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Inspiring and Supporting Photographers of Australian Birds

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Discussions about cameras, lenses, accessories, and image-processing.
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Changing Photos to create a better image 8 years 1 month ago #457

  • Gunther Frensch
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Landscape photographers often replace skies in their photos to improve their image. Macro photographers photos stack images to produce clear sharp pictures. Wedding photographers take a number of group photos and then use bits of all photos taken to ensure everybody in the group has their eyes open, nice smile, etc.etc. Digital photography has made this easier, particularly with the choices of post processing software such as Photoshop. When I joined Birdlife Photography last month, I raised the question of changing photos with Georgina Steytler, not wanting to submit a photo that would be considered "illegal" in the terms of what Birdlife Photography (BLP) would expect, seeing photos are used for archival purposes amongst other things. Georgina is taking this up with the BLP committee and suggested that i raise it at this forum and open it up for discussion.
Here are the questions I have asked Georgina and I have included a photographic example of each. (It should be noted that none of the photos I have submitted in competition or to any of the galleries have include these techniques).
1. Completely changing the background to get rid of the clutter of twigs, dead leaves, etc. that cannot be removed and replacing it with a background that looks more pleasing and brings out the colours in the bird. (See the example photo 1 of an Adelaide Rosella)
2. Combining two photos to improve the depth of field when more than one bird is involved. Wide apertures are great to help blur the background and increase shutter speed, but it usually means that a second bird in the photo is out of focus. So I usually take a number of photos focusing on each bird and then sort of "focus stack" the two best together to make one photo where both birds are sharp. (See example photo 2 - Emus)
3. Combining two photos to make one. Different to the above as the birds were never together but taken in the same vicinity with the same lighting. I usually use this to show the male and female of the same species in one pleasing photo. (See example photo 3 - King Parrots)
4. Combining two or more photos of the same bird to create a more pleasing image. I like photos with more than one bird in it. I am often tempted to combine photos to achieve this. In example photo 4 of the Red Barred Finches, it is the same bird, sitting in the same spot but in three different stages of drinking water.
After looking at all these examples, I am interested in what peoples thoughts are regarding using these "manipulated" photos on the BLP site. In time I am sure Georgina will get back to me, in the meantime I am interested in other people's thoughts.
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Changing Photos to create a better image 8 years 1 month ago #458

  • Ian Wilson
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Welcome to BLP. Your post has opened Pandora ’s Box, the gift that seems valuable but in reality is a curse. The gift to which I refer is image processing, the means by which we are able to adjust digital images to produce high fidelity pictures of a scene. The curse is that we can do much more than this with the tools available and you give some graphic examples. Whether it is a curse or not depends upon the purpose for which the image was manipulated and the extent to which the manipulation was disclosed. If the intent is to deliberately deceive the viewer then that is fraud and a curse. If the intent is to add valuable information to the image that is disclosed, then that can be a welcome enhancement.

A major objective of BLP is to capture high quality images of every Australian bird species in all stages of its life history. This includes capturing images of male and female birds at different ages, in different plumages and exhibiting different behaviours. In the presentation of the results of this work I would say there is unlimited scope for using novel techniques such as focus-stacking and various kinds of composite image provided the photographer discloses what he has done. For the purposes of illustration, composite images have a long history and serve a useful purpose in, for example, photographic field guides. In my opinion, all of your examples would be acceptable for the New Images gallery provided you disclosed that the image was manipulated in a particular way.

BLP competitions are a different matter because they have a different purpose. They are designed to challenge the photographer’s use of the camera, field craft and only to a limited extent his image processing skills. I say only to a limited extent because the allowable adjustments are typically limited to cropping, basic lighting and colour adjustments, sharpening and noise reduction. These restrictions are now mandated for national and international competitions and have been increasingly tightened following scandals involving deliberate attempts at deception. These attempts have involved making composite images and in one instance, the prestigious Audubon prize was stripped from the winner when it was discovered he had concocted a spectacular-looking image from two unrelated frames. Some competitions now ban the use of the clone stamp tool following gross deceptions and competitions have long outlawed the rearrangement of picture elements within a frame. So far, we have been lucky in BLP competitions in that there appears to have been few attempts at deception and therefore we do not yet have extensively codified rules. I hope that continues to be the case.

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Changing Photos to create a better image 8 years 4 weeks ago #460

  • Gunther Frensch
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Thanks for the well thought out comment Ian. I could not agree with you more. Personally I enjoy manipulating photos for my personal use i.e. prints or my website. I am also trying to collect photos of as many species as I can and if possible with these photos combine the male and female on one photo in a natural looking way and this gives me a little bit of a challenge if you like. But manipulating photos, to the extent of the examples I have shown, definitely should not be allowed for any competitions, be it at BLP or anywhere else. I am sure the committee and most members would agree. I guess we wait for the outcome of my request to Georgina.

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Changing Photos to create a better image 8 years 3 weeks ago #467

  • Glenn Pure
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I'm surprised this topic has attracted little response - but that should make the committee's job easier!

I have no problem with manipulated images (and have done same myself) but with a few caveats:
1. Any manipulation other than exposure, lighting, white balance, noise reduction and similar 'technical' adjustments must be disclosed, especially adding, removing or changing elements in an image.
2. The manipulation should not fundamentally misrepresent the bird or the environment in which the bird was seen and photographed.

Having said that, I also wouldn't have a problem with heavily manipulated photographs that were intended more as artistic interpretations of birds rather than trying to accurately reflect them and their environment - but, again, provided that such intention is clearly disclosed (eg via a flag or separate gallery). Until a clear means of identifying such photographs is decided and implemented though, I think it would be better not to accept them.

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Changing Photos to create a better image 8 years 3 weeks ago #469

  • Georgina Steytler
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Still working on this!!! This blonde needs some 'processing' time! I personally am happy to accept such images, but the question seems to be into what gallery what kinds of images should go. Personally I think adopting the ANZANG photo comp-style guidelines for acceptable manipulations would be appropriate for competition galleries, but for the New Images gallery it would be ok to accept a bit more alteration - eg cloning out twigs, focus stacking etc. As regards more substantial 'photoshopping' for artistic effect, a separate gallery may be more suitable. The main issue seems to be one of 'definition'. As you can imagine there is a big fuzzy grey area between minor and major manipulations.

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Changing Photos to create a better image 8 years 3 weeks ago #471

  • Andrew Browne
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Another great contentious issue. Thanks for raising it Gunther.
Simple for me.....accept only images with basic manipulations as outlined by the ANZANG photo comp guidelines for all BLP pages. This would include a ban on cloning out twigs etc.
And yes Gloria.....perhaps a secondary special gallery for those who want to be 'artistic' or in reality be 'creative' and spend hours at their computer to edit their images to make up for their lack of technique and patience in the field to obtain a great 'natural' image. Sorry the latter may appear harsh and I hope I haven't offended anyone.
Cheers AB

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