~how does your garden grow..

..or where do you draw the line between photography and digital art? I recently snapped the photo to the left shortly after I'd finished misting my little porch vegetable garden. It was only one in a series of images, but the one I felt was the best in composition and colour. I submitted the photo to a professional photographer friend for critique. Other than a single class in Photography Basics while in college prior to the invention of the digital camera or Photoshop my professional photographic training is limited to life experience. The comments I received along with the edited photo below were as follows:" Did you use glycerine? Nice effect of water on the fruit." "The smaller green tomato distracts. You might have plucked it along with some of the less than perfect leaves or merely edited out the distracting portions with Photoshop." The tighter cropping was not justified other then the mention that it had been done.
I wonder if I struggle with the fact that now my original photograph is no longer a true representation of my little tomato hanging on my tenderly cared for tomato plant or the fact that I may be just a little defensive that I have never learned how to use Photoshop to enhance my work, or for that matter received professional instruction on how to effectively use my Nikon D50. Maybe its time I took a couple continuing education classes. I would invite and enjoy any comments from my professional and not so professional photographer viewers. *:)