All this chat lately about clichés and what not has me looking differently at the Utah shots. Which is a good thing. Because after living with them for the past month I had about decided that for one reason or another they all sucked and that there wasn't a mouse farts worth of decent images in the whole bunch.
This tends to happen from time to time when I get lazy with my image processing and expect these RAW captures to magically give up the goods with only minimal effort. Now, I'm a Photoshop guy, like I know most of the regular readers of my blog are, and we all process RAW files and manipulate them to our desires. Which, of course, is not always an easy thing to do. Even if you do it every day for years you can still find yourself faced with compositions that you may like but are at a loss to get looking the way you want. Happens to me, anyways.
Then something, somewhere, got me to thinking about a small plaque that rests on the wall in our kitchen, and how it relates to the way I process images. It belongs to my wife (she had it before we ever met) and it says, "Men are of clay, and Women make mugs of them." And while it may make perfect sense to you, I puzzled over the meaning of that plaque for years. Then one day it hit me... women take something worthless and make something useful! Duh. I knew there was reason I always hated that plaque.
What it doesn't mention is how much hard work it's gonna take to make that mug.
I have liked this shot from the moment I saw it, but initial attempts at processing didn't do a thing for me. To finally get a handle on the image I used one RAW file, processed through Photomatix using 3 differently exposed Tiff's, gave it a very delicate tone-mapping (if there is such a thing) and then tweaked it using Color Mechanic Pro, The Shadow/Highlights in CS, selective color adjustments, and all kinds of groovy things. Took me three tries and as many hours to get it right. Insanity. And I'm still not happy with the clear blue sky. Part of me really wants a cloud in there.
Anyhow, this image was the first to get printed. Printed it big too, 12x18, biggest my printer will go without going borderless. Looks pretty good. I guess you could say I finally threw a mug from the clay.
3 comments:
Indeed you did.... men and the way it takes them time to figure girly thoughts out...lol... I think this image is b e a u t i f u l and that every ounce of work put into this is worth it. It was a strong image to start with very nice.!
(Michael Wrote) All this chat lately about clichés and what not has me looking differently at the Utah shots. Which is a good thing. Because after living with them for the past month I had about decided that for one reason or another they all sucked and that there wasn't a mouse farts worth of decent images in the whole bunch.
(Ted Wrote) I recently read a book three times in a row. It took me two weeks of off and on again work. It’s called On Photography by Susan Sontag. It has blown open my imagination. Sontag analyzes so much of photography so deeply, and maybe she’s insightful because she never took a picture. Anywayzzzz… beyond recommending the classic work let me share something that Sontag did NOT analyze…. Well, you just shared it with us. Since she never had a pack of slides come back from the processor, she never smelt the mousefarts.
It is astonishing that feeling of disappointment that comes when you review dozens of pictures only to wonder what the um, heck, went through your mind when you squeezed the trigger… over and over and over…. The stink of mousefarts crowd the room.
(Michael Wrote) This tends to happen from time to time when I get lazy with my image processing and expect these RAW captures to magically give up the goods with only minimal effort. Now, I'm a Photoshop guy, like I know most of the regular readers of my blog are, and we all process RAW files and manipulate them to our desires. Which, of course, is not always an easy thing to do. Even if you do it every day for years you can still find yourself faced with compositions that you may like but are at a loss to get looking the way you want. Happens to me, anyways.
(Ted) Is there anyone reading this who has NOT felt that letdown? Now we can overcome it in PP. We can bring up each image and poke and kick at it with virtual devices that oh-so-slowly tug the angel from its murky marble block. For the best shots it may only take minutes, for the others… sometimes hours, sometimes never. Regardless, even in the worst case, PP is a therapy which dissipates the acrid tendrils of mousefart.
You are of the keep-it-natural-kid school of PP. You can wield the PP brush to do what great beauties do with cosmetics (“What? Me wear makeup? Are you rude or just stupid?”) I know of at least one stunning photographer who denies that she enhances the images that spring full frame from her camera. She also insists that nature gave her hair its enticingl golden polish and streaks.
I have no idea what you’ve done to your canyon image. I don’t care actually. What I appreciate is that there are virtually no blacks or whites. Except for a defining shadow or two, you’ve allowed me to peer into the glimmering depths of the fierce façade to understand its solidity. And to wonder at its permanence compared to everything I understand, including me. And as I do that and try to fathom where say, that pile of loose red dirt came from between those awesome rocks… it occurs to me that there is nowhere here the tiniest scent of mousefart.
Hmm ... I tried to post a comment yesterday, but that's hard, coming after Ted :)
Anyway. This is a beautiful image, a fantastic subject (almost like a fortress, don't you think?), wonderfully executed, and it inspired me to yesterday's "379 - Pieces Of Sky". Thank you.
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