whilst was strong could just be a bit stronger. The photograph had come from a series shot in a few seconds so I had a number of very close variations. Sure enough there was a photograph that filled the brief so much better (No.1). Having checked the brief again I went to work processing the image to make it an acceptable photograph.

At this point it is worth noting the rules on digital manipulation:

"...Digital processing, such as contrast, selective exposure and colour adjustments, removal of dust marks, and sharpening is acceptable. Digital manipulation, including composite images and the addition and/or subtraction of objects is prohibited. Images should retain their naturalism and integrity...." - Entry Restrictions:

No.2 - Content Aware Scaling

A facility within Photoshop CS4 is 'Content Aware Scaling' (CAS) - this is an ability to remove areas of the image that are very similar whilst maintaining the size and integrity of the main items within the image. It is a very meat piece of software but it drives a coach and horse through the digital manipulation - or does it? When you compare No.2 and No.3 you will see what I mean. No.2 has scaling applied

No.3 - Conventional Cropping

What the CAS has done is remove a slither of sea between the two main birds in the photograph. By doing this it has made the photograph far more impactive. (This is very difficult to see on the photographs on the blog but in real life it is noticeable.) However, this is nothing compared to the crop of the original (compare No.1 with No.3) and yet cropping has been part of photography since the first Fox-Talbot negative. Now these two images are subtle and there will no doubt be much more blatant applications of CAS. It does, however, go to the false argument that a photograph never lies. This conceit has been around for as long as there has been photography and it is totally bogus. Photography only records what the photographer wants it to record. he/she makes all the choices and only shows the viewer what he/she wants them to see. Photography is a con - it always has been - it just that now it is so much easier for the '...Average Joe...' to partake in the con.

So what will I do? Well I will submit No.3 but in the knowledge that No.2 is a better photograph (in my view) - I just wonder if other contestants will be as conscious of the dangers?