In general, my tutor’s feedback
regarding the two high key and two low key images of birds that I had submitted
for Project 3 of my second assignment was positive. The most dynamic image of
the set was a high key study of juvenile whooper swans landing (Image 1 below;
presented here with a narrow black border). Whilst I was generally happy with
the outcome of my post-production work I was a little unhappy with the ordering
of the swans: the one in the middle, which is already skimming the surface of
the water with its feet, should really be “leading the way” at the front! Also,
despite the “letterbox” cropping, the photograph does not give the birds quite
enough space to move into.
Image 1
My tutor pointed out that, with
such a simple background, it would have been fairly easy to re-position the
swans in the required order. The only issue that I have with this is that I
like to record natural events as truthfully as possible and, although I am not
averse to removing distracting objects that do not affect the natural history
story presented in the image, changing the order of the birds is not something
I would consider if I was presenting this image in competition or using it for
commercial purposes. However, since neither of these considerations applies
here…….
The image was edited in
“Photoshop Elements 8”, using the Clone Stamp tool to remove the left hand swan
and then to replace it by moving the central swan over to the left hand side of
the image. The resultant image (featuring two swans, with a large central gap
between them) was saved. The first image was re-opened. This time the central
swan was removed using the Clone Stamp tool and the left hand swan was moved
into the centre of the frame. The resultant image was pasted over the first
modified image to create a separate (top) layer. The section to the left of the
(new) central swan was erased to reveal the “skimming” swan and the resultant
image was flattened. Finally, the few strands of remaining vegetation (top
right of Image 1) were erased to give a cleaner image (Image 2), featuring the
new, improved line-up of swans.
Image 2
Finally, I made two further
modifications. Firstly I slightly extended the background to the left of the
swans, to give them more space to fly/swim into, cropping off an equivalent
area on the right of the image. Then, I reversed the image horizontally so that
the action was taking place from left to right. This is the direction that my
gaze naturally tends to follow when I am “reading” an image, perhaps because I
also read from left to right, and produces what for me is a more natural
looking image. The whole process, from starting with the original image to
producing the final image (Image 3), took just 20 minutes.
Image 3
Conclusions and Key Learning Points
Whilst Image 3 is “manufactured” it does provide a fluent,
ordered illustration of some of the stages of swans landing and reads smoothly
as a simple “action” story as the eye moves from left to right. The resultant
sequence is now more aesthetically pleasing, although it could be argued that
it loses some of the tension of the original.
Learning Points:
·
When a “good” image has been produced it is
worthwhile thinking about whether and, if so, how it can be made even better
during post-production.
·
High key images offer more potential for
modification of the type shown above than do those images that have been
produced and/or processed using a standard exposure.
· In creatively modifying an image in
post-production, the balances between aesthetics, tension and photographic
truth are critical considerations.
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