Pixiq

This is the worst defense of "slapping instagram filters on pedestrian camera phone pictures makes art" I've ever read.

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Perhaps has not been explained to you Ms Sara, but proper workflow is not "take bad picture, continue to add filters until entirely different brand of bad," proper workflow is "take good picture, make more good with some post-processing"

If original has "no impact, no emotion, no style," then all the filters in Photoshop do not make it less terrible, just different terrible

Hope this helps in future

I have to agree here - there has to be value in the original image as shot: thought needs to be given to composition, at the very least.

I wasn't sure whether you meant to use the image as a base merely to illustrate the use of filters, but, in the column, you call the image "not a bad result".

The thing is, it really is a bad result - the exposure is all over the place, one of the flowers is partially cut off, the composition is cramped and unpleasant. Even with the flowers filling so much of the frame, the background still manages to be far too busy and distracting. Also, the shot is out of focus.

I'm not dismissing the overall idea out of hand, far from it, but I'd like to see you present an example of this with an already well composed, quality image, followed by some thoughtful, inventive, artistic post processing.

Finally, and I will try my hardest to remain polite here, but I fail to see what the Man Ray tribute image has in common with the work of one of the most influential modernist artists of the turn of the century, and it's a bit silly to equate a rushed photo of some tulips with a couple of filters applied to it with the work of a seminal, historical surrealist.

"so I casually picked up my"

There's your first problem. Post never works well when you do it after the fact, and even worse when you're randomly taking photos with no thought to composition for either the current picture or for your planned direction in post.

Would you either:
1. Take a photo of a cat and later turn it into a dog in post because you actually wanted to take a photo of a dog but you were too lazy; or
2. Take a photo of a dog.

Rather, post is used to improve on the good/great photo you just took. (It's not for making something out of nothing)

The image you've used above is terrible to begin with. You've made it worse. Just because you can use the "effects" tool menu in photoshop doesn't mean you can make an amazing image out of something that you put no work into in the beginning.

"an interpretation that would evoke reaction and engender interest that would speak to audience."

"I didn’t like the background details, or the vertical and horizontal posts."

"just another garden variety flower picture; the world is awash in them."

These are all things you could have alleviated / lessened through thinking about composition and technique, rather than TAKE PHOTO NOW AND PLAY WITH PRETTY SLIDERS. If you didn't like these things in the first place, why take the photo?

I also find the image name hilariously apt for the final image. Tulips taken with a grain of salt indeed.