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McNair Island at Dawn |
Here I present the first photo from my new, high-resolution (8MP) digital camera. None of the variations look as it appeared to the eye, nor could they - nor should they. Photographs always represent the original image, and if one's goal is faithfulness, then we could stive towards that, but will never completely achieve it.
But even then, we would mean "faithfulness" to what? Often we would prefer faithfulness to the feeling we had - or wished we had - at the moment of exposure. Often we desire faithfulness to our own inner artistic creativity. Nothing about this suggests a right or wrong way to present an image, unless it involves dishonesty (as in documentary photographs for legal evidence, for example).
Even when we have family portraits done, we usually say "Smile!" without regard to the actual state of our emotions at the time or to our inter-personal relationships overall. We want a certain photo, and everyone knows implicitly that "honesty" on some level has been compromised towards that (legitimate) goal.
These four versions of McNair Island at Dawn have all been "manipulated," although in some cases, in an effort to restore faithfulness to the original scene. All have been i) "unsharpened". Versions 2 to 4 have all ii) had the colour saturation punched up a bit, and iii) have had increasing degrees of tonal expansion, using the histogram, sometimes with the three colours separated.
I think I prefer version 3 - no, 2(?) - but none of them constitutes the "correct" image, and each has something to recommend it.
Charles T. Low
2006 March