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The World Press Photo Awards are respected the

world over and are the most highly anticipated

photographic event of the year. This is why when

I saw the winning photos this year, I was startled

to read that 20% of the images in the fi nal round

were disqualifi ed on the grounds of excessive and

blatant postprocessing. This essentially means that

there were several photographs that had intentional

additions or subtractions to them. The disqualifi cations

were three times more than last year.

This is a refl ection of how common

postprocessing has become in our photographic

psyche. Today, even a layman is aware of what it

involves. Several debates have risen lately about

the boundaries of postprocessing. What is right and

what is wrong? Where do we place the boundaries?

Questions like these were best summed up by Bob

Martin, jury member of the World Press Photo

Awards, in an interview with the British Journal of

How Much is Too Much?

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Photography. He said, “My view is that if something

is added that wasn’t there, or something is removed,

then clearly that’s not correct. But if the contrast

is increased, or the corners darkened, or areas

are dodged and burned—what then? We used to

do all that in the darkroom, and now Photoshop is

our darkroom.”

I personally believe that postprocessing plays a

crucial part in making one’s images get closer to how

they ‘look’ in our heads. Most of the time, an image

that may be average when shot, looks better after

basic editing.

However, organisations like the World Press Photo

have to be extra careful in the digital age. It is crucial

that press photography accurately presents the events

that take place around the world, especially in areas of

confl ict. Only open discussions and guidelines will pave

the way to solve the problem at hand.

Vikas Deshpande, Goa, via email

Suyash Katdare sent

us this image he made

of a male gharial at the

Son Gharial Sanctuary in

Madhya Pradesh.

Suyash Katdare

More on Black & White Please!

I began my journey in photography a few

years ago and I have been shooting almost

entirely in colour. On the other hand, black

and white is a genre that remains almost

a mystery to me. While I am in awe of the

black and white photographs made by

masters like Michael Kenna and Raghu Rai,

I fi nd myself unable to think and see in this

way. I request BP to carry techniques on

shooting street photography and portraits

in black and white. I am sure there are

several people out there like me who

would love to know more about it!

Ravi Krishnan, Bengaluru, via email

The Gliding Gharial

I am a conservation biologist, currently

working on a project with gharials, a

critically endangered species of crocodile.

My photography revolves primarily

around my work, and I shoot as often as

I can if the situation allows it.

The other day, I was standing on a rocky

path overlooking the Sone river, watching

a male gharial basking near a nesting site.

After a while, he started moving towards

something in the river in a smooth motion.

Since there was no wind blowing, the water

surface remained very still.

Owing to the way I composed my shot,

it looked as though he had fl own off

from the tree! I never fi nd myself short of

opportunities to makes pictures of this

fascinating reptile.

Suyash Katdare, via email

BETTER PHOTOGRAPHY MARCH 2015

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