Recently I attended a photography meetup that involved a print competition. There were basically no rules besides the size requirement, it had to be mounted or matted and also that no names be on the front of the picture. At least 6 out of the 9 final winners were dramatically changed with Photoshop. One picture had about 10 photos involved, all layered on top of one another. The overall winner was also a composite with a picture of a train on a track where a dirt road is supposed to be. Some people spend 3-5 hours working on one photo. My question is…when is it too much? A friend was told his landscape picture didn’t win because he really could have used an eagle in the sky area. WHAT? Ok, so let me get this strait…I’m going to take a picture…add something that wasn’t there…and win a contest? Isn’t that graphic design? If I wanted to make fake pictures…I would become a graphic designer NOT a photographer! Unfortunately, the judges that were there all agreed that in order to win a photo contest…you better know Photoshop inside and out. I can understand post-processing a photo that has some noise or a tree limb in the way, but to add something that’s not there…take away lots of stuff that was there, in all reality…enter a FAKE picture…I just don’t get. I am doing more research to see if there are contests out there that do not allow composite photos. I just want to enter a simple but really good photo and not be blown out of the water by someone who can make a fake train come out of a car tunnel. ( I absolutely loved all of the photos, or shall we say “entries” at the contest…I just don’t agree with some of the techniques allowed)
When is too much, too much?
For some horrible “Photoshop gone bad” pics…check out PhotoshopDisasters
For ideas on how to win a photo contest (without all the PS hype) read PhotoCritic.org
