Pretty Interesting Stuff Peering at the world through James colored glasses…

I recently drove from Seattle to Phoenix with my two dogs, Sammy and Roxy. They are very good travelers, and I usually find an off-the-highway spot to give them water and let them stretch a bit every couple hours. Believe me, I like the stretch too! I drive a mile or two into the desert so they can run free and so I can look around for photo ops.

I didn’t shoot very many photos this trip. I was anxious to get to Phoenix! But I did get a few.

The photo below is pretty over-exposed, my own fault for being in a hurry! I like the photo as it captures a moment for me. I doubt if anyone else will see what I see in my minds eye, but that’s ok.

So I decided to do a little post processing on it and was pleased that I was able to save it.

Before:

It’s a pretty sad photo… it’s way overexposed, the sky is blown out, its tilted… the horizon dips to the right, and it has that icky blue haze. I used a strighten tool to square it up, adjusted the brightness and contrast, tweaked the hue and saturation, added a bit of warmth, and cropped some of the sky out.

After:

I like the result, it reflects what I actually saw much better.

So, my answer to the question… a resounding YES! Photoshopping is just fine. While I prefer getting good shots right out of the camera, sometimes it just doesn’t work that way. Embrace technology!

I enjoy photography. A lot. It’s caused me to look at the world differently. It’s caused me to truly see what I’m seeing. It gives me an outlet for the artist within; something that I didn’t have while raising and supporting a family.

For almost fifty years, I’ve waited for a time when I could just let my creativity freely fly. Raising a family and working at a career takes time and focus. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t regret a second of my life before retirement.

But now it’s my turn. My time. I cherish it.

So today, when I was told that taking pictures is all I think about, it hurt.

The implication was that I don’t do much of anything else productive. And he’s embarrassed when I see a photo-op in public and I pull out my camera to capture it.

Maybe I am obsessed with photography. So be it. I’ve learned that to really do something right, I need to be immersed in it.

My turn!