Smart_Photography_-_January_2016_

Ask Uncle

Ronnie

Is Editing Justifiable?

Is it justifiable to edit/manipulate

files to enhance saturation or

contrast of pictures sent to any

photo contest? If yes, then how can

the credit go to the photographer

for the vibrant or excellent image?

I think the credit should go to the

editing tool. Yet, if it is necessary to

edit an image, what should be the

limit of editing? Please clarify.

Rajesh Mondal

Note: The query has been re-worded

by us. Such queries have been

answered in the past too.

While I welcome your query, I can

see that you are against any editing/

manipulation. No problem; to each his

own! But please, with an open mind,

try to understand what I have to say.

1. You are photographing a landscape.
   With your eyes you see the vast vista
   before you – may be, for example, 1
   mile across. You then decide your focal
   length. The focal length of your lens
   decides how much of the scene will be
   captured. You then decide a position
   from where you will take the picture.
   You also decide whether you will
   photograph the scene from your eye-
   level or ground-level or from the top
   of a near-by hillock. Just think about
   it – are you not manipulating? Are you
   not telling the viewers that while I see
   the vast scene before me (from my eye
   level), I want you to see only the area
   that I have decided upon by choosing
   my focal length and only from my
   point of view?

The very act of choosing a focal length

is a form of manipulation!

2. Now your point about the question
   of credibility if the saturation or

contrast is adjusted. Well, you may

choose not to enhance the saturation

and/or contrast; the choice is yours.

But I assure you, your pictures will

most likely be without any ‘punch’.

There is a technical reason why

we need to enhance the saturation

and contrast (as well as some other

parameters). Ideally, you are supposed

to shoot in Raw. When you shoot in

Raw, the parameters that you have set

in your camera (such as saturation,

contrast, White Balance, sharpness)

are not applied to the image. This

causes the image to appear ‘flat’

(lacking in contrast/saturation).

Even if we shoot only in JPEG, we

always set our cameras to ‘low’

contrast, ‘low’ saturation, ‘low’

sharpness (if you don’t, you risk

overexposed highlights, clogged

shadows and jagged-looking edges).

These parameters are then adjusted

on the computer to our liking. (see

picture above)

Ask your question to Uncle at [email protected]

Also keep in mind that no camera can

record exactly what our eyes see.

3. About “the credit should go to the
   editing tool”. Tell me, when you take
   a good photo, do you give the credit
   to your camera? Cameras don’t take
   pictures by themselves; we do. The
   more complicated the ‘tool’, the more
   we need to study and know how to
   operate it. It is human intelligence that
   eventually gets the credit.


4. The limits for editing? The sky is the
   limit. But first read and understand
   this. If you are a documentary/
   sports photographer or a scientific
   photographer, please refrain from
   doing any editing. Your duty is to
   ‘record’ exactly what is happening
   before you. You cannot say that you
   are “creating a work of art”. But if you
   are not in the above list, and if you
   consider photography as an art form,
   then you can do whatever editing
   you like. But here too, there can be a
   limit. Let us say that you are a wildlife

By default, contrast,

saturation and colour tone

are set to zero. You can also

set the sharpness to a

lower value.

50 http://www.smartphotography.in

Smart Photography January 2016