(embiggenable) • iPhone
THE QUESTION HAS BEEN ASKED BY MIKE JOHNSTON ON TOP, under the heading of The Way Photographs Should Look, "What way do you like a photograph to look?"
My answer is in 2 parts, albeit in 1 sentence. (1)Since there is no way photographs should look, (2)who gives a rat's ass how anyone but the picture maker cares about how his/her photographs look.
Although it is worth noting that many a viewer of photographs have expressed how he/she would like another picture maker's photographs to look. You know what I mean ... the ubiquitous statement, "I wish he/she _______ " (insert directive of your choice, as in, cropped the scene differently, added more/less saturation or more/less contrast, etc.).
If you really want to know how someone thinks a picture should look, ask him/her to show you some of their pictures. And, if he/she does so but also starts to explain with words how they think a picture should look, tell him/her to shut the f... up cuz his/her pictures should "say" all there is to "say" about the subject.
In the 3 picture panel below, aka: triptych, there are 2 pictures which reflect my straight approach to making picture and how I like them to look. The 3rd picture has a bit of art sauce applied, which is not normally my cup o' tea. However....
"We got tired of the sameness of the exquisiteness of the photograph . . . [referring to the exact rendition of detail which is all-revealing.] Why? Because the photograph told us everything about the facts of nature and left out the mystery. Now, however hard-headed a man may be, he cannot stand too many facts; it is easy to get a surfeit of realities, and he wants a little mystification as a relief..." ~ Henry Peach Robinson
(embiggenable) • iPhone