Photo Revamps

I need to take some fresh photos, apart from hockey photos, that is, but life has been conspiring against me lately. There was a beautiful snowfall which was icy enough for the snow to stick to the trees for a long time, and I have seen some wonderful photos, but I was forced to miss out.

However, I have been playing with some old photos, which I also find rewarding from time to time.

One cannot help sometimes shooting under those dreaded blank skies. Such was the case when I photographed the RCMP musical ride in September. But adding what I think is an appropriate sky in post really made this photo for me.

I have replaced skies just a few times before, but I have a new editing program that can usually do it in one click rather than having to fiddle and faddle with complicated masking. It is the feature that led me to purchase another photo editing program, which I otherwise did not need. lol

This kind of editing can be labelled photoshopping, even though it wasn't done in Photoshop. It involves a major adjusting of a photo by adding something (in this case) or perhaps removing an element (in other cases). This is different than normal editing such just adjusting tones, for example.

While it is considered bad form for documentary photographers (eg photojournalists) to do this sort of thing, it is generally considered to be quite alright for more artistic photos. However, while some still disapprove, for me, the resulting image in front of me is the key. No one asks a painter if the scene was exactly how he or she depicted it, and I hold much photography in the same light. I will concede, however, that all things being equal, we all want to get it right in camera. But for outdoor photography, when one is at the mercy of the elements, I will sometimes do what I need to do in post to satisfy my personal taste.

Here is another sky replacement that transformed the photo. I did all of the right things to get a good photo: got up early, composed with a reflection, set up the tripod, and took a long exposure. But it wasn't a fortuitous sky morning. So I doctored the image and then posted it to our local FB group, where many people have been enjoying it immensely.

I had forgotten this next photo until I chanced to look back at my June archives just yesterday. It's a wildflower (I think) taken on a walk on the nearby trail (I think) with a long telephoto lens (I know) which I extended/zoomed as far as possible.

For this revamp, I did some colour grading and then added a canvas overlay to give it a bit of a painterly look. At least I think it looks painterly.

As much as I like working with photos in post, I would like to actually get out and photograph some Christmas lights if I can motivate myself to brave the cold. We shall see. Meanwhile, editing (or even re-editing) has satisfied some of my need to be a little bit creative.