I'm Tired of Using Technology

In class yesterday, we talked about technology and how its advances effect us. What I was not able to share in class was that technology is a huge center of controversy in my photo 3/4 class. Photo 3/4 is an advanced class, and most of my classmates are very familiar with all types of processes. For example: 35 mm, medium format, and now photoshop. With digital cameras becoming the craze, photoshop is becoming more and more prevalent. In my class, about one third of the people use photoshop regularly, and two or three of my peers use it exclusively. My teacher, used to the old fashioned ways of photography, keeps pushing us back into the darkroom. He assigns homework that can only be done with black and white film and a regular SLR camera.

Most serious photographers either consider photoshop a heavenly sent gift that revolutionizes photography as we knew it, or a poisonous monster that's destroying tradition. It cannot be denied that photoshop revolutionizes photography. It has hundreds of features that would take hours and a lot of dedication to complete in the darkroom. With a click of a mouse, you can change an entire picture. Look at the picture I included above. The first picture is the actual model. But in the photoshopped version, her ribs are erased, her arm filled out, her hair polished, her breasts augmented and her face filled out and complexion softened. This picture probably took an hour or two to transform. This is not only skews the perception the viewers of the ad will receive, but this sends the wrong message to girls. No person is externally perfect. People who made this ad know this, but by making her flawless with photoshop, they are skewing this perception. In the past when professional photographers shot models they would use lighting and angles that flattered the model. Today, there is no need to do this because you can just edit things out that you don't like.

Another fault of photoshop would be how it is making darkrooms obsolete. My photo teacher, who also happens to be the department chair, is feeling pressure from administrators. A darkroom is very expensive to maintain, and photoshop is not. My teacher refuses to fully embrace this new technology. He does accept it somewhat and we do have 8 macs, each fully equipped with photoshop, and four color and black and white printers. My teacher, along with 85% of schools in the nation, have made a commitment to keep their darkrooms for another 20 years. But after that, who knows?

Now for the good side of photoshop. It's efficiency cannot be beaten. Most changes I would normally make in the darkroom are very time consuming. Hand dipping every print in all the chemicals takes about five minutes every time you do it. With photoshop you can preview your changes and finalize them with the click of a mouse. A good quality print from the darkroom, on average, takes me two periods to complete. With photoshop, I can make about two decent prints in one period. The time saved is unbeatable. Also, generally speaking, you can make a better print. Every detail can be perfected with photoshop, well some aspects of the darkroom procedure are somewhat unpredictable.

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My personal opinion of photoshop is that it is a great advance in photographic technology. I use it regularly and I love the work I can produce with it. I can change so many variables to make my picture however I want it. But I think photoshop should not be used exclusively. The darkroom and photoshop should be used together to create a perfect print. A common way to do this is to make a print in the darkroom and scan it into the computer. I'm not saying you should always do this, but a combination of the two can create amazing results. There is no way I would be successful with photoshop if I did not first learn the basics in the darkroom. There are rudimentary skills you need to learn in the darkroom, and not just on a computer. So for the future, keep the darkrooms and photoshop.