Ask Jim

Every month, Jim will answer a question from his online students, from people who participate in his tours and workshops, or from subscribers to this magazine. If you have a question you’d like Jim to answer, please drop him a note at photos@jimzuckerman.com. Q: Jim . . . Do you ever feel that replacing skies is like cheating a bit? I’m an artist first and foremost... so I’ll certainly swap skies if need be. I have no problem with it. But I’ve been recently starting to feel that the less I do, the better. I definitely see myself starting to do it less, although I still love it. Do you feel it’s unethical or cheating somehow?

Jeremy Hinskton, Lewes, Delaware A: I tell the clients who travel with me that you have to make the decision whether you are a photo artist or photo journalist. I am the former. My first involvement in photography way back in 1969 was doing special effects. I did it in the darkroom, I did it in-camera, and now I do it in Photoshop. I’m all about the picture. I don’t care how I get there. If I have to set up a model in a certain location to fulfill a pre-visualized image, I do it. If I have to make it happen in Photoshop, then that’s what I do. There’s no sense in having a really cool image in your mind but you can’t ever create it because manipulation is not part of the equation. It’s akin to asking an impressionist painter, “Why don’t you paint reality?”

Being creative means the sky’s the limit