the process

This seems to be a topic of particular discussion these days, in my mind basically ignoring the image and exerting more prominence on the process rather than the end product. If I were to try and make an analogy I might say something witty and try and explain things away that way, but I'm tired of trying. So, I'll just tell you my process.

First of all, and this is probably a big point to make here, the bulk majority of people who are making these claims are 99% of the time ONLY talking about black and white photography. Yet they fail to understand this, or frankly are unaware of or oblivious to this.

As a little lesson in color photography, it is a very very very tricky process with very specific and inherent complications. Unlike black and white printing, a color dark room is for all intense purposes pitch black, there are no safe lights. You are working very much in the blind as any color, even that from a safe light, will affect the paper. Secondly, chemicals MUST be kept at a near exact temperature, there is little margin of error. Thirdly, and most importantly, the special processing and filters that you can do with black and white films does not, for the most part, exist for color photography.

Now, with all that said and done, my process is actually quite complex and methodical. The process from the click to the final print isn't a two step process. So, for the sake of being informative and helpful I'm going to walk you through my process...

Everything for me starts in the camera. this is perhaps a holdover from my film days when I strove to get the best in camera and on film as I could. The same holds through for my digital processing. i have a very specific and regular style of shooting in which I meter for the highlights and add about a third of a stop to the exposure. This is the same in basic affect to how you shoot for slide film, only that I add a slight bump to the exposure. the reason i do this is because of the way the digital capture system works and it produces less noise in the shadows.

After I get the photos onto my computer I do basic adjustments, if needed, for color balance, exposure, and saturation. these are global adjustments made in raw. once I'm done I can move to doing the local corrections using photoshop. this is generally a complex process involving many many layers and specific adjustments. My record holds at over 8 hours, perhaps even more then 10, on a single photo.

The process here is as you can see quite imposing for a single photo, however, I'll attempt to explain it as best I can.

The bottom most layer is the original photo, or in this case, the exposure for the clouds. Layer 1 above that is exposure used for the ground. Often i'll do two raw 'exposures' for single file which I liken to dodging and burning in the dark room. For this one however, I did use two frames exposed at 2 stops difference for the scene.

layer 1 has an image mask which masks out the top portion of scene so that only the ground layer is visible with the clouds transparent to the layer below.

layer 3 is a sharpening layer. It is blended to the layers below through a blend mode which sharpens the images below.

layer 2 is a spotting layer to remove any dust artifacts. This is done dust by dust.

Color balance 1 pulls a bit of the red out of the clouds and a little out of the ground, and gives the sky specifically a more vibrant blue.

Curves 1 uses a blending mode and mask to give the sky a tad more contrast.

channel mixer 1 uses a different blend mode to darken parts of the image, and is painted in much the same as traditional burning would be done.

group 2 contains group 1 and channel mixer 2 and channel mixer 2 copy. channel mixer 2 does a black and white conversion for the ground and a slightly different mix is used in channel mixer 2 copy for the sky. Each of the channel mixers is masked for it's respective area and the mix is tailored to the different tonalities in the image. This would be like using a red filter for the sky and a different filter for the ground.

group 1 is the tone group that gives the photo it's warm brownish look. Curves 2 is a custom green curve set with a color blend mode, whilst curves 3 is a custom red curve set with softlight blend mode. The group as a whole is set at 50% opacity to lessen the effect.

When all comes together, the image is much different and more involved than a simple black and white conversion. And, the time spent on it is considerable. This print took probably upwards of an hour of processing time, if not closer to two.

The process for this photo isn't simply a quick conversion, nor is that the case for any of my photos.

And as a last point I should add that the whole process is carefully calibrated and controlled. My monitor is calibrated to display colors accurately and the lab that I use to print my photos is calibrated and offers color correction to their system. Within a very very small margin of error the colors and processing I do on my screen makes it to the final print. Further, all my prints are done on archival chemical photo paper and UV coated for longevity. I don't believe in offering any prints on anything printed off of an inkjet printer.

Through and through my prints are true photographic prints of the highest standards. The technical aspects aside, photography is truly only about the final image, the process is only a side to that. advances in the process have come through the years and only those reluctant to adapt to new technologies herald the traditional processes as being the only process. Art isn't so much about being traditional as it is in moving forward and adapting to new ideas concepts and techniques. The digital aspect of photography is as much all of those combined into one.

in final a note, i leave you with the following quote:

"I eagerly await new concepts and processes. I believe that the electronic image will be the next major advance. Such systems will have their own inherent and inescapable structural characteristics, and the artist and functional practioner will again strive to comprehend and control them" (Ansel Adams, March 1981, "The Negative") Introduction, page xiii.