Everything is a gift, I believe, and I turn my fate over to the angels. After a nerve-wracking few months of photographic upheaval, I’m finding that I am coming across more engaging and creative photo editing options than I had before, for all my whining about the change.
Creative change is sacred to me; it is only when we are tested, challenged, even hurt that we can plumb the depths of our creativity and challenge ourselves to move forward.
Here I was, grumping like an old man about having to change the only photo editing program I ever had. Yet, I am amazed to discover these new AI (Artificial Intelligence) photographic editing options I didn’t know existed.
Yet they are right up my alley. What I had to do was put my head down and walk through the fear and confusion to get to the other side.
There is always another side; fear is just a space to cross.
It was confusing; it was disturbing, sometimes even traumatic for me.
How silly that sounds, given what people suffer in our world. I don’t want every one of my photos to be groundbreaking or inventive. Some images are just photos, But I love the very artistic idea of preventing new and different photos, of seeing the same things in a new and different way.
I’ve taken a thousand photos of sheep eating in the hay bin; I found an AI image enhancer that makes a real photo and helps me to see it in a completely different way. Here, the sheep are gathered at the feeder, a standard shot of mine.
But I can look at it differently, as a beautiful and very natural occurrence that challenges me and the view to see a familiar thing in another way. I am still learning this new technology, but am already grateful for it.
Change is life for me; creative change is why I am here. I’ll keep exploring. I seem to have found a photo editing program – this shot took three different programs – Apple Photos, Luminar 4, and Topaz – to get an image that I liked.
I can couple the simplicity of Apple photos with the most advanced photo editing software there is. Is this better than Lighroom? I don’t know. But I will find out.
I find this one draws the idea and practically demands the viewer to look again.
Traditionalist here too. To me, these types of processing effects just allow anyone to take a crappy out of focus image and put some weird effect in it, covering up the fact that it wasn’t a quality image to begin with, and I will never understand where the challenge is in that.
That being said, it has nothing to do with my opinion. Everyone should do and create exactly what makes them happy and leaves them feeling fulfilled. That’s what creativity is all about. It’s NOT about judgement. So keep doing what makes YOU happy, as every creative should, because that’s what matters.
I hear good things about this software. One downside is it does not allow for exporting presets, which would drive me to insanity, so I’ll stick with Lightroom always.
I don’t buy the traditionalist thing. Photography has always changed from the first day of the first glass lens. As the world advances and technology advances, the way we process images changes too..Of course, everyone should do what they want, people often balk at new things, I expect I’ll use Lightroom and some other programs as well..I don’t really see it as a big deal, although it feels exciting to me..But it’s not a choice between one thing or another, it’s really just a continuing evolution of my search for different ways to see the world..
I do buy it. To me, the three pillars of a great photo will always be perfect focus, great lighting and good composition. A goal that I unfortunately do not often achieve! I don’t hesitate to process to help achieve that, but I like what I call a “clean” edit, in other words, not noticeable. It’s a constant struggle, but I enjoy every minute of it. I do very much enjoy viewing the work of photographers that push the boundaries more than I do, when it’s done well.