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 . . .I took this picture of a grain silo in the Palouse area of Washington State. I like it a lot, but I’m not sure about the power lines. Do you think I should remove them in Photoshop? Steve Martinez, San Bernadino, California A: I really hate power lines. Forty years ago I hoped I’d live to see the day when every house and business had a solar collection device on their roof to capture enough energy from the sun to satisfy all of our power needs. That would mean all of the power lines would become scrap copper. Obviously that’s not going to happen in any of our lifetimes.

In this shot, for some strange reason, the power lines don’t bother me. In fact, due to the industrial nature of the subject, they almost seem like they belong there. In addition, one could say in a compositional sense, they balance the silo. So, I can go either way on this and it’s totally subjective as to how other people see this shot. If you cloned out the power lines and the pole, I’d be fine with that. If you left them in, I would be fine with that as well. Usually I have very strong opinions about photographs, but in this case I would be fine with either treatment. §