civilized ku # 2007 ~ 3940
Friday, December 2, 2011 at 11:17AM 
4 mailboxes ~ Clinton County - in the Adirondack PARK • click to embiggenIn fit of inquisitiveness, John Linn asked:
How much time do you spend picturing vs. processing? How do you find the time? What is your incentive to make so many images? Does creating pictures provide personal satisfaction or does it come from showing your work?
Re: time - I spend much more time processing than I do picturing. Nothing unusual in that inasmuch as my picturing is rarely done during picture making purposed outings. My cameras are always with me wherever I go and when I see something that captures my eye, I picture it. Consequently, my picturing is primarily a spur-of-the-moment type activity which is not very time consuming simply because it is an adjunct to my daily routine/life.
Processing time, per picture, varies dependent upon a number of variables. At a minimum, 15-20 minutes for an "easy" image is the norm. Those more "difficult" images - exposure blending, mixed WB, lens distortion/ perspective distortion fixes, etc. (most likely a combination of 2 or more of those issues) - require more time, up to an hour or so per image. That said, and making a wild guesstimate, the average time per image is most likely, in the 35 minute range.
So, on any given day, it's 35 minutes x the number of pictures to be processed, understanding, of course, that I do not have pictures to be processed on every single day. On most days, my time is my own, so the time spent picturing/processing is not an issue.
Re: my incentive - Ansel Adams said it best ....
... it is increasingly clear to me that my art relates more and more to a sublimation of my closeness to the natural world, it's events, light itself, and the positive... it is a personal expression based on observation and reaction, that I am not able to define except in terms of the work itself.
Re: Does creating pictures provide personal satisfaction or does it come from showing your work? - Yes and yes.
FYI, the 4 mailboxes picture is a good example, typical of my picture making activities and the time I spend picturing. I made the picture during a car ride to a press check for a client. I was not out and about looking for pictures to make. The mailboxes were there, I was there, I saw them, and I made a picture of what I saw - very much a see, react, act (quickly). That said, I tend make pictures in the manner of Sir Ansel ...
...with most of my photographs, the subject appears as a found object, something discovered, not arranged by me. I usually have an immediate recognition of the potential image, and I have found that too much concern about matters such as conventional composition may take the edge off the first inclusive reaction ...
Processing time was about 30 minutes.
Reader Comments (2)
Thanks.
In terms of the "incentive" to photograph, it's probably a personal opportunity to get into a "flow" scenario: see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flow_(psychology)
Also see Kirk Tuck's article over at TOP.
Mark, your picturing approach (both taking photos and post-processing) is similar to mine.
I can spend 10 to 30 minutes postprocessing an image. My results still have the "digital" look but that's probably a result of small sensor (Canon S95) + typical RAW convertor (Canon's DPP) + single exposure, The other difference is whatever magic you bring to PS compared to my humble efforts ;)
A while back you mentioned using Raw Developer as it gave a more "filmic" rendering. It's a Mac only product and I use Windows. I searched around for other convertors and came across Raw Photo Processor (RPP), but that's Mac only as well :-(