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Anonymous
>>239451 They are, just like ad copy is "writing." But when discussing the state of current literature, you're right, you don't look at what interns at Saatchi are turning out.
Photography, like all arts, requires technical skill. Writing requires a wide vocabulary, the knowledge of how to spell that vocabulary, and a mastery of the grammar of whatever language one is writing in. Photography requires knowledge of exposure and processing, whether that's in the darkroom or Photoshop.
But none of that is what makes something great. The guy's wrong in saying it isn't technical, but he's right in saying that's not what you should be focused on. Just keep practicing and playing around in Photoshop, shoot manual, and you'll get better in the technical aspects.
The Luminous Landscape is probably the best place to read technical Photoshop stuff, though.
A quick tip I heard from someone else: if you're dodging or burning, go Layers -> New layer -> Softlight -> Fill with softlight neutral color. And then dodge and burn in those layers like that. For some reason, it turns out better.
Something I figured out on my own while playing around: in some black and white images, lightly burning the out of the focus parts of the image can give a strong, subtle boost to the appearance of the highlights and shadows there.
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