Nicole—Part 2

Last week I met with some of my professional photographer friends over dinner to discuss and review each other’s work.  We meet five or six times a year.  Usually the discussions revolve around each other’s work, but last week, it was more about an article that Dale had read about how technology is taking the art out of photography.  The article was published in a French magazine (and in French), so there was no way that yours truly would have known about it or been able to read it.

The group was all over the map regarding whether they agreed or disagreed with the premise of the article.  Sometimes they even disagreed with themselves—which I always find amusing because I do that with myself, quite often!

The whole discussion got me thinking about how I view images.  To me, images that come from a camera fall into three main camps:  snapshot, pictures and photographs.  To me, a snapshot is the result of raising the camera and pushing the shutter without any conscious thought or intent for the image; a picture results when the photographer looks at the subject and tries to capture it in a way that helps the viewer see what the photographer is seeing by using composition and focus to help direct the viewer; and finally, a photograph, to me, results when the photographer instills the image either an emotional or an intellectual aspects into the image—it moves the viewer beyond the idea that the image is a “nice photo.”  A photograph makes the viewer do something other than just “look at the image.”

Now, what does all of this have to do with Nicole?  Well, last week’s photo of Nicole is a picture.  I think it is sharp, its composition directs the attention to her, but it does not ask anything of the viewer.  It is a good historical representation of what I was seeing—provided I tilted my head!

In today’s images, I simply applied various Lightroom presets to virtual copies of last week’s picture.  By simply pushing a button, I think the picture was transformed into something that takes the viewer out of his/her comfort zone and asked them to think about what they are seeing.  Is enough to make the picture into a photograph?  And, by merely, pressing a single button have I validated the author’s premise?

You decide.

Enjoy.

Camera settings:  Nikon D4, 85mm f/1.4, ISO 200, f/2.8 at 1/2000^th of a seconds.

Post Processing:  

Lightroom 4—applied Portrait preset during import, set white and black points and then applied various Lightroom presets to the original picture.