Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2003/07/31
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]Eric's bus appearing as a "looming threat" in a photograph makes an interesting example to consider. I'm wondering---not arguing, mind you all!---whether the difficulty, to the extent there is one, in drawing a line between what's acceptable and what's not, what's "honest" and what's not, might not be the result, at least in part, of this matter being not one of black and white (no pun intended), between which a clear line can easily be drawn, but rather a continuum of sometimes very subtle choices. Someone mentioned that merely pointing a camera is an exercise in cropping and editing, and so is choosing when to "click" a sort of editiorial function. And in Eric's interesting bus example, it occurs to me that if one were photographing, head-on, a bus coming up behind a pedestrian, the mere choice of focal length might make the bus appear either far off (wide-angle) or an ominously looming threat (telephoto). In that sense, an "honest" photojournalist might be one who sticks exclusively to some middle focal length---say, 75mm---that produces a relationship between near and distant objects that is similar to what appears to the human eye. Just a thought! Art Peterson Alexandria, Virginia -----Original Message----- From: Eric Welch [mailto:eric@jphotog.com] Sent: Thursday, July 31, 2003 2:27 AM To: leica-users@mejac.palo-alto.ca.us Subject: Re: [Leica] Re cropping dilema That's an interesting point. Cropping, sizing, WHATEVER. If the intent was to create a tension that makes it look like the bus is a looming threat when it isn't is more dishonest than adding a bit to the corner of the photo. - -- To unsubscribe, see http://mejac.palo-alto.ca.us/leica-users/unsub.html