Software Artisan

Out of only three hours of photography, I got four pictures with my large format and a roll of small format pictures. The trip was primarily to support my son’s basketball team, but I was able to get some time aside. Even in the winter you can find some truly wonderful pictures. You just need to be able to look properly.

This particular subject was a bit challenging. If I went to the beach my view was obstructed by dense dead trees. However, here I had the sun coming through gray clouds, almost backlighting my subject. The bright spot in the upper right corner is where the sunlight was coming from. My Rodenstock 26cm super-aplanat lens was made in 1935, so it doesn’t have all the improvements in lens manufacturing made since then. It still resolves an incredible amount of detail.

This particular picture is not a scan of a print, but of the negative. In order to overcome some of the problem areas of the picture I had to do some digital dodging and burning. I have to say that I don’t enjoy doing these things digitally because I think in terms of stops, not percentages. Nevertheless the light refractions in the lens obscured the top of the lighthouse so I had to do something. I dodged it about 30% which was enough to make it more substantial without making it look fake. I dodged the edges of the picture slightly differently for each edge due to the way the tones lay. The right side with the tree didn’t need as much burning as the left side. Additionally the sky required more dodging than the ground. Lastly, the sky where the sun was peaking through required some more control so I burned that top corner in an additional 40%. The tree in the middle had a bit too much weight, so I had to dodge it. Unfortunately, the scan didn’t have any more detail to give me. An optical print will help me out there.

I played around with different toning options and I found that selenium just didn’t suit it very well. I wanted a cooler look to it, so I went for a simulated gold tone. I did try a sepia tone as an alternative, and I was pleasantly surprised at how nice that would look—but went with a straight gold tone.

Sometimes playing with a scan of a negative digitally will help with visualizing what you can do with the optical print. Looking at this picture, I can see how I should have changed my angle a little bit. I wanted the large tree on the right to help frame the picture, but the tree in front of the light house is not at a good angle. I probably should have set up in the brush on the right side of the large tree. Sometimes you have to choose between personal safety and the perfect shot. Traversing snow and ice while carrying several pounds of equipment isn’t the best idea.

When I print this optically, I will definitely have to put it on 11×14 or larger paper. It needs the breathing room of the larger area so you can get up close and see the detail. The 11×14 also might cut off the little bit of the sign on the right.