A Liberal Edit

Although I edit every picture in some capacity, most of it is simply color editing and clean-up. It’s very rare that I will actually wipe out a massive element of the background in an effort to simplify the composition.

 

I was never completely happy with Praise Jebus, and so I decided to tackle a major edit to the picture before uploading it to RedBubble. Taking a look at the original, you’ll see that the background is compromised by a huge natural gas tank and a mass of stuff to the left that includes garbage bags and part of a canoe. I have always thought these elements detracted from the focal point of the picture.

 

So, I removed them all. The resulting edit is certainly better than I anticipated. I can’t simply chalk this up to the clone tool; in the end, I effectively painted a new fence in the bokeh.

 

I am certain purists will argue that the background elements gave the picture character and cemented it in the real world. But that’s the exact opposite of what I want out of this picture. I want it to look ethereal; I want the chipmunk to look like it’s embraced by light. And the garbage in the background shatters this completely.

 

---

 

As I mentioned, prints of this picture can now be purchased on RedBubble!

 

Done