Photography as art is now an accepted premise by the art world. Yet many photographers reject the use of tools which can be used to refine images into art.

High Dynamic Range as a art tool

When I choose an image to be an art image I often use various tools to change the texture, enhance color or even modify elements of the image. Sometimes as in this example I exaggerate tonal rangers and contrast so that details become a key to defining what I want the image to say. In this case I was trying to impart a holiday color to leaves that gave them meaning as a second chance to impact those who saw them.

What I saw and what it became are imaginations apart.

I am a photographer sometimes and a digital artist at other times. I use the various tools – lens and software – to create my own world. Artistic vision lives, for me, in the mind. When I photograph something for a print or “straight” image what I really see are levels of contrast and forms. When I create Some digital art the forms, contrast, and colors seem to “swim” to a place they want to be. Letting the forms migrate to where they want to be as the colors to morph into the shades they prefer come from the artistic vision portion of my mind. Most often this is not a calculated process but something organic that just happens.

More Digital Art