The “purism” of post processing

I was asked for a copy of a photo I’d done to be used in a birding guide, so I told them I’d re-do the image and send it along. I just did, and I found the contrast between my previous version of the photo and the new version.

Here is what I originally published:

(view full size)

and here is what I just did:

(view full size)

the differences are for the most part fairly subtle but also stunning to me. Same RAW image. For the new image, I used Viveza to pull out the highlights in the face, reduce some of the blown out whites on the feathering, and to darken the green of the grass to help the bird stand out and make the grass look more natural — I’ve come to realize my 30D has a bit of a yellowish tint to greens that needs to be adjusted out. I also sharped it differently (and better).

It does bring up the debate about “purity”. Where does post processing end? Or should end? I don’t see anything in this photo that wouldn’t be acceptable under any circumstances in a contest, or that I didn’t do with dodging and burning tools in my wet darkroom 35 years ago (in the Good Old Days). And yet the differences — simply because I now have better tools and know a lot more about how to apply them — are pretty intense. It’s a much better photo (IMHO).

What this really does is show why 90% of this “purity” is baloney and should be ignored. There are legitimate issues that DO need to be understood, especially where contest rules and publication/journalist ethics are involved — but those are nothing new, and we’ll probably be arguing about those 30 years from now…

Amusingly enough, in the new photo, I now see a “blemish” near the egret’s eye, which when I magnified it turned into a small flying insect that happened to be crossing the bird at the time I shot the photo. It was basically invisible in the older version of the image. I should probably clone it out, but… would the image still be pure enough for you then?

(ducking)

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