Does the dustbin belong in the picture? – A matter of opinion

An important rule in journalistic photography is: context. Only through the context can you deduce the story behind the picture.

In my Luminar Live webinar last week, there was a small discussion about this, which I would like to take up here.

Opinions were divided on this photo of the heron.

Erich took a great snapshot. Herons don’t often fly that close to your feet. He obviously reacted quickly and pulled the trigger at the right moment to capture this moment. But there was a garbage can and part of a bench in the picture, which we could normally have simply retouched out.

But I didn’t want to!

My journalist’s heart beats faster with a picture like this, and not just because of the heron. For me, the bench and the garbage can are the perfect link to the everyday life of a walker.

Usually, when I see a photo of a beautiful bird in free flight, I assume that a nature lover has gone to some effort, stalking through the wilderness and lying in wait in remote places to finally get a rare animal in front of the lens after days of patient waiting.
But here it is: This wonderful bird presents itself to the photographer just like that. That’s what makes this picture so special for me.

Photo: Erich Bähler / Editing: Hendrik Roggemann

In the webinar, we still made some improvements to the image because, although the moment was right, the colors and contrasts were not yet optimal.

Afterwards, I retouched the dustbin and the bench. I don’t want to be accused of not being open-minded or just being too lazy. The retouching took less than five minutes with the repair tool (and without crashing!).

I also like the result. But I still think it would be a shame not to show the great story of how it came about in the picture.

And how would you decide? Feel free to write your opinion in the comments.