Today I am posting a before and after look at a photo of a big rock covered in moss living in the stream at Unicoi State park. This is the stream directly after the Anna Ruby falls. There’s probably a better way to say that, but I think this gives the accurate topological positing.
In the spirit of the last couple posts, I wanted to compare a straight out of the camera flat processed image along with an edit I was happy with. There are a million ways to look at the same picture when taking into account crops, angles, colors, light and other variables. Some of the ways are going to be good and others bad, but that is pretty subjective to the audience when you get right down to it. At some point you have to say I like that then put it out there. There will always be criticism, both constructive and destructive. Everybody has their own opinion, and some people delight in tearing down everything. That’s is a sociological/physiological perspective better suited for some other blog. My ADD and deep fascination with the human condition rears it’s head again.
A few thought’s about this edit. That’s ultimately why this post is here. I decided to crop this image down to what seems to me to be the focal point, the rock and stream. There is something to be said about the wider view and the totality of the whole, but in this case I wanted to zoom in on those central points of interest. I didn’t have to crop in very far and the detail was still very much observable. Sometimes when you crop you loose detail, but I’m blessed with a very good camera, in today’s terms, capable of some pretty detailed exposures. This was shot on a 17-35mm zoom lens. This exposure was at 35mm. I took some exposures of the same scene at wider settings and like them too. I will post something with a wider perspective showing more of the totality of the scene soon I hope.
One thing I’m a little unsure about is the color. The green is really green, at least on my monitor. When I was editing I liked it. When I look at it compared to the original it seems hyper-green. Part of me kinda likes that super-popin green while another part of me says it’s unnatural. These are the kinds of decisions one must make when processing photographs. When I decided I was finished with this exposure for today, I knew the green was a-popin, and I liked it. After the fact, I question my judgement. I wonder what other people would think. I wonder how much of what other people think would effect my editorial judgment.
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