ItHappenedToAlice

There's something about the way light captures smoke that makes it such an alluring element in photos, but there's more then just the lighting effect that makes smoke so interesting, and even in a sense romantic?
For anyone that has ever dated a smoker, you will know that kissing someone after a smoke tastes somewhat like kissing an ashtray. Not very appealing is it? Yet somehow when we see pictures of people smoking it gets associated with romance.

When smoking first became popular everyone from Hollywood stars portraying the tough cowboys or gun toting badasses, to elegant sophisticated models were seen sporting a cigarette .
While I myself dont smoke and would never want to promote it, i've always been intrigued by photos of smoke.

 It could be the mystery of what smoke covers or the magic-like form it takes when being exhaled, almost like a dragon breathing fire that sparks are interest, especially in 'french inhale' shots. But it seems these days you dont even need the smoke rising to gather the same interest you get when someone is simply holding a cigarette, so where does the real appeal lie? Where ever it is, these artists are sure doing it right.


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I'd like to start by saying this is a question i've been asking my self since joining deviantart 8 years ago. It seems to be that the creativity of the artist on this site have surpassed the categories their art is limited to.

I'm going to use jsmonzani as my first example. When I first joined deviantart she was most well known for her flying fish being in photos, and later added tentacles, hats, and all sorts of digital add-ins to her photos.

her chosen category for these shots are Digital Art / Photomanipulation / People
The images being composed of photos she's taken herself with digital elements added in.
While browsing though the same category I come across the style images I think of when I hear photomanipulation

These images are composed of stock images being digitally composed and altered, layering brushes and textured to get the desired results.
Other images that fall under this category like
 
Are photographs that have merely been retouched. Often the end result having colors and contrast enhanced to the point where its now considered manipulation.

The question im left with is:
How are these three very different groups of photo all categorized into one category?

With deviantart making groups an official part of the site in past years, groups dedicated one type of art became common.
Unfortunately how Deviants define these art typed are as varied as the deviations in them.

This image


I submitted first to some photography groups Im a member of, after being declined the groups stated they thought of it as
a photomanipulation "due to dramatic color change."

I then submitted it to a photomanipulation group where it was declined for "not being altered enough."

So where do photos on the borderline truly belong?
There's the Digital Darkroom category I haven't addressed yet, but this category is defined as

"Digital photographs created by layering two or more images (including but not limited to texture and colour layers) to create a final image, mimicking the effect of exposing photographic paper to two or more negatives and/or filters during printing."

Which is an improvement on the previous optioned for darkroom but still doesn't quite fit for photos like the ones by jsmonzani .

All and all I think its time a new category is added to suit the ever growing amount of photos being distributed to various spots on the site.

What are your thoughts on the topic?

So I've decided to finally make my presence on dA a little more known and decided what better way then to start using my journal. I hope to feature a ton of my personal favorite works on a semi-regular basis along with addressing my thoughts on deviantart, photography, and the art community in general, anyway here's goes my first art feature. Enjoy!


Stunning Outdoor Portraits





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Perfect Black and Whites:

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Im starting fresh here on deviantart for anyone that thinks they've seen any of my deviations before, you may know me better as Sanity-Shockartist. I decided it was time for a change, now that i'll be shooting with a better camera and a higher quality photo. Expect to see much work from me in the coming future. Subscribe to see what i have in store