#147: Downtown Toronto Image Gets Some Work Done
Like a previous photo I posted of Florence, Italy, the above shot is actually a composite of two different images.
To start, this shot was actually discarded soon after I returned home. It was taken near the corner of King and Yonge while facing north where there was some sort of construction going on and half the street was blocked, which allowed me to walk out into the middle and snap a few pictures. However, the shots were too dark and thus I relegated them to my recycle bin.
Then, yesterday, just out of curiosity I decided to edit one of them to see if anything could be salvaged. I actually liked the way the image turned out except that the sky and horizon were washed out by the exposure. So, I dug up another shot from the same perspective. It was much darker on the street but the sky was beautiful. I replaced this image’s sky, and most of the buildings you see near the pinpoint horizon, with their much better exposed counterparts in the other image. After that I touched the sky and buildings up to match the rest of the photo and was happy with the outcome.It’s only recently that I’ve done this sort of thing with my photos, and really I’ve only executed the process a handful of times. Some people may consider it cheating, and I can see why. In this instance though, and like with the Florence photo, since they aren’t journalistic shots I figured I may as well try to salvage an otherwise unusable photo and perhaps create an image that I, and perhaps others, will enjoy.
Overall, I stand by my street photography as single images (not composites) that have been edited pretty much by journalism standards (which means you leave in what’s there, warts and all). However, if it’s a more relaxed image where an injection of colour or texture or any other element may infuse the photo with greater life or even just save it from the recycling bin, I give it a shot. I’d never distort a journalistic image or one with any significant emotional weight or gravity. But an empty Toronto street cluttered with traffic cones and construction signs? I think any local who has to endure the traffic jams and clogged roads will agree that a scene like this definitely needs some adjusting.
This post appears as part of the FOCUS 365 photo blog component of Bastard Type
