Disclosure by Dylan Toh & Marianne Lim

Disclosure by Dylan Toh & Marianne Lim

Russell Falls
Tasmania This shot was taken after a day of constant rain which really brought a drying forest to life and the flow of water back to an area really in need of it. The title refers to something about photographs I feel is nice to read about but something that people don’t necessarily need to demand. There are a couple of things about this image that I personally would like to tell you about. 1. The top section of the falls was vertically distorted to not appear quite so much like it’s leaning.
2. I couldn’t get the desired reflection of the falls easily from this angle so the midground is a partial post process reflection. Bear in mind that a competition like ANZANG would want me to disclose:
1. It’s a focus stack
2. Selective colour enhancement as occurrs on the leaves and moss
3. There has been orton introduced
4. There has been local dodge and burn rather than global adjustment. Some other may yet wish for the disclose that; 1. I used photoshop
2. I edited it at all! The flip side about non disclosure is that many have an arbitrary list of what is and isn’t acceptable . This applies to photographers and the general public. When by chance, an aspect of an image is ‘revealed’ to be a manipulation, (often, I suspect by a keyboard warrior with a triumphant ‘aha!’ who actually likes the image but who struggles to create similar material for themselves) the hue and cry that ensues is an exaggeration of a polite conversation that would otherwise occur in a physical gallery .Such are some of the wonders of the safety-last environment of cyberspace. It does however breed an environment of skepticism whereby images are looked at with doubt the moment anything that seems ‘to good to be true’ is presented. What is too good to be true oft isn’t ‘true’ (however you define that word). I personally hold on to the value that photography in all of its aspects should lean more toward a representation of moments rather than a representation of imagination. But that probably reflects a scientific upbringing of linear thought processes. Others use photographs to create art akin to other artistic media. In the last couple of years I have found myself striving very hard to create images that are beautiful and have done manipulations where the light isn’t representative and indeed elements of the scene have been changed. The resultant images may be beautiful but in the end, am I shooting myself in the foot for removing an aspect of photography that separates itself from all other forms of art? That is, its ability to capture authentic moments right there and then. I’ll ponder upon this a little, but for now, I’m enjoying stripping back the approach and presenting what I experienced at that time.

Dylan Toh & Marianne Lim: Photos