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:

10 02 2016 – PhotoShop to practice “See Creatively” The Runner

10 02 2016 – PhotoShop to practice “See Creatively” Home at last – face in the clouds east of the arch

10 02 2016 – PhotoShop to practice “See Creatively” Drummond bird

OR — This view–10 02 2016 – PhotoShop to practice “See Creatively” Drummond bird