civilized ku # 2026 ~ purity and perception
Thursday, December 22, 2011 at 08:42AM ;)
Steps, tree, parking lot - Montreal, CA • click to embiggenIn yesterday's entry, civilized ku # 2025, John Linn stated/asked:
First, why is it that so many of your pictures that feature sidewalks or other man-made surfaces look so perfect? ... those surfaces looked painted-on, or bleached, or unreal.
In answer to John's point, re: "pictures that feature sidewalks or other man-made surfaces look so perfect", I am somewhat stumped. I do not give any special treatment to such surfaces other than my usual (but not always applied) "hidden cyan" adjustment when I deem it necessary. As John mentioned, I do not, under any circumstances, fix any found and recorded imperfections in such surfaces.
What John may be reacting to is the fact that I do try to identify elements in my pictured scenes which have, to the best of my recollection at the time of picturing, in the neighborhood, color wise, a neutral gray appearance. In the RAW conversion and processing thereof, I pay close attention to protecting their neutral grayness, although it must be noted that not all grays are perfectly neutral. Most grays have an ever-so-slight tint and I try to identify and retain those subtle tints.
However slight the tints may be, IME, most viewers of my pictures usually perceive those grays as being neutral. What this does, perception wise, and especially so with pictures containing man-made concrete surfaces, is to give the visual impression that other colors in the pictures as being very "bright" and "pure". Simply stated, there is nothing which makes a color (any color) "pop" than when it works in contrast to a neutral gray - any shade thereof, to include black.
IMO&E, the reverse is also true - a neutral or near neutral gray looks all the more "pure"/neutral gray when it is surrounded by other colors. Its "grayness" is, if anything, intensified as a result of being a visual/color counterpoint to any surrounding field of color.
All of that said, one of the most important things I learned in my early color print making days was how much "cleaner"/more "pure" color could be in a print with the even smallest change in printing filtration. As long as your color processing chemicals were properly replenished and maintained at constant temperature (+/- 1/2˚ or better), a printing filtration change of as little as +/- 025M/Y could make a very perceivable difference in the appearance of a print.
A very small filtration change could remove a very subtle color cast which, in doing so, allowed all of the colors, including "neutral" grays, to really "pop". Of course, a very small filtration change is only noticeable when 2 prints are viewed/compared under 5000K illumination (pre-press standard), preferably in a color viewing booth. That being the case, in my studio/office, I view and judge all of my digital domain prints with my very own 5000K illumination set up.
All of that said, I believe what John is seeing/perceiving in my pictures which contain man-made surfaces (especially concrete surfaces) is the result of my attention to color detail, down to the most minute detail. It's all about very "clean"/"pure" color - inasmuch as the medium and its apparatus allow.
It's as simple, yet as complicated/involved, as that.
Reader Comments (3)
Mark, You obviously have a lot of knowledge from your film days in regards to color. How did you go about learning how to implement that knowledge in the digital realm? Meaning, what is your source of information on how to accomplish those goals in Photoshop? There is a lot to learn in these posts and I'd like to dig deeper. As always, the color in your pictures has always impressed me. Thanks.
John's sentiments are mine exactly (but not constrained to just sidewalks etc), and are one of the factors that draw me to want to see your images
The bible also makes mention of the consequences of taking the lord's name in vain. That is, of course, exactly what they do whenever they use their religion to further their own vanity through political objectives.