The LENZ Calendar Question

At first I was going to post this as a response to Doc's article 'A Good Eye", but I couldn't figure out how to post photos there, and the photos are kind of critical to illustrate my point... so here goes my blog entry...

In the year and a half or so that I have known Doc Tempest he has always had a way of opening my eyes or turning my head in a different direction. That's why not only was I not surprized he asked this question, but I was happy because I actually had an answer that I felt was a partial result of what I have learned from knowing him, shooting with him, and appreciating his work.

The photo which ended up being this months LENZ calendar is one that I took way back in March 2006. I have it posted on my own web-site as edited back then (see the photo original_edit.jpg). When I was setting up the wallpaper, however, instead of grabbing the edited version I went to my archives and pulled the original, un-edited file... well let's go to the question and answer and I hope this might spark comments and insights from anyone who takes photos and/or who uses some sort of photo editing application.

----- original message -----
Hi Doug,

got your picture on the desktop now :-) It's a really nice pic. Just out of curiosity, How do you think this picture would change if it were cropped partway through the tree and just above the girl in red & white's head? This would result in a strong diagonal from the top left corner into the pic. Do you think it would make it better or worse?

I'm still learning,

Doc.

----- response -----

Hey Doc... that's not only an astute observation (one that I had) but also a great question.

When I am shooting 'in the field' it's my goal to look through the lens of my SLR and come up with the composition I want right then and there. Of course the goal is to also take into consideration all the other elements you mentioned in your clip "a good eye". But after I sit in front of the computer I start second guessing myself and cropping here, editing there until before you know it, I've lost a third of what I saw in the first place.

When I realized I was spending way too much time critiquing myself this way I decided that I was going to try and present each photo as it was taken as true as possible to the moment. Of course I am still editing a bit but I think only 1/10th as much as before. You may have noted that I took this photo in 2006, but when I made the JPEG for E9 I took the original (not the previous edit I posted on my site), played a little with the color and contrast and resized for wallpaper... that's it!

Bottom line, I need to trust my eye and my heart as a photographer, not a Photoshopper, especially with composition. To me that's what it's all about. And if my composition leaves room for people to add or subtract, that's fine with me too. Who knows, maybe someone will notice something to the right of that tree that they never would have seen if I cropped it out... :)

Doug

----- end message -----

Another thing I didn't do this time is adjust the horizon. Notice on the original edit I rotated the photo so the horizon goes straight across. This time I left it alone and felt the left to right slope gave a feel like the kids might just fall into the pond. :)

Finally, to add a little personal history to this, I'm reminded here of something my father used to say to me when I would ask "why this?" or "why that?" His answer most of the time was, "to make little boys like you ask questions." Of course at the time this answer was neither satisfying or amuzing, but now as I think about it, if my photography can make people ask questions or imagine one thing or another then I've done something special. Maybe raised a point of view that gets people thinking or imagining.

I love that....