Senior Moments
By Charles P. Eberson
There is a saying that the eyes are the windows to the soul. As a photographer, the lens is the window to my eyes and after working my craft for all my adult life, I can say that my soul has been well fed.
But with the advent of the ubiquitous cell phone and its sophisticated camera, the term “photographer” as it historically came to be, has been a title claimed by people with little understanding of the nuances that make up a great photograph. There is an interplay of light and shadows; of shutter speed, aperture and depth of field. But if they are satisfied with what they are producing as a result of our advanced technology, if they are recording life and memories to keep for the future, don’t get me wrong. That is a good thing.
I have just returned from a trip to a little New England harbor town known for its nautical scenery with a large selection of photos to process. Maybe I was suffering the aftereffects from a 7-hour soul-crushing I-95 drive home but I began to see the similarities between Photoshop/Lightroom adjustments to our lives. We can choose to adjust the Luminance in our photos simply by moving a slider to the left or right. Can we adjust the Luminance in our outlook?
There is a Sharpness slider to improve our photo but sometimes too much Sharpness takes away from the image. We can also take our Sharpness to a detrimental level. Then there is the Saturation slider which will make colors deeper but this can also be overdone just as I have, at times become too saturated by work, family, outside stimuli, etc. If only it was as easy as moving a slider a little to become less saturated.
The Clarity slider can add a little punch to the photo when used sparingly and there certainly have been times when some clarity would have served me well. If it were only that easy. The slider designated as Shadows has special significance. In a photograph where there is a lot of contrast, some details/information can be lost in the darkness. Some of the detail is important so moving the slider to the right will bring this information to the surface making the details more visible. But other times, the information is distracting thus taking away from what we want the image to say, so the slider is moved to the left masking the distraction in darkness.
In our lives, what personal details do we want to remain hidden in the shadows and which details should we move our sliders to the right to make the image of ourselves a truer, more honest representation? Sharpness, Luminance, Focus, Saturation, Shadows, Clarity, Vibrance are just some of the adjustments used to process a photograph. They can also be used to adjust our outlook. It’s just a matter of which direction and how much we want to move our sliders.
Charles Eberson has been in the newspaper business for over 25 years. He has worked as a writer, advertising executive, circulation manager and photographer. His photography can be viewed at charles-eberson.fineartamerica.com
