About Hello Kitty, the Eyes on You photo contest winner . . .

[AndyS]

22. This is the crux of why I started this thread. It IS the nature of art and the craft of image making

I could have kept quiet and nobody would have been the wiser and there would be no controversy but I would have started this thread regardless of win, lose or draw in the contest. These tools are out there and available to all of us. Why should we not take advantage of them?

What I'm reading is that it isn't real. Well it's not 'real' even if it comes straight out of the camera. It's two dimensional, it's not life size and every camera renders colors differently. A cell phone automatically performs a host of corrections and manipulations unknown to user.

I have software that makes soft images sharp, noisy images clean and pixelated images smooth. I correct exposure, combine images to render detail in shadow and highlight and expand focus area. I increase color intensity or remove color entirely. What the viewer sees in my pictures is almost always far removed from 'reality' as it comes from the camera.

If the image makes the viewer feel something that is the measure of the image. Nothing else.