The Great Sky Swapping Debate
Plus, the little brother to the X100V
I was never one to fuss too much with my images. I like good exposure, composition, and color. Sometimes I’ll add a grad screen to darken the sky or open up the foreground. But generally speaking, that’s about it.
Until, that is, sky swapping became so effortless.
With applications like imgmi for the iPad, I can now leverage my entire inventory of cloud shots that I’ve accumulated over the years, and choose any of them for enhancing an otherwise dull photo.
Using AI, the application creates the mask and allows me to position the clouds exactly where I want, and even lets me relight the photo. All of this on a mobile device while sipping an Americano in a coffee shop.
Sometimes my goal is to take an otherwise wonderful shot and finish it off with a natural, but more interesting sky. Other times I want to create something unique and surreal, such as the image of Mono Lake at the top of this article.
I’ve had that photo for years. I like the light on the tufa and on the edge of the island in the background. But I never did anything with the image because the sky was so darn boring.
The other night, while playing around, I added a dramatic cloud shot to the tufa, played a bit with the lighting, and smiled. Crazy? Yes. Fun? Absolutely.
I’m curious to know where you stand on sky swapping. Is it a practice you condone? Or maybe this just isn’t your cup of tea.
Let’s get it out in the open by participating in the poll below.
As for me… there’s no changing my mind. I think it’s a blast.
A Workflow You May Find Interesting
Speaking of post production, in this week’s TDS Photography Podcast, I talk about the workflows I use and how they are constantly changing because of new apps like imgmi. Tune in for more!
The Fujifilm X20 — Little Brother to the X100V
The X20 doesn’t have many of the X100V’s bells and whistles, such as Bluetooth, WiFi, tilting LCD, and a 24-megapixel sensor. But it does have what we love about Fujifilm cameras: beautiful design, click-stop dials, Fujinon aspherical lens, X-Trans sensor, Fuji color science, gorgeous optical viewfinder, built-in flash, Q menu, and images that have a certain magic to them.
The cost of swapping skies is that people will see your photographs differently in the future, even when you have photographed the real thing. I think you risk losing the power of a real photograph.
I think it’s a lovely thing that we can meld reality and imagination (&tech!) to make art. There will always be the purists, but I like to surround myself with imaginative artists. To see beauty and have the ability to make it more beautiful, why limit your art when you have the tools to create your dreams? The sky’s the limit.......