8-26-09 Options / by Melanie Grizzel

So I know it's trendy to really USE photoshop, and the work out there is really beautiful and unique. I love photoshop it's one of the most remarkable tools we have, as photographers. I love my machines. I come from film though so playing with photoshop was to me just my clearing out of the darkroom which was NEVER my favorite place in the world. My professors in college would say "if you can find yourself a good printer, you'll be famous" so much for that ;) I never had the patience for it. Now I can do an everything I did in the darkroom and get the results in seconds, not full minutes. Yuck. ANd I don't smell like sulfur at the end of the day, lucky me.
Anyway, I told myself I didn't really want to play with photoshop too much.  I started out trying to replicate the look of my favorite films, Kodak 400 VC and Tri-X 400. Both fantastic films. But we just don't shoot film anymore. We transitioned a little over 2 years ago and haven't looked back. Great photographs are, at the core, great photographs, they don't need all of the photoshopping to make them any more special if they're special to begin with, right? 
Well I'm not so sure. Can a great photograph become greater if you add a special touch here or there. I came across this because I was trying to solve a problem. I was converting this image into B/W and found I wasn't getting the contrast I desired from the sky without leveling the depth in my subjects so I tried this. How can I call myself an artist is I can don't see things from different angles and evolve? I'm curious what you think. Please leave a note, I'll love to hear what people think.
---mel


Be well,

---mel
She-N-He 
Austin Wedding Photography and Design