What do you see when you look at a photograph? Do you scrutinize the subject or its portrayal? How do you differentiate shoddy work from a carefully orchestrated one? When do you begin to like the photographer’s take on it?

Some of us may have a lot of apprehensions on editing a photograph or in popular terms ‘photoshopping’ it. I had it and was totally against it until I recently entered into the world of imaging, as I would want to term it. Why should a photo be edited, what’s the need? Why the need to take it away from reality? Isn’t it more like GM food when it can be relished the way it is. I arguably was majorly against it.

But then when I got into it, I realized some things. No camera however expensive can simply capture the image as in what we perceive at that place. The best image captured is often quite far from the picture what our eye maps to our mind. Just to skim some of the technicalities, the highlights may be too vibrant while the shadows are too dark. Some areas might be a little under toned and some may not have captured the detail what the eye does at that point. This is where photo editing comes in where the photographer starts to make the photo look more ‘naturalistic’ or what he intends to portray to the audience. Some require extensive makeover with the artist probably weaving his side of the story; if there is ever an audience for it. Needless to say there are numerous times where the need to edit is nil, for instance in casual photography. And there are plenty of people with cameras and photo editing software who overdo things all the time.

All photographs needn’t be crisp and clean, although for many, these attributes are their holy grail; to get the maximum detail, to reproduce the colours, the sharpness etc. What maybe more needed is its story. One way to gauge the result of the photographer’s intention is from the caption of the photograph. The caption matters as that is a way one would know if it is what the he intended to seize, and even if it were to be just a fluke chanced upon, should be able to understand the story behind its spectrum. Of course all things framed cannot have a tale attached to it but can have a mindful thought to say the least.

Quite many times, the photograph just doesn’t strike a chord with the audience. This usually happens when the photographer is content and immersed in the stark effect of the subject and doesn’t budge. After all it is a record of friendship between the subject and the shutterbug. There is more in his drive than in the published image.

So sometimes it is absolutely okay to go quite blurred, quite out of crispness, out of colour but not out of elements. The camera gear, if there is one, assists you in capturing what you intend to. It constitutes a portion of the book. It’s you who is the storyteller.