Amish Going on a Picnic

[Karm Redland]

Hey John, sorry I missed that. Actually. I sort of like what you did. Gives the boy's head direction a bit more uniqueness. Share with me and others how you did that if you don't mind.

karm

[JPS]

Hey John, sorry I missed that. Actually. I sort of like what you did. Gives the boy's head direction a bit more uniqueness. Share with me and others how you did that if you don't mind.

karm

Hi Karm,
that was the reason I adjusted her head, so that everybody had their backs towards the camera with the exception of the boy. I thought it just made a stronger composition.
Adjustment was nothing technical, I just added a layer. Removed the unwanted head and blended the back ground. I then copied the other ladies head; slightly resized, a little cloning and then pasted it onto the now headless ladies shoulders.

Not a practice many of our members would condone, I'm sure, but it works for me.
Cheers
John

[Mike Buckley]

The possibility of doing what John did is a good reason to take many photos of a group of people; you never know when one or two people need to have their heads replaced by other photos of themselves because their eyes are shut, their smile looks odd, they are looking the wrong way, or whatever in a photo that is otherwise very good. John was lucky to be able to grab an appropriate head from the same capture.

I guess that's to say that I not only condone the practice but I encourage it.

[Karm Redland]

John thanks. Sometimes I take a photograph and its highest potential requires leaving its content true to the original scene. Sometimes I take a photograph and its highest potential requires changing it in a profound way (and I would say stripping one of my subject's of her head and giving her a new one probably qualifies as "profound"). In the example of my photograph, a good case can be made for your manipulation. If this is correct then why not do it?

karm