Post Production

Being a Palette of Pixels, the art form goes far beyond the initial capture. I like to think of that original snapshot, portrait, photograph, as being a raw, frozen instant. It is the real world, caught and framed in such a way as to give your viewers a narrow and focused image or thought. On some level, it is telling a story.

That's why I love the art form.

"A picture is worth a thousand words," they say. But sometimes there's a lot of extraneous words involved that don't contribute to your story. Just like with a written tale, you could leave it as the raw original, but it is often better to look back over what you've captured and start trimming down the excess. Get rid of any distracting elements that don't add to what you're trying to say. You have to know what is important, and what is telling some side story that isn't vital. Also, perfect your language. Make it fit exactly what you're trying to do. Word choice, sentence structure, even punctuation is of utmost importance. After you're done, no one will see how much work you put into making your story succinct, fluid, and streamlined. That's the idea, though. Your brush strokes can be invisible, so long as the story is what you want to tell.

I suppose it counts as a metaphor when I move back and forth between the imagery of a novel and a photograph. Nevertheless, the end result is the same. A good photograph does not have to be a finished product.



Ah, summer break on the beach. Friends hanging out with the other tourists, a bright blue sky and a big golden sun directly overhead. Thoughts of school are far away, and you hop out of the water for a second so your friend can snap a photo before you go in for lunch at the hotel. A perfect shot to remember the moment!

The photograph is 'complete'. Everything's in frame. You've got Scooter, there, and Jessica, names I made up JUST NOW, and they look happy and content. They're looking out of a portrait at their future selves. Their future selves are looking at the portrait going "Aw, we were so young." Or something. And then they send it off to mom, and mom goes "Aw, they're so cute!" And they send it off to their friends in Canada, and they go "Aw, it looks so warm!" And they set the photograph in a cute little frame on their coffee table, and the neighbors come over and see it. And their neighbors go "Aw, who are those people back there?"

Imagine the sound of a record player scratching and the cozy music abruptly ending.

"What? What people? Oh. Um. Other tourists, I guess."

"And how come the ocean looks tilted?"

"Well, we were on the sand, so I guess the camera wasn't straight."

"And why's your hair in your face?"

"Well I just got out of the water."

"Scooter was sucking it in a bit, wasn't he? Look at the -"

"IT IS JUST A PICTURE, STOP IT."

Why should it be just a picture? Trim down your story so only the elements you intend to share are carried across. Don't distract with excess details. Those tourists have their own story. The awesome waves and the way the water felt, you can tell that story without this portrait. Scooter really needed to relax, but he was nervous and you guys had just met. He wanted to look good!

Brush up the sand, smooth out the hair, tilt the image, lose some of those shadows, and offer Scooter the tummy tuck he was trying to do himself...




Now your story is coming through a bit clearer.