How I feel about photoshop.

There is THE debate over Photoshop.  People want "real".  Or do they?  

Here's my take on it.  

In person, we are three dimensional.  While we're chatting, I see your eyes, your gestures, your smile, (your cute shoes). (No, really, I'm paying attention!!)  I hear what you are saying and I'm digesting it.  I am thinking about our conversation.  My other senses are working during the conversation too.  So do I notice the pimple on your chin or the dark circles under your eyes?  Probably not.  But when I take a photograph of you, you become two dimensional.  And time stops.  I am now able to study that image, without all my other senses.  And I begin to see those things that I wouldn't have seen or focused on if we were chatting in person.  If I didn't pose you well or do a good job with lighting, it might also look like you are carrying a few extra pounds.  

When we are trying to look our best, we (mostly) try to dress to flatter ourselves.  We often put on makeup to enhance (or even conceal).  We shave and groom and primp.  Photoshop at its most primitive?

Manipulating images isn't new.  Ansel Adams is well known for manipulating his images in the darkroom.  

"The negative is comparable to the composer’s score and the print to its performance." Ansel Adams

Even my personal favorite, Edward Weston, who was well known for his perfectionism in camera, manipulated his images in the darkroom.

Back in the day, working with film, I often identified areas I wanted retouched to the lab by noting them on the contact sheets or proofs.  And the retouchers had to painstakingly retouch on the finished prints.

Now, I still don't believe in creating things that aren't there, like the "thigh gap" created accidentally by a Target ad.   

But I do believe that a little magic in the both the camera (with positioning and lighting) and the darkroom creates portraits that you'll love, without reminding you of that darn pimple on your chin forever!