Virtual Jottings: Feature Monday - Photographic Treatments

Well, the discussion about "treatments" has been to-ing and fro-ing for a while now over at RedBubble. With comments like "Ooo, nice treatment!" being made on their work, artists just cannot be sure that a comment such as that is a positive or derogatory term. Do members assume that the image created was done so with just one click of an editing program, was it done purely in camera, or did it take hours and many layers later to create such an image? With the mass availability of inexpensive digital cameras and editing software, taking photos of anything and everything has never been more popular. And you only need to google Photoshop plugins, and you are flooded with endless choices of easy one-touch editing add-ons that will instantly "create" that special image for you. So, of course many will think that anything that is out of the ordinary would have been done while using an instant plugin filter. This isn't always the case - and this is what offends some artists when others leave comments such as "nice treatment". Perhaps, along with our instant world, we have also become lazy when using the written language. So when leaving comments like "nice treatment", what we're really meaning is "Excellent choices" as put so well by Shawhouse - mind you he also went on to add "I think you made excellent choices to arrive at the eye-catching image you posted here and that I can barely see on my stupid, sucky monitor that I inherited from my little brother a hundred years ago, I should really upgrade, but I’ll never afford anything decent, I should really get roommates…".

Using an example of a simple subject everyone has available to them - and apple or similar - the challenge went out to the members of A Photographer's Craft. Show us their best "treatment" - in other words, show us their interpretation of that subject. Below are examples of apple images from RedBubble members who took part in the challenge. Each is of an apple, and each has applied their own spin, interpretation, treatment - call it what you will - to make that image their own.

So, if you're going to be jumping onto sites such as Redbubble, or Flickr, and you see a WOW image that simply takes your breath away, leave a comment, and take the time to explain why you like it, rather than just saying "Ooo, nice treatment"!