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{"id":1758,"date":"2014-05-17T14:52:31","date_gmt":"2014-05-17T20:52:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.accessiblenature.info\/?p=1758"},"modified":"2014-05-17T14:56:18","modified_gmt":"2014-05-17T20:56:18","slug":"rules-for-reality","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.accessiblenature.info\/?p=1758","title":{"rendered":"Rules for Reality"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u00a9 By Cecilia Travis 2011
\nPublished in RMOWP Outdoor Journal<\/em>, Vol. 1, Issue 1, June 2011<\/p>\n

I love to see a field of flowers shining in the sun. But God forbid you take a picture! Did you know full sun on flowers is ugly? The image police say so, therefore it\u2019s true.<\/p>\n

Even in deserts, where cloudy days are rare, photographers are advised to carry diffusers or screens so the brilliant cactus flowers can be portrayed in soft romantic light. Never mind that many flowers only open in full sun, do something to get rid of the harsh light of reality.<\/p>\n

The image police tell us that if one can tell that a shot was taken at midday, reject it. The only acceptable time for photography is in the warm light of dawn or sunset. One editor has declared he will not consider a bird image in which the subject is lit from the side.\u00a0\u00a0 Too easy – too ordinary. Too real.<\/p>\n

And if the \u201cphotographer\u2019s light\u201d fails to produce the Crayon box color we have come to expect? Fake it. A full spread image of the Maroon Bells in a recent national magazine was done with brilliant red rocks and rich green vegetation. I\u2019ve been to that beautiful place. It doesn\u2019t need the phony dye job. Really, pines and firs do not come in spring green. Their darker, sometimes dull green is the perfect foil for blue sky and wildflowers.<\/p>\n

Composition is an area in which helpful guidelines for shooting reality have been turned into rigid restraints. A fabulous shot of a flower\u2019s interior was critiqued recently at a photo club. Clearly, the subject was symmetry and the perfectly centered flower radiated out in glowing, precisely exposed and focused color. It was a beautiful image, conceded the judge, but would have been \u201ceven better if shot off center\u201d. Follow the rules!<\/p>\n

Your subject matter had also better conform. Reality can be unacceptable in nature photography. We don\u2019t have the vast tracts of undeveloped forests, prairies and mountains of two hundred years ago, but you would never know that by looking at the nature and photography magazines, where the \u201chand of man\u201d is forbidden.<\/p>\n

Multiple images and subsequent merging create a range of focus possible outdoors only with a hand lens and a telescope. Similarly, scenic images using high definition range (HDR) eliminate the natural contrast between sun-flooded rocks and the dark cool shadows between. Some of these images are truly beautiful, but many are odd and distracting. Surely there is room for reality as most of us see it, along with these technical marvels?<\/p>\n

The natural world is diverse and full of wonder from any angle, any time of day. The person hoping to illustrate this magnificence does well to learn the guidelines, but neither the photographer nor editors and judges should apply them mindlessly.<\/p>\n

Let an image stand on its own merit, regardless of the rules.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"