Warp wrote:
>   I still consider there to be a difference between, for example, a white
> balance filter and, for example, compositing an image from several source
> images. There's a drastic difference between those two. The latter has
> something the camera didn't "see" (at least not at one single shot), so
> it has a sense of "faking" to it.

	Do you consider dark frame subtraction a fake, then? It's compositing
two images (in the camera) to eliminate noise.

	What about sharpening? That's applying an algorithm to your picture to
make it look fairly different from what the sensor saw. Same goes for
contrast and saturation. White balance is relatively minor compared to
those.

	Finally, maybe your concern for fake comes from looking at HDR photos?
Many of those really do look fake. Compositing two images to get better
dynamic range (different from what people usually refer to when they
talk of HDR), however, is an old, old trick that results in an image
that looks closer to what the eye sees than any camera can ever hope to
achieve with a single frame. Which is faker? Furthermore, people with
more money to burn achieved this with a single frame using a grad
neutral density filter. Done well enough, both photos will look the same
- why would one be cheating and not the other? (And BTW, compositing the
two usually produces more realistic photos than a grad neutral density
filter normally would).

	Finally, I abandoned worrying about fakeness long ago. Trying to make
photos look realistic will often involve faking, by your criterion. The
point of my taking an artistic photo is not to show the world how my
camera takes photos, but to use it as a tool for displaying art.

	That, and realizing that most of the photos made by professionals that
I had appreciated (even in the film days) had been edited - using
software or in the dark room. It's somewhat unrealistic to get that kind
of quality without editing photos.

	Perhaps there is something to be said about setting your camera to
minimum contrast, minimum sharpness, no dark frame subtraction, and try
to get the best photo possible under those circumstances. For me,
though, that's a totally different art, and is more of an academic
exercise.

-- 
It is kisstomary to cuss the bride.


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