Blind 'Perfection'

divine`

divine`

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Well, as I expect none of you noticed, my posting (and reading) here was somewhat lacking over the last sort of year or so.

However, on returning i've been reading around a lot and getting my feel for the place back and this thread is the result of something that's kind of standing out to me at the moment.

A lot of posters seem to have an almost 'blind' approach to making a photo 'perfect'.

For example, i've seen shots posted that are noisy, and several people post 'remove the noise', when I feel looking at the photo the noise is partly what makes the atmosphere and feel of the shot, removing it would leave it cold and sterile.

It's almost as if some people are looking at every technical aspect individually and not considering how the parts make the whole as much.

I wonder if this is due to the growth of digital? It's easy to fix everything. A couple of clicks and you can 'fix' any imperfections. You can carry on a march down a path of technical 'correctness' with ease.

Does anyone else see the vibe i'm seeing or have I just picked a bad string of threads to look in? :p
 
A year ... :eek: ... has it really been that long ... :shrug:


Welcome back then D but where have you been ... ;)


I think you've stumbled across something pretty fundamental in your observations and that may be partly due to the number of experts in various fields we have on this forum ... :suspect:


Perfection, like beauty has to be in the eye of etc., ... and I think people are forced to improve and aim for perfection simply because others point out things they think are wrong with an image ... :thinking:


Since when did you see any other form of 'art' present itself without the warts and all approach and this is what makes it unique and different ... ;) ... perhaps if everyone developed their own style and approach and, to a degree, forgot about the technical imperfections we may see more images challenging the expectation of perfection.

That said, we must all experiment with our imaging techniques and improve, or at least understand, the technicalities to enable us to know and understand the rules and what is good and bad, acceptable and unacceptable when we choose to stretch the rules, or ignore them altogether, in their application or interpretation to the image ... perhaps ... :shrug:


Perfection is, after all, nothing except a perception ... :D







:p
 
hmmm... not quite a year, seems August was when I last posted a lot, though i've made brief appearances since :p

Been very busy with Uni, haven't really had a great deal of time for my camera and so I didn't really have much to talk about here :(
 
Jayst84 said:
I think it comes partly from people not knowing all that much, but they've been told / read, that noise is bad, white balance should be this, etc. so they just parrot it back without really understand why they are saying what they're saying.
Click to expand...

That's kinda what I was getting at, the almost parrot like commenting on fixing noise, adjusting white balances etc. yet in places where it could well be more detrimental to the image as a whole.
 
Just the other day I mentioned noise in an image, I mentioned it because to my mind it detracted from the image. (turned out the iso was much higher than the poster thought) I see no problem pointing out possible problems with an image, it's what we are here for after all.

Jayst84, saying that people are just parroting without understanding is not very gracious m8, you don't have to agree what they say but give them credit for thinking about it at least.
 
Posted this on another forum recently, and the only comment someone made was that "its too soft"

Its a flower, its meant to be soft:thinking:

2499466824_0172dbcc5e_o.jpg
 
Thinking about it, good points you're making there.

P.S. The white balance is a bit off in your avatar pic. Joke :)
 
I think some people are more obsessed with post processing and fixing things in photoshop than they are in taking the image.

JMO...:thumbs:
 
Hang on, I wasn't talking about anyone in particular, or any thread or specific instance. I was merely offering up a possible explanation for why it may occur at times. I know from personal experience with people in the real world (ie not online) that this 'parroting' goes on all the time.

The reasons for it will of course be different for different people. Sometimes its not necessarily a bad thing when the critic is trying to understand, and offering up suggestions based on what they have learnt and are continuing to learn by studying others work. Other times of course it will be perfectly valid and as you (Steep) say, is the critics personal opinion. But, there are times when the 'critic' will be someone who doesn't know what they're talking about, but for whatever reason, either wants people to think they know more than they do, or just likes the sound of their own voice. I dunno.

That was a bit rambling and non-sensical, but I hope you see what I'm saying.

Cheers,

Jamie.
 
I think the things you mention there can be personal taste.

I quite like noise in some shots and really clean in others for instance. Lots of people love silky smooth shots and won't have it any other way.
If they like that in their own shots and other peoples too then i guess thats up to them.


divine` said:
Well, as I expect none of you noticed, my posting (and reading) here was somewhat lacking over the last sort of year or so.

However, on returning i've been reading around a lot and getting my feel for the place back and this thread is the result of something that's kind of standing out to me at the moment.

A lot of posters seem to have an almost 'blind' approach to making a photo 'perfect'.

For example, i've seen shots posted that are noisy, and several people post 'remove the noise', when I feel looking at the photo the noise is partly what makes the atmosphere and feel of the shot, removing it would leave it cold and sterile.

It's almost as if some people are looking at every technical aspect individually and not considering how the parts make the whole as much.

I wonder if this is due to the growth of digital? It's easy to fix everything. A couple of clicks and you can 'fix' any imperfections. You can carry on a march down a path of technical 'correctness' with ease.

Does anyone else see the vibe i'm seeing or have I just picked a bad string of threads to look in? :p
Click to expand...
 
I agree with V's comments :thumbs: well said and no venom in your remarks :lol::lol::lol:
 
The question is are we simply recording a subject, or are we trying to produce something that we have created.

Yes some people may say " remove the noise", perhaps the photographer should respond, as to why he's left the image noisy in the first place. Maybe that was what he wanted to do in the first place.
The problem with some ( Most) criticism is it is always one way, maybe it should be a dialogue. With both the photographer and the critic learning something from the interchange.
 
I think it's a good education in photography to always be experienced with both noisy & clean images - that way if you get stuck & cannot capture an image the way you normally would (eg - flash batteries gone & no spares :lol:) you can still cope & capture what you were after.

I like to have a mix in my wedding photography, I like high grain dance photos but tend to go for cleaner, less noisy images for bridal prep shots (not always but most of the time, depends on what suits the shot)

Some of the best ever photographs (imo) have been captured at very high ISO's & some aren't even in focus - technical know how can only carry an image so far.
At the end of the day though, it's horses for courses, some people prefer no grain in their images whilst others prefer a more film like quality, how they choose to capture an image is up to them, it'd be very boring if we were all fixated on this & all shot the same imo.

I'd probably say that you have a strong idea of what you like in a shot but it all comes down to personal opinion - like HDR, you either like it or you don't, you may think it's overcooked whist another may think it's spot on :shrug:
 
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