More manipulations

Before I leave the pre-wedding meeting from Saturday I will show you the statue of Oliver Cromwell. History is written by the victors and Cromwell was victorious at Wythenshawe Hall, hence the statue. When I take photos at a wedding I am much more interested in gestures, in momentary events, in smiles. So the techniques that I use are totally different from a landscape photographer. If I wanted a picture of this statue then I would have waited for better weather. I would have taken my tripod and I would have taken time to find the best viewpoint. As it happened I just turned round and took a photo as I was only looking for backgrounds for photographs.

When I saw this photo I cropped it. I increased the contrast and then I sharpened it. Each stage of manipulation made the photo a little nicer. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder but the big debate on the website called Liberal Democrat Voice is whether airbrushing should be allowed in children's advertising. I was drawn into the comments page and I have written about it in my politics blog. Legislation to avoid manipulation would not be workable and/or it would cause a move towards more expensive photo shoots and 'perfect' models. Let's not have beauty police but just explain that simple computer techniques enhance photographs. In fact anyone with computer skills can join in and amend their photographs.

Happy snapping