Painting with Photoshop

Paint or Pixels?

Can you tell I like to paint? As you can see in this rendering of a scene on Conrad Road in Lewisville, I have a tendency to want to modify photos a lot. I try to be judicious and restrained when it seems appropriate, but it’s hard not to go all out!

Maybe that’s because I used to paint with acrylics in high school. It’s been a long time, though, since I picked up actual brushes and squeezed paint onto a palette. Now, I use Photoshop to paint digitally.

Some folks, understandably, will prefer working with the real thing — mixing the paint and feeling the brush move against canvas. I think that’s wonderful. I certainly don’t think going digital is the answer for everyone. What’s important, from an artistic perspective, is utilizing whatever medium allows one to work most creatively.

As a photographer, I didn’t start out with digital. I can still vividly recall developing my first roll of black-and-white film and then subsequently watching my first print come to life in developer solution in the darkroom.

Honestly, I don’t miss all the chemicals and the cleanup. I also don’t miss trying for hours to get just the right tones throughout a fine art black-and-white print — “dodging” here and “burning” there. While there was a degree of science involved in creating prints, there were still so many variables that came into play which were hard to predict or control: chemical temperature, exposure time, development time, humidity, paper type and age.

From Drudgery to Freedom

When it came to producing fine art prints, I slogged through many hours in the darkroom, striving for the “perfect” print. Sometimes I was so rewarded, but other times I had to accept that “almost perfect” was all the time or expense I could afford.

But now — now the beautiful world of digital has set me free, artistically speaking. I don’t have to bother with chemicals, and I don’t have mounting expenses for repeated attempts to achieve my perfect image.

Plus, although time is still a factor, it’s not drudgery for me to work at the computer for long periods, trying one thing or another. I appreciate the fact that I no longer have to be hunched over a developer tray in a smelly darkroom, hoping — praying — that this print will be what I envisioned. Yes, I’m thankful those days are behind me, and that digital technology is sufficiently refined at this point in my life so that I can fully explore its capabilities and can achieve the results I envision.

What About You?

So what kind of photography do you enjoy most? Realism, impressionism, abstract or something else? Are you a digital photographer or a film photographer?

What is it that thrills you about photography? Please share your thoughts.

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