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.
‘..all you
need can
be learned
in a day.’
2 of 3
The Camera’s Place in Art
