Hey Everyone! Hope you're having a Fantastic week. This week I want to talk about the firestorm of discussion that the new Photoshop AI Generative fill has brought to the photography community. Let me start out as saying I respect everyones opinion and I am no expert on the subject and these are just my thoughts. During a monthly meeting at my photography club the subject of using Photoshop in our quarterly photo contest or not. When I say Photoshop its not the software but the verb that has been associated with the Editing Software. Which means major editing and manipulation of the photo. And the discussion started. First there was one person that simply asked the question about using photoshop to enhance their photo to make it look like a painting in photoshop. Then the firestorm started. People got very defensive about how altering a photo in photoshop wasn't photography anymore. But then it was okay to take something out of the photo using photoshop but putting something in (Generative AI Fill) was wrong. I was sitting to the side listening to all of this and I was keeping my mouth shut because I really didn't care if someone used the new tool or not and didn't want to add fire to the flame. But I was kind of surprised at the reaction of my fellow photogs. I could understand if its journalism not wanting to alter the photograph. But this isn't journalism its art. Everyone always fights for photography to be classified as an art but then when you try to create something new its bad its not photography anymore.  Now everyone has their own opinion and I respect that but the main reason that people were arguing about the new AI was not because of the technique used with it but because they didn't know what was real or not anymore. They feel as they have been tricked by the photographer or photograph. Someone did something on the computer that tricked them and they can't trust photography anymore. That is what really what got them so on negitive side of the issue. There were even post on our Facebook members page showing photo's that were clearly not real but people were mad because they were tricked into believing something on Facebook. Yea I know believing something on Facebook. LOL There was even one post that showed a lady going on and on about a website that has gotten 100000 likes and shares for photo's that weren't real and she was mad and jealous of all the attention and she said so. So why didn't she just not go to that page anymore? Thats the real strength in all of this. If you don't like it don't use it. Some of the arguments were that is was okay to take things out with this new tool but not too much. It was very entertaining to listen to.  And this was just in my small little club meeting. 

So here's my opinion of this situation. It's just another photography tool that the computer has brought to our fingertips. There have been many. HDR for example . Remember when that became a big thing and everyone was using it. You could clearly tell that it was HDR and everyone overused it. Then the fad was over and we only merge photo's to increase the range of light in harsh conditions. There have been similar discussions when the healing brush, layers, crop tool, Content aware fill... came out. Content aware fill is just the weak sibling of Generative Fill. It matches the scenery and and fills in the scene. Sometimes it works and sometime it doesn't . The same with Generative fill. Or sky replacement.  Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't. When Sky Replacement it first came out in Luminar people went crazy using it. Now not so much and Photoshop has even incorporated it into its editing tool because it was so popular. So how is this new tool (Generative fill ) so offensive ?  Because it works well and you can't tell if the photo has been altered.  And that is what is causing the uproar.  I believe that if it's NOT meant to be journalism you can alter the photograph because it's Art. Whether I like it or not. Art is Art. Now I don't get or understand a lot of Art to tell you the truth but its someones else's interpretation of something. All photographs , paintings, sculptures or any form of art should be thought of this way. Its an interpretation of something .  Wether its on the internet , TV or print. Even if they haven't altered the photograph the way they took the photograph the perspective of how they shot it can show their interpretation of what they saw and not what is real. If you shoot in low perspective things look larger and taller than they really are. Things that are shot closer are bigger than they really are. Like that fish you caught and held close to the lens to make it look bigger than it actually was. Even the Cypress Trees IR lens we choose alters what is real. If we use a telephoto we compress the scene bring things in the background closer. Like mountains in the far distance that look like they are right behind the subject you are shooting. If we use a fisheye lens we distort the whole scene. If we want photography to be thought of as art we have to let people express theirselves however they can. We don't have to like it or believe that if it's a photograph it's real. It's an expression of someones thoughts. Always has been.

It has been said that the new AI is the biggest change in Photography since the invention of digital. Remember the big uproar about what was photography and what it wasn't back then? We survived that and for my money came out ahead of the game in the long run. I am a much better photographer now than I was in the film days when I began as a photographer. I think we can survive an editing software advancement. There are those that say that I don't care if it used if they put a statement on the photograph saying it was altered.  Every photo you see in print or on the internet that is not journalism has been altered in some way or another. Thats a lot of statements. It would be easier to put a statement on a photograph that hasn't been altered. Ansel Adams was famous for altering what came out of the camera by dodging and burning and all kinds of darkroom techniques that he used and invented. He would spend hours in the darkroom getting his photographs just the way he interpreted them to be not on how real they looked.  Now for a photography contest? Contest have rules and if its in the rules that you can't use then you can't use. I have no problem with that. But we should just think about what rules we want to put on art. Thats all I'm saying. So until next week Get Outside and Shoot and Express Yourself.

Neuse River Tone Mapped Hey Y’all ! Hope you’ve had a great week! Me pretty good, thanks for asking. This week I have another challenge to help improve your photography. We all get in ruts shooting the same thing every time we go out to shoot. It may be a different scene but it’s the same photograph, you know what I mean. With this challenge I want to get you out of the normal and get you into the uncomfortable to get those creative juices flowing. My camera club has monthly challenges and the winner of the challenge gets to pick the new challenge for the month. This month's challenge by Mike our winner was post one photo a day and make a comment or critique on someone else’s. This has been a big success and we have people posting that don’t normally post on our facebook members page. During this challenge I decided to challenge myself and only post photographs that were taken with my phone or my EDC camera that is a point and shoot.  I also wanted my photo’s to be resent not ones from my archive of photo’s that some of my camera club buddies were doing. It has been fun and challenging for me but that’s not the challenge that I want you to take.  No I want to push it a little bit more.

So here’s the Challenge. Since most of my viewers are from my camera club my challenge is to take and post a photograph each day of month. It doesn't have to be to Facebook it can be to whatever you want. Instagram, Flicker, or any other site.  This can be a “day in the life” photo. It might seem boring to you taking a photograph of your farm if you live on a farm but to someone that doesn’t it can be very interesting. But that’s not the end of it . I want you to use a camera that you don’t normally use. For example if you use your main camera to shoot everything maybe you can use your phone or an old point and shoot that is in a drawer somewhere just wanting to to be used. I came up with this part of the challenge today while hiking with Forrest the Wonder Dog. I had a GoPro mounted on my hiking stick and I wanted to just take a photo and I couldn’t for the life of me get it out of the video mode to the photo mode. It took me 10 minutes to figure it out. And it’s just because I don’t do it enough. So when I do this challenge I’ll be using my GoPro everyday for this challenge. Now if you’ve just got a new camera by all means use that one. Or if your phone is your main camera use something else. Take a photo and post and try to be creative when you do it. Change point of view or change lenses to something you don’t normally use. I bet after a month of doing this one photo a day that when you pick up your main camera you will be more creative in how you take photographs.  

Take the camera that you’ve chosen , (me my GoPro) with you everywhere you go if you can . Be on the lookout for photographs and take out that camera and snap. The more you do it the more you will be accustomed to the camera and the more fun you will have. You’ll get in the groove. Remember just take a photo on your daily activities. Going to the grocery store, taking a walk, out on the farm, commuting to work. Remember what is boring to you may be very interesting to someone else.  If I win this months challenge with my camera club this is the challenge that I will make to my club.  Try this challenge and let me know what you think?  How did it work for you? Did you get some great photo’s? Until next week get out and shoot!

Hey Y'all! How's your week going? This week I want to work on your Focus! This topic I came about while listening to my favorite Podcast the Digital Story by Derick Story. The "Auto Focus Mental Block" episode he goes into a little more detail than I'm going to go into and if you're not listening to this podcast you should start, there are over 900 podcast that you can listen to and learn from. Anyway back to the topic of the day Focusing. For me focusing was never a thought until the digital age of camera's came along. Starting my photography in the mid 70's everything was manual. From exposure to Focusing and until I got into the digital age I never had to think about what focusing mode I was in because there was only one "Manual". You turned the ring on your lens until things looked sharp. Simple enough. But with Focusing modes came a lot of decision making and what modes or how to focus became a thing. There are a few things to consider when focusing a modern camera. First where in the frame are you going to Focus and then how much are you going to let the camera make the decisions on how to focus. 

Focus Area, This is where in the frame do you want to focus. In the old days it was the middle of the frame you had a split focusing ring that you got sharp to do this with. But now with the modern technology you can put that spot anywhere. Depending on the make and model of your camera you have focusing spots that your camera looks at to focus . You can choose one spot or many or groups of spots to focus on. You can even move that spot around in the frame as you shoot by moving a joy stick or some sort or pad. On some camera's you can move just by touching the back screen where you want to focus and it does it for you. This is great technology and can be much more complicated than I just explained. But Focus area is basically where do you want to focus.

Focus Mode, This is how do you want to focus on the area that you picked. Most of us have this set to Single Ava focus mode just because its easier than trying to figure out how to change to another mode. LOL When you depress the button (Shutter or Back button) your camera focuses one time you may hear a beep and done. Usually its shown on your camera as AF-S for auto focus single mode. This mode is great for stationary subjects and usually produces the sharpest shot. Or at least it use too. The newer camera's now focus so well it really doesn't matter what mode your in you will have a sharp photo. AF-C or Auto Focus Continuous Mode means that as long as you have the button depresses (shutter or back button) your camera will search for focus.  This mode is great for moving subjects as your camera will keep focusing as your subject moves. And of course there is AF-M for auto focus manual. Your camera can still focus manually if you choose to and it is best for hard to focus things like Macro or a very busy frame and you want to pick out what is in focus. Most modern cameras have a focus peaking ability that works with manual focus mode and will highlight what is in focus with a particular  color to let you know it is in focus. These are the basic modes but there is much more to Focusing.

With newer camera's there are all sorts of advanced focusing modes that you can set for your camera .  There is Face and Eye detection when turned on this will detect faces and eyes on the faces to make sure they are tack sharp.  They even have animal face and eye detection that when turned on will find the eye or _MSP2682 face of animals so when you take the photo of your pet the eyes are always tack sharp. They even have modes that you can register a face. Lets say your shooting a wedding and you want to make sure the brides face is always in focus you register her face and then any group photos that she is in the camera will find her face and make sure it is in focus. There are modes where you can lock into subjects like sports athletes and lock into them while they are running at you and you keep focus while they are coming at you shooting mutable frames. Camera's are crazy with all of the things that they can do to help us get into focus.

As you can see there is lots of choices to make when focusing and that may be part of the reason we keep our camera's on single focusing mode and one spot or center spot area. It's too hard to choose and hard to find on our cameras to make a change if we wanted too. Thats why learning your camera and what it can do and how to change quickly between settings is important when taking photo's. I would suggest practicing with your camera on changing the settings. You can do this on the couch of your living room while watching TV. Practice changing between modes and area's on your camera this will make you more proficient when out taking photo's and Dice less fumbling around trying to get the shot. For me I keep my settings pretty simple but can change quickly if I have to. I am usually in AF-C (continuous mode) and my area for my camera is Wide which means the camera picks the point of focus. But I can always over ride quickly if its choosing something that I don't want to focus on. And when I'm doing slow work like studio I put on single and move my spot around or if I'm doing portraits I have eye auto detect on. My advice is to practice with your settings and you will find the settings that you use the most and helps your photography the best. So until next week get into Focus and get outside and shoot.