----- Original Message ----- From: "John Celio" Subject: Cut or Keep? A Question About Editing
> How do you decide what to cut and what to keep when you've shot more than > one good photo of a subject? I haven't had that happen yet..... > > Assuming you feel like all or most of the photos of said subject are good, > how do you distance yourself from your personal attachment to your work or > subject, in order to objectively edit it all down to something more > manageable than (for instance) the big ol' gallery I posted over the > weekend? > > Objectivity is the goal, I think. How do you achieve it? > I think that photographers really need to educate themselves on what is a good picture, and what makes a good picture. For the most part the rules of composition is pretty cut and dried, but people eschew the rules because it "stifles their creativity", or use some other pompous excuses for why their picture is above reproach. The one that makes me cringe is the bad picture that is put forward as wonderful because the photographer was "trying to make a statement". If you want to make a statement, write a fucking sentence. But, I digress, as I often do. The better educated the person is regarding what is needed to make a picture into a good one, the easier it is to see if his or her own picture has what it takes to meet the criteria. I know that this is the anathema of the modern world, but really, people just aren't critical enough in general when it comes to artistic endeavors. The theory that if it doesn't please the audience, then the audience is somehow at fault is no more than self indulgent bullshit. So, you want to know how to edit your photos better? Take a drawing or painting class. Study cinematography. Visit art gallerys, look at books of pictures. Educate yourself about what is pleasing to the eye and what isn't. Spend more time without a camera while looking for pictures. Don't force things, stop pushing the button just because something catches your eye. And stop posting pictures here, because you won't get an accurate opinion about what is good from this list. William Robb -- PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List [email protected] http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net to UNSUBSCRIBE from the PDML, please visit the link directly above and follow the directions.
