As an amateur photographer, I’ve always been fascinated by photo bombs (when another person ruins the shot) and those wonderful shots with threes sticking out of arms, street signs sprouting from backs, etc. I found some interesting stuff while tooling around today.
The Right Moment to Photograph shows several shots that were unplanned but perfect. I’ve had a few of these over the years. Last spring I was photographing an ugly black sky with the sun still at my back and in the foreground. A thicker part of cloud sent out a finger that optically met the top of a telephone pole. It was a very Escher moment.
Beyond cool photos, this kind of preparedness can yield some amazing results, such as the three men with their hands in three complimentary positions. My favorite is the man on the cell phone gesturing with his other hand and seemingly mocked by the cherubs on the wall behind him.
Another common oops factor in photos is the badly photo-shopped image, or Photoshop Disaster. We’ve seen them in magazines and even on television. Of them all, I think I enjoy the phantom hands and the people with too many arms/hands the best.
These days we know better than to believe our eyes. Magazine covers and still shots are so frequently “enhanced,” edited and photo-adjusted that it is hard to trust what we see. I haven’t looked at a model in years without wondering how much post shutter work went into making her look like that. And since I saw the Joan Lunden special a few years back with a segment on how it’s done, I’ve never assumed anyone I see in print is as they appear.
I also wonder how much I would alter. Would I remove ruddy from my cheeks or make my eyes more blue than gray? No. I am who I am, as Popeye says. Would I be tempted?
Oh, yeah.
