CategoryJim’s Daily
It is getting near to Halloween and Owl often a used as a spooky symbol of the dark and scary – so a am working to produce a brief slide show for our Nature Center and creating a brochure with some Owl facts:
Click below to see my first draft of the Brochure!
I been thinking about things our TGO Photo Club Members will want to learn in our meetings this winter – I sent you all an e-mail asking for ideas back a way – Do not hesitate to send me more ideas!
Some ask for ideas on post processing – Elements, PhotoSop, etc:
Bryan Peterson has wrote a book – Third Edition 2015 – titled “Learning to See Creatively – Design, Color, and Composition in Photography”
We have used it in our learning session last winter and I hope we will use it again this year. The bulk of the book is focused on three chapters: Elements of Design, Composition, and the Magic of Light. The third edition has a small new chapter titled “PhotoShop.”
His theory in this new chapter is that using PhotoShop to create a photo is not BAD! It helps us be better photographers by bring out the creativity in us – Letting us study and practice creativity in design, composition, and light in the studio (our computer), so that in the field, we naturally use this creativity to be better photographers.
At first thought we may react to this PhotoShop suggestion by thinking “I do not want to do that because that is not pure photography”
However, I believe, every time you choose a lens to control depth of field, use a fisheye lens, select a telephoto lens to get the eagle’s nest or crop a scene, change the exposure, select an aperture, lay on your tummy to get a toads eye view, or climb a ladder to get a birds view, you are are not “pure” as the human eye sees it – your creative mind is changing what the human eye sees in order to get a better photograph. By practicing with PhotoShop you better know what you are trying to achieve when selecting the lens, setting the aperture, etc. in the field on your next photo trip.
Or maybe you are like me – the PhotoShopped output is the end product it’s self and not just practice – you choose your own reason why – but I say – do not be afraid to improve you photo skills by using the digital tools available to us in 2016/2017 and beyond!
Here are a few clouds I practiced on this morning:
Did you know – I did not – and I do not want the experience – but, I found that there is a hidden life in each one of some selected little mushroom morsels:
WHAT SOME HAVE SAID: As you know, I like to play with PhotoShop. Some have implied to me that photographic art created in PhotoShop is not photography – and maybe should not be part of our photo galleries. This Friday I will post on our PHOTO HAPPENINGS (photohappenings.com) a piece of Photo Art created by Jim Hennigar.
OOPS Thursday 9/22 update – I shifted my schedule a little – Keep checking photohappenings.com – It will be a couple of days beyond Friday before I get Jim Hennigar’s created photo posted there.
MY HOPE FOR THE CLUB: I hope Jim’s work will peak the interest of some members in our Photo Club to think about creating by using their Camera and PhotoShop as integrated tools.
I will pass on some of my own pondering and conclusion.
MY PONDERING: As I enjoy my lazy days on Drummond with too much time on my hands, I ponder my photo club hobby while I am doing my non photo hobbies – horses, gardens, property maintenance, canoeing , etc. — This week, I pondered the complex question “How does one define the line between photography and art?” or even better yet “Is there a line between photography and art – other then the media and equipment used to produce it?”
If photography is the act of recording reality, then, that would be creating a photograph which recorded the view as seen by a 20-20 human eye. – right?
When we, the photographer, selects an aperture to control depth of field to blur the background, did we leave 20-20 photography and step into the realm of art.
If we shoot in black and white, is it photography because it is possibly the way a 20-20 color blind person may see reality?
How about doing still photography and setting flowers on the table – arranging them in a pleasing way – did we just photograph a setting of art?
If we crop out of a photo a distracting tree branch is that art – or suppose we use Photoshop to erase the branch?
Suppose I used a technique called “burning” in PhotoShop to darken the background to create depth and focus on a foreground subject – did I leave Photography and step in to art?
If I copied a rose bud to fill in void in a photo of a bouquet of roses at the wedding – or used PhotoShop to remove the blemish on the cheek of the bride – did I leave Photography and step in to art?
If I added to my photo of the fountain at the entrance to Hidden Lakes a mourning dove stopping for a drink of water, did I leave Photography and step in to art?
Jim Hennigar did more then add one bird. Did he go too far?
WHEN IS IT TOO MUCH?– One, two, maybe three, …… is OK before it is too much?
MY CONCLUSION: My conclusion, after much pondering – It is all art – The camera and our knowledge of what makes an outstanding photo are the tools and skills that we use to create photo art using our camera adjustments and our post processing computer. – Each photographer must decide for themselves how much is too much. What ever your answer, it is the right answer — for yourself!!! For me, my conclusion is: “It is never too much.”
Check photoappenings.com on Friday and see what Jim Hennigar created.
OOPS Thursday 9/22 update – I shifted my schedule a little – Keep checking photohappenings.com – It will be a couple of days beyond Friday before I get Jim Hennigar’s created photo posted.
What is art – check it out on Google – one definition is: “Art is the expression of creative skills and imagination, in a visual image, producing works to be appreciated for their beauty, or their emotional power.” It gives a reason and does not limit the tools.
What is a photograph – check it out on Google – one definition is: “A visual image produced with a camera” It gives the tool and does not limit the reason.
Link back to http://photohappenings.com
Why am I writing this?: Because, the next update to the TGO PHOTO CLUB’s website will contain the work of one member (Jim Hennigar) who took the art of sorting, cropping, and editing to the limit of surrealism – yes, even surrealism at the entrance to Hidden Lakes.
Before I posted it, I wanted to get the creative cogs in your brain turning – even if you never have any interest in turning your photography into the art of “Bent Reality” – I believe you will better appreciate the work of other members by getting just a little background into the Art of Photography – photography that does bend reality.
More on this subject to come – so, check back daily.
First, From “54 reasons……………………” :
#42. BEND REALITY
Along those lines, photography can give you a different look at the world. Photography is just as good at bending reality as it is at capturing it.
#43. ENJOY INFINITE POSSIBILITIES
There are literally infinite possible photographic subjects and an endless road of post processes that can bridge the space between the dream and the reality
#44. ENJOY THE PROCESS
The total process of photography can honestly be super enjoyable,f rom shooting to sorting to editing your images. That is the total process. Editing is like spending personal time with your photos!!
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I love Jim Hennigar’s surreal entrance to Hidden Lakes – You will see it in a couple of days on http://photohappenings.com But, for now, to explain what surrealism is, I posted three works of photo art that I did in the past using images from my cell phone (some were cell phone photos of magazine images):
MY MORNING STORY Every morning my friend and I go to the barn and pasture to clean up the poop from the night before. After all poop is scooped and wheelbarrowed to the pile, we get to enjoy the horses.
FIRST Before I take a 1 hour ride through the woods trail, I spend 15 minutes helping Perla learn new things – like close your eyes and walk onto the horse trailer – why close her eyes? ’cause the trailer has two equal stalls in it – one on the left and one on the right – they are exactly the same – I have always ask Perla to use the one on the left –
A NEW FIRST Today, I ask her to use the one on the right – you would have thought I ask her to jump off a cliff into a valley of hungry wolves – Wolves, who always eat horses!!! – after much begging, pulling, shoving, sweet talking, explaining that the wolves are all gone – she said NO – I opened the exact same looking door on the left – she almost ran over me getting in there!
Then, we went for our ride into the woods where there are real bears, coyotes, and a plastic bag the blew off of a truck that was hauling logs out of the woods – looked like a wolf to me – Peral says -NO PROBLEM!!! I do not understand horses – or women – Now why did I say that? ‘Cause Perla is a mare – you know!!!!
That was a long story just to tell you how I find the horses in the morning – when they are not in the front pasture:
Then, my walk down the road before bedtime – Awesome night sky! Almost day light, then the clouds cover the moon, pitch black, then in-between – I pulled out my iPhone!
Link to TGO Photo Club’s Web-site: http://photohappenings.com
Someone said: Autumn is a second spring when every leaf is a flower.
I said: But fall is much more then colored leaves – As an outdoor person there are many ways to tell autumn is sneaking up. So, with iPhone, I went to find subtle changes that I noticed – well, I did not notice them but, rather, I only sensed them – The iPhone and the desire to tell you the story forced me to notice some of some of them – some of hints of autumn.
Well, not exactly without a camera – he took the walk with his phone in his pocket – Look at these photos – you will feel you are walking with him – He told his story that well!
Phil wrote: Jim, Hope all is well with you! There are times when I just like to take fast walks with only my iPhone for a camera. So here are some photos taken with that phone for posting on jimsdaily. Many thanks, Phil
Return to TGO Photo Club’s web-site http://photohappenings.com
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