On Super-Saturated Landscape Images

Waterfall Detail. Boulder Canyon, Colorado, 2015

I have been reading a few blog posts lately that address the issue of the plethora of stunningly beautiful color landscape images that have flooded the web, galleries, and shows by the hundreds of thousands.

Take, for example, the 50 examples as shown in the BoredPanda article, 50 Mind-Blowing Examples of Landscape Photography. It was published awhile ago, but the state of affairs seems, to me, to remain much the same. Out of the 50 in this article, I counted maybe 10-12 that seemed to have fairly believable color, or reasonably sane and restrained post-processing applied.

All over the internet I see many such landscape photographs–pushed way beyond the limit of naturally-occurring color…post-processed into a visual scream using the Max Slider Technique. Many are bits of eye candy so powerful you get a toothache just squinting at them with one eye. They are definitely spectacular and mind-blowing, and it really is hard not to admire them. (Quite the opposite of the monochrome image above!)

But, is this how it will always be? Or, is this just a fad–maybe something like the heavy-handed HDR stuff that was in vogue for a period (and may still be is in some circles)? Are photographers doing this just because they can with the slick new slide-’em-to-the-right digital tools?

What are the chances that we will someday return to the idea that a photograph should be judged by the content of its character rather than the color of its ink?

Or…do photographs now need to push the color, vibrance, and saturation limits off the charts because, like heroin addicts amping up to an ever greater fix, we are so slammed with bright, loud, competing advertising images, that photographers necessarily have to do something to get their voice heard above all the other Tower of Babel shouting?

One problem I see is that, due to the prevalence of this nuclear style, it is difficult to differentiate who made individual photographs. Many photographers have jumped on this Wow Wagon and, as a result, their work has become very, very similar.

So, do these images still carry with them the unique stamp of the personality of the creating artist? In some cases, perhaps yes. In others, clearly no.

Another issue: Do we miss taking the time to look for deeper meaning in these photographs, seduced as we are by all the pretty colors? What are these images about?

I’m not so sure about this whole subject. But, it is clear that everyone is free to pursue their own super-saturated red herring if that turns their crank. So, on it goes.

In the meantime, I’ll keep plugging along, making the images I like to make.