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Expression Versus Duplication

“If photography is truly an art, then what it expresses is human emotion. Not what the world looks like. … It’s not about what’s in front of you, it’s about what’s inside of you. … Expression, that’s what its all about. Artistic expression, not objective duplication.”

– Brooks Jensen

Once again, Brooks is right on. It’s not that a straight photograph can’t be expressive. It’s just that sometimes it is necessary to go beyond the original photograph to achieve the expression you want. The images above are of a bridge and fall foliage along one of the carriage paths in Acadia NP. The top image uses a soft glow montage combined with a Pixel Bender OilPaint filter to create a glowing, painterly look. The bottom image is the original for comparison. I like them both. The bottom image is more photorealistic while the one on top is more evocative. It better expresses the mood created by the soft light and gentle rain that accompanied the moment.

For more on the soft glow montage/Pixel Bender technique, see Mark Johnson’s Photoshop Workbench Number 263.

This entry was posted on Friday, January 28th, 2011 and is filed under Creative Process. Both comments and pings are currently closed.

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