Photo Phun – Sometimes The Best Images Happen In the Darkroom, Laptop.
I captured this the other day. It didnt look like this, the light was far better, but my camera didnt see it.
Ansel Adams once said “The negative is comparable to the composer’s score and the print to its performance. Each performance adds its own internal values.” And to pile on and try and be in the same darkroom as him. The magic happens in the processing of an image. Thats where you as the artist appear. There are three factors in my mind that make photography what it is.
Same image. I lightened it up, uped the contrast, enhanced the color, and the rays appeared which I exploited. This is NOT AI or stuff like that, not a filter. Just a change in light and color
One is you have to put yourself, or find yourself in a place to capture a moment or subject. Traveling to where the boats are, the people etc.
Captured in Mt Dora this past March. A kinda drive by shooting.
Reframed, and given a point of view, light shift, color etc
Two, and this is where the artist in you starts coming into it. You have to see the magic in that moment, and be able to compose that in a click, foreground, background, etc. What sort of light, and so on.
The railway on a kinda gloomy night
Re cropped and some blue added to the sky. Some dodging and burning.
This image was taken by our friend Megan
Cropped and good to go
And three, how you finish the image. It’s not uncommon to take 300 images to find one good one. Thats the edit process, and then it gets even more interesting. How do you want that image to be seen? Do you want to make a statement, have a point of view, or capture how it felt in that moment. The camera will capture the subject, but sometimes not the mood. Thats up to you.
From Steve Natale, an editorial image of the show.
Same image, Cropped, and background cleaned up.
Now of course there are examples of images that nail it in the camera, or were just dumb luck. The spray and pray method. And some images that are buried in a larger image. The artist’s job is to find it, and amplify that part, what you don’t see can be as important as what you do see. One of the fine lines here at WoodyBoater is we try and capture the real moment, in an editorial way. Which is untouched, and you see what was captured. But in many cases, sometimes, artistry comes to play, because we are also about how it all feels. That splash, the light, or the moment. Back to the Hoarding or curating conversation. You can hoard images, or curate them.
Maybe the camera has something to do with it. Each one has a specific feel.
The subject
Sometimes its the lens, I took this camera to see what would happen if I took a picture through it
Looking through the view finder.
The image. Technology is an amazing thing, but what is real?
BW
Anyway, I am blabbing on, but this is the fun part of taking and showing your and my images. Thanks agin for sending so many in over the years. And allowing me to clean them up.
And sometimes the flaws make the mommnet.
A world I know nothing about but you begin to explain and open it up for us…amazing….another dimension. thanks John in Va.
Nice Seminar – –
Thank You !!
Having grown up in advertising during the golden age of print advertising I remain in awe of what art directors (like you, Matt) and photographers were able to do in post. When we shot BMW print ads in the late 90’s and early 2000’s there were still lifes that had fourteen layers. A single shot took an entire day and then required weeks of retouching and color separation for printing. Insane. But those shots were pure art.
No kidding, I did a 12 Day shoot on BMW with a great photographer Carl Farutta in LA, The retouching took longer. The mark ups on the prints were insane. I learned all that from Ralph Amerratti, who was a master Art Director and creator of the Ultimate Driving Machine campaign. I recall thinking that they were no longer photos. In fact in todays cray cray world, most car ads are CGI generated cars. They reflect to much light and other stuff. Shooting Sheet metal was the term used, I think it still may be. Finding a unique look was always a challenge. If you look at car ads even still today, there is a look and feel those companies want. Just like our shoot outs. Lapkin, Kent, Kays, Weber all have a different take on the same moment
Thanks for the photography lesson Matt. I think this is one of your best daily article.
That takes me back to college days. Intro to Photo. It was a great class. The Instructor told us kidding once. “Love is like a photograph it develop s in the dark” Not true in the digital age. Does love develop on a laptop?
If possible I would love a copy of Luc and I driving the speedster. And with the your magic could you remove my hand on the steering wheel. Luc did most of the driving, I only had to make one small correction. Also I have decided to sell the boat, anyone? 530-277-3204
Here ya go. You can just grab this. Hold down and slide to your desktop. If not I can email it to you
I would love a copy of the pic of Luc and I driving the speedster. If possible, with your magic remove my hand from the steering wheel. 10 year old Luc did most of the driving. I only had to make one small correction to his steering. Also, I have decided to sell the boat. Anyone? 530-277-3204
How often have we had a once-in-a-lifetime shot that was ruined by some unintended object? Today, with digital photography, we can remove those unwanted blemishes and then adjust the light and tone to make it perfect.
untouched