Little Flutters

Stephen Voss is a Washington D.C photographer that freelances for the likes of the Washington Post, NPR Business Week and the Smithsonian.

© Stephen Voss

Voss outlines his three techniques to turning mediocre photos into something spectacular, and perhaps more importantly, something sellable. “After all, trying to get the digital image to the completed image sets you apart at a high level.”

“When you’re shooting with digital the image that comes out of the camera is pretty flat and lifeless, this wasn’t the case with film, so post-processing is critical.” If you’re shooting in RAW, it would be almost blasphemous to show your work without some kind of post-processing. Shooting in JPEG cuts down on your options as it doesn’t record as much detail. It’s a double edged sword when you’re trying to take your photos to the next level. “The image [that] amateurs show is the image that comes directly out of the camera.” Photoshopping, whether we like it or not, is critical.

1. “Get skin tones right.” Use colour balance wisely to match the skin tones of people exactly to what they would look like in natural light.

2. “It’s all trial and error”, Voss finds work that he admires and tries to emulate it. If you admire someone’s work and try to copy the look, there’s a certain element of yourself that you can’t remove so it won’t be a copycat carbon. While you’re busy in Photoshop trying to get that certain effect, allow yourself to play around until you find something you’re happy with. Some photographers Stephen draws on for inspiration are: Paolo Pellegrin, Alex Webb and Sam Abell.

3. “When you’re trying something out, go a little too far and then dial it back. Once you know what doesn’t work, it’s easier to back track. All my techniques have come from playing around.” Voss suggests trying this out with the contrast, take it too high or too low so you loose some detail, that way you know how far you can push this before it starts to look bad.

© Stephen Voss

You can see Voss’ work at http://www.stephenvoss.com/

I may have come across the earliest attempt to beautify someone by gross manipulation. In 1989 the magazine TV Guide was doing a front page article on Oprah, then the possible richest woman on earth, now a demi-God in many people’s eyes. The illustrator based the cartoon on Ann-Margret Ollson’s body from a picture dating 1979. The details included the same dress and jewelery.

Oprah on the TV Guide cover

Ann-Margaret in 1979

Like most magazines today, TV Guide didn’t even point out the cut-and-paste job until they were outed by the designer of Ann-Margret’s dress. The illustrator was told firmly not to copy photos so literally. Oprah’s publicist stated ““Oprah would not pose on a pile of money like that nor would she pose in that revealing a dress.” I don’t know what’s more depressing. The fact that they were doing this in 1989, so soon after the feminist movement, or the fact that this is common practice now.

I hate photoshopping out imperfections. It’s what makes us human, tells something of our character. Scars whisper stories of our past, even cellulite has a story. One of my favourite things about my love is the faint lines around his eyes when he smiles. I love finding out the story behind each scar. If I see someone who has frown wrinkles around their mouth or forehead, I stay way away from them cause experience tells me their grumpy motherfuckers.