Why hardcore purists may find difficult to make a good quality photography of a high contrast scene

Apr 04, 2019,10:11 AM
 

I found an article by Tihomir Lazarov (a commercial portrait photographer and filmmaker based in Sofia, Bulgaria) on the benefits of the judicious use of Photoshop. Some hardcore purists may find it controversial or simply completely disagree with it.


Tihomir states: "Scenes of high contrast are those that have very bright and very dark areas where we usually expect to see details. Whether you shoot in JPEG or raw mode you let the camera decide how it will distribute the immense amount of data from the sensor into a file."

He goes on to say: "Being a purist is a utopia. The proper philosophy is to use the optimal camera settings that will help the sensor capture the most detail it is capable of. Editing an image doesn't always mean you are trying to save a bad photograph."

The article refers to digital photography, it does not say anything about the alchemy of the darkroom.


                     

Print purchased some years ago. Credit to the unknown artist.

Restfull week end to all.

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I agree.

 
 By: InHavenPro : April 4th, 2019-10:50
That being said, I keep my files raw most of the time . Cheers, Filip

Thanks Filip [nt]

 
 By: 11111 : April 4th, 2019-10:54

Link to the full article

 
 By: 11111 : April 4th, 2019-11:45
fstoppers.com I think it is OK, but some will disagree. Best, Benjamin

Editing digital photos is no different than what we used to do to manipulate film.

 
 By: Emil Wojcik : April 4th, 2019-11:55
My second major in school was photography, long before anyone even dreamed digital would exist. I learned to test-develop small portions of a batch of film, ordered in bulk, to determine it's true speed, which was rarely what was stated on the box. Then u... 

Thank you for your comment, Emil

 
 By: 11111 : April 4th, 2019-12:17
I took spot-meter readings and I was paying great attention to detail on the black and grey range. The resulting white may look quite lame. I am still learning. Time will tell whether I can take a really good photo. Best, Benjamin

In the article a "purist" has a somewhat negative connotation...

 
 By: cshimokita : April 4th, 2019-14:56
meaning someone who shoots by an arbitrary set of rules, such as only using natural light, not cropping, and no (limited) post processing as the ideal form of expression. One small nit is that in photography "editing" is defined as selecting which photo(s... 

Thanks Casey

 
 By: 11111 : April 6th, 2019-23:49
I agree the article gives a somewhat negative connotation to "purist", but is intended to provide a context for the photgraph. The message I get from the article is that te aim of post-processing software is similar, -although probably easier technically-... 

I did notice the 'gray scale'

 
 By: cshimokita : April 7th, 2019-04:11
in the photo and the exposure across the range of gray values... from time to time I have used the "colorchecker | Passport Photo" by x-rite... I have not used a gray card, but I do have a couple of them ; ) ... Casey