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‘The Camera’s Place in Art’ As a long time art
tutor Peter Turner |
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What a difference a sky makes . . .
Since the beginning of photography there are those who have been pleased to proclaim ‘Why paint it when a better result is obtainable with photography’. These are often the same people who believe a photo is not a photo if it has been retouched and that ‘pure’ photography has to be black and white. In the same breath they also claim that photographers are also artists. But an artist understands that all and any reference material can be improved upon by the creative use of addition, subtraction, simplification and modification. Clearly if the potential to improve the composition, atmosphere and emotional impact of a picture cannot be seen, then the viewer is not an artist, whether the reference is from life or a photograph. You will note that it is the modern artists with the least talent that keep harping on the ‘camera obscurer’ in a vain attempt to inflate their abilities and deprecate those of artists the like of Canaletto and Vermeer. But we are not here to join in the contest of rivalry between the artist and the photographer. In truth many photographers are more artist than many artists and it is the least creative of artists who refuse to recognise the value of the camera to the painter or sculptor, especially since the advent and availability of photo editing. Unless an artist has a photographic memory – and this is very rare, much more so than the few with ‘perfect pitch’ – he or she needs reference material for all but the most abstract of pictures. Try drawing a face upstairs while the sitter is downstairs and the point is made. Before the camera the only option was the sketch book. Despite the obvious difficulty in capturing movement, atmosphere, spontaneity and colour, most artists found it invaluable. Today’s sketch book is a camera and the tool to improve its shortcomings – in exposure, contrast, tonal balance, and apply artistic creativity in composition, content, tone, stress and atmosphere is photo editing software. In theory you could arrange the elements in a still life – from life – into a perfect composition. In practice the composition may not be so perfect in two dimensions and the many tonal and colour variations, in addition to content changes, will all vastly change and, in the hands of a creative artist, ‘improve’ the end result. The serious artist, before the camera, would complete tonal sketches and several colour pilots in the often long process of creating a final composition. Today, all of this can more easily and quickly be done with photo editing on a PC. To those who recoil in horror – and there are still many – who see the PC as the devil incarnate. Consider it as a tool, a sophisticated sketch book, overcoming all of the limitations of the sketch book and facilitating a better result in a fraction of the time. Not a negation of true art, just a simple tool. The true art is in the changes made to enhance the picture’s ability to communicate with the viewer. Photo editing software does not enjoy a good reputation. You may hear of ‘Steep learning curve’ and vast over-complication in the leading tools. This seems to be confirmed by the number of pretenders offering ‘stripped down’, ‘easy-to-use’ alternatives at a fraction of the cost or even free of charge. Some of the alternatives some of the time are impressive – but more often than not leave you high and dry when it comes to serious editing, especially of the kind needed by the artist. Bite the bullet and go for Adobe Photoshop (or Elements) – the market leader. By confining your learning just to the tools applicable to photo editing as opposed to page design, all you need can be learned in a day. ‘Being Shown’ is also critical in this kind of learning. Just as you would not learn to drive a car from a book, nor is it effective to attempt to learn Photoshop from its tutorial, help files or from the many bandwagon dummies guides. There is no substitute for being shown what to do and then doing it yourself. Describing the powerful ‘Clone Stamp’ or ‘Magic Wand’ in print, apart from taking many pages, would leave most readers with glazed eyes and none the wiser, in demonstrating what they do and how they do it the penny drops in seconds. Photoshop in a day—for beginners—sounds like a tall order, and it is, but Photoshop for photo editing in a day—for beginners, is an achievable and very worthwhile goal.
Peter Turner offers monthly one day Photo Editing workshops and two day Painting Courses at Marsh Studio Hungerford see www.art-courses.org and www.photo-edit-courses.org
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