While I have had a serious interest in photography for over forty years, it has been the advent of digital photography that has sparked my renewed passion in photography. I never enjoyed the technical or processing end of film photography, but I enjoy the digital processing component, probably because of my familiarity with computer technology. While the photos are virtually all digital captures, with one exception the only manipulation is that of "traditional" photography. Nothing has been added and virtually nothing has been removed - the clear exception being the ubiquitous dust spots. Some are crops, but typically the crop is only to change the aspect ratio from the camera's 2x3 ratio to my preference for a roughly 4x5 ratio. Lightening and darkening, intensifying the hue and sharpening are typically the only manipulations, and all have darkroom equivalents or in the case of sharpening is a requirement in the digital workflow. The only manipulation outside the realm of traditional photography is the use of stitched panoramas. The advantage of stitching panoramas is the ability to create large files for scenics (some are up to 180M) that will retain breathtaking detail even when printed at large size. |