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+--- Thread: A plea for honesty about using PortraitPro (/showthread.php?tid=1231)
A plea for honesty about using PortraitPro - murali - 07-02-2011
In another area of the forum, I made a comment that gave rise to the following response:
As for enhancing a photo to make someone look their best....hey...it is no different than putting on makeup to make yourself look your best....no different than a photographer manipulating the lighting in the room to make you look your best....no different than taking film into a darkroom to make you look your best....if someone wants a wrinkle removed because it stands out in the harsh lighting the original photo was taken.....so what? No camera reveals exactly what the human eye precieves....so even the rawest of photo file from the most technically advanced camera....is not exactly as "real life" was at that moment....I say....if the photographer likes it....and the subject likes it....then it is a success.
In reply I thought it best to start a new thread here.
Look, I understand the approach that says "if the photographer likes it....and the subject likes it....then it is a success". I can agree with that.
But what I can't accept is the denial that using PortraitPro is, no matter how well intended, an attempt to deceive. I reject entirely the notion that all we are doing is making someone look their best. The reason that the subject likes the result is that the result shows them as the are NOT. That's fine, but as photographers let's just be honest with each other as to what we are doing.
It is a mere rationalization to claim that because a photograph is already not true to reality that you therefore have a license to remove 500 huge freckles and say you are "just making the subject look their best".
I think that it is legitimate under the heading of "making the subject look their best" when you remove harsh lighting. But elongating their face and removing a huge scar is changing what is to what is not.
But that power to change what is to what is not is why we bought PortraitPro, and why we use it. I just ask that we don't lie to each other.
murali
RE: A plea for honesty about using PortraitPro - Kat999 - 07-02-2011
Why is what someone else does or believes about this product or photography matter to you? This isn't a court of law where crime scene photos are being proffered in a trial. You seem overly concerned about nit picking other's perspectives and opinions....you know the old saying....opinions are like --------, everybody has one. What I don't understand is why you chose to put this response under a different heading instead of attaching it to the thread it belonged with?
RE: A plea for honesty about using PortraitPro - Glyn - 07-05-2011
Hi Murali,
I pretty much agree with your opinion here... but the way I look at it is that it is all about what you are shooting for.
For example, I do a lot of TFP work for models, and they want to look like models and be excessively edited, just like any model on the front page of Vogue would be. In these cases I think the idea is to produce the perfect picture and the model is just a part of that.
This is especially true if they are promoting a product as the product is actually the subject of the picture rather than the model.
However, if you are shooting a person with the intent of capturing their real life character then much more subtle edits are perhaps best, such as removing spots that are just temporary, or removing dark shadows under their eyes which may not always be there in reality....
Cheers,
Glyn