Last week, landscape photographer Nigel Danson published an interesting challenge. He invited photographers to edit three of his images, which he shared as raw files. The response was overwhelming with over 1,000 people submitting their edits! As you may assume, they range from subtle to extreme, and it’s a fantastic example how each of us has a different vision even when working on exactly the same task.
As a subscriber to Nigel’s mailing list, I received the invitation. He shared the link to three unedited raw files for everyone to download, edit, and then reupload. “Feel free to do whatever you want with the images. Cropping is fine and encouraged,” Nigel wrote. I planned to join as well, but sadly, I couldn’t find time to sit down and play with the images. Still, I really enjoyed seeing the results.
The photos are different in mood, but all three are beautiful landscape scenes Nigel captured in Faroe Islands, Lake District and Lofoten. People edited them in their own style, also briefly describing what they did and which software they used. I love seeing just how many different edits there are. From very subtle ones to those that completely change the mood of the photo. From slightly increasing contrast and saturation, to digital double exposures. It’s incredible how each of us has their own view on the same scene and how many different feelings the same photo can evoke. Not to mention that every photographer has their own editing style. You can see other photographers’ edits in Nigel’s video above, along with the raw files and his edits. Nigel also wrote about the challenge in a blog post, and you can read it and see more photos here. [What HAPPENS when 1000+ people EDIT the SAME PHOTO? | Nigel Danson]
