single woman # 27 / triptych # 17 ~ context and conceits

single woman ~ Toronto, CA • click to embiggen
La Tour CN Tower ~ Toronto, CA • click to embiggenJust as the Lone Ranger was repeatedly asked in the recent Lone Ranger movie - "What's with the mask?" - I have often been asked - "What's with the black border?" Here are a few thoughts from others on the subject (borders) followed by my thoughts on the same:

Art consists of limitation. The most beautiful part of every picture is the frame. ~ Gilbert K. Chesterton

To quote out of context is the essence of the photographer's craft .... The central act of photography, the art of choosing and eliminating forces a concentration on the picture's edge - the line that separates in from out - and on the shapes that are created by it .... The line of decision is the picture's edge .... The photographer edits the meanings and patterns of the world through an imaginary frame. The frame is the beginning of his picture's geometry. It is to the photographer as the cushion is to the billiard table. ~ John Szarkowski - THE PHOTOGRAPHER'S EYE

I use a black border for a number of reasons:

1. back in the day of film picture making, it was not uncommon for picture makers to print with a negative holder which had been modified to allow a part of the unexposed edge of the film to be printed. One of the most oft cited reasons for this was to demonstrate that the picture maker in question didn't need no stinking easel blades to crop his/her pictures. No siree! "Cropping" was performed in-camera at the moment the picture was made. Post-picturing cropping during printing was only for amateurs and incompetent boobs. I am not a boob. Hence, black borders.

2. while any observer should know / recognize when viewing a picture, the edges of the picture are where the picture ends. They should should also know / recognize that the picture maker has consciously decided where to put an end to his/her picture information. However, some observers are boobs and I use a black border to make my picture ending decisions very unavoidably obvious. And, for the other picture viewing boobs who are much concerned with art about art / photography about photography, I hope the black border gives them some comfort and joy when viewing my pictures.

3. in a tip of the hat to John Szarkowski and his "as the cushion is to the billiard table" analogy, I must admit that I have always used black borders for just that analogical reason - most of my square pictures evidence a center-weighted form of design. However, I have always quite deliberately ignored the notion that a picture should have only one principal idea, topic, or center of interest to which the viewer's eyes are attracted. No siree, not for me! IMO, that idea is a good one only for simple-minded boobs who are not, re: the acts of picture making or picture viewing, very good at visual multi-tasking. So, since I am not a simple-minded boob, I tend to pack my pictures with a fair amount of visual information - aka: visual energy - which most often is floating / hovering around my central and centered primary visual referent. And it is here where my black border comes into play - as the viewer's eye is moving about the visual field, drawn by various shapes, colors, forms, collateral referents, etc. - aka: design strategies - the eye inevitably bangs into one of my billiard cushions and ricochets - visually speaking, a glancing (blovius 1 / jimmi nuffin 0) rebound - back toward the central referent. Black border mission accomplished.

3a. the glancing rebound effect is also a get your ass, visually wise, back where it belongs. That is to write, within the edges of my vision where the stuff I have selected that want you to see can be found. Sure, there's a whole world beyond the black border, but that's why I make a lot of pictures of other stuff. However, the time for viewing them is later. The time for viewing this picture is now. Pay attention.

4. when I first began making digital medium pictures, I was not very impressed with the idea that digital-based picture making was changing the medium and its apparatus (aka: conventions - not gear). How pictures were/are being made, gear and technique wise, has certainly changed but the bottom line is still the same - a good picture is a good picture no matter how it was/is made. Additionally, a good picture is a good picture inasmuch as the brains behind the operation are what matters most and that aspect of the medium and is apparatus has not changed a whit. Consequently, part of reason for using a black border in my digital-based picture making is to reference the history of the medium and its apparatus (see reason # 1) to make that point. Hence, the other question, black border related, I hear quite often (although never from the medium and its apparatus history deficient boobs)- "Are you still using film?" - which, to my way of thinking, confirms my belief, re: picture making, that the more things change, the more they remain the same.

5. for a long time I have been in the habit of employing black borders and like all habits, good or bad, it has taken on a life of its own to the point where my pictures seem unfinished / naked without it. Consequently, all of the preceding reasons, rationalizations, and conceits aside, I just flat out like the way my pictures look with a black border.

triptychs / the light ~ I'm not a b+w guy .... really, I'm not ... but ...

bathroom light • click to embiggen
stairs light • click to embiggen
yellow chair light • click to embiggen
kitchen light • click to embiggen... every now and again one or more of my pictures seem to demand a conversion to b+w. Such a demand arose a day ago as I was working on an image from my the light series / book.

I was making a small localized contrast adjustment using the LAB Lightness channel - where I do all of my contrast / tonal and sharpening processing adjustments - when I became acutely aware of how interesting the pictured looked in b+w. Consequently, I started to explore the possibility of converting the images to b+w. As I did so, I was actually quite impressed by how the pictures translated, technically and aesthetically, into b+w.

I was even more more impressed when I printed a converted file on heavyweight matte paper. The print was very rich in tonal quality and, to a very significant degree, it rivaled results I use to obtain back in my wet darkroom days. In a word, nice. So the die was cast, and I set to converting all of the files from the series.

B+W CONVERSION TECHNIQUE ASIDE: Over the years I have read (online) about the trials, tribulations and angst experienced by dedicated b+w analog pictures makers regarding the problems of digital picturing and printing in their beloved genre. Some were even pining for a b+w/greyscale only sensor (their wishes were granted by Leica in the form of the $8K [body only] M Monochrom digital camera). Most were fiddling around using various PS adjustment tools - Black & White, Channel Mixer and the like - or test driving various stand alone conversion software.

Since b+w was very low on my picturing list - can't say I ever made a digital picture which was intended to be a b+w image - I didn't go down any of those paths. Instead, I concentrated on what I belief to be one of the best and easiest methods of color>b+w conversions methods available. A method, which in a sense, is not a conversion method at all inasmuch as it relies on a b+w/grayscale image / information embedded in each and every RGB RAW file - the Lightness channel in the LAB color space.

Most digital picture makers are unaware of this wonderful greyscale information simply because visits to the LAB color space are seldom, if ever, undertaken simply because LAB color space is little understood by most - there are only 2 color channels (+ the Lightness channel) and curves in the color channels work in a very different manner than they do in RGB color space. While figuring it out ain't rocket science, most tend not to bother.

I first started using the Lightness channel (years ago) for sharpening. One can perform significantly stronger sharpening - without corresponding sharpening artifacts - in LAB than in RGB color space. The same is also true with contrast/tonal adjustments. In both cases, you work on only the greyscale component of the file and the color channels are un-effected.

In creating these b+w files, I went into LAB with each picture and threw away the color channels which left just the Lightness channel. I then applied a tonal adjustment curve - the same for all the pictures in the series - to the Lightness channel and then converted the result to greyscale. The next and last step was to convert the greyscale file to a RGB file. IMO, in the name of high quality color>b+w "conversion", it doesn't get any easier than that.

An interesting aside to creating the b+w pictures was that I discovered several related pictures triptych possibilities along the way.

Will I forego the color pictures in this series for the b+w ones? No, I will not. IMO, they are different but equal. Will I print a b+w book in addition to the color book? Yes, I will. However, I will be very interested to see how my RGB b+w files print on a printing press.

Comments on the b+w vs color pictures, re: the light, are both encouraged and welcome.

triptych # 12 / civilized ku # 2650 ~ fighting cold with fire

House fire ~ Au Sable Forks, NY - in the Adirondack Park • click to embiggen
Ice storm ~ Au Sable Forks, NY - in the Adirondack Park • click to embiggenDuring the past 3-4 weeks here in Au Sable Forks (and the NE US in general), we have been experiencing some "interesting" examples of weather extremes - very rapidly changing temperature (seasonal) extremes together with changing modes of precipitation - snow turning to rain and back to snow again, melting snow refreezing as ice, and 1 genuine 24hr. ice storm. Consequently, even though we have snow covered ground, that snow is now under a thick layer of ice. Ice which is thick enough to resist cracking or breaking through when walked upon.

The temperature extremes - yesterday's high in the 40˚s(F) with a night time low of 0˚(F) - with low temps of -20˚ have played havoc with plumbing in less than well-insulated houses. Freezing and bursting water pipes are very common. Somehow - we are still without a furnace - we have avoided any freezing pipes issues.

All of that written, one of the features of living in the North Country / Adirondacks is a constant parade (during the winter months) of front page newspaper stories / local tv news casts about house fires. Many, if not most, of the fires are the result of questionable practices in the attempt to produce heat - improper use of space heaters, overloading of electrical circuits with electric space heaters, and a variety of other follies.

Last Friday evening, one such folly, resulting in the total destruction of a house, happened within sight / close proximity to our house. For 4 days prior to the event, the night temperatures were all well below 0˚F, typically in the -5˚F to -20˚F range. Day highs were in the -5˚F to 2˚F range. Truly excellent water pipe freezing weather and that's precisely what happened in the house in question.

The owners were attempting to thaw pipes with what was obviously an ill-advised technique. Don't what that technique was but the results are painfully apparent. The house became a raging inferno and the firefighters from 6 surrounding towns had a hell of time dealing with the blaze while slipping, sliding, and falling on the previously mentioned ice covered ground. And with temps well below 0˚F, they had to fight the fire in shifts - while one group retreated to the local firehouse to warm up and avoid hypothermia, another group took over until they too had to retreat ... and so it went well into the morning hours.

Update on Thursday, January 16, 2014 at 10:00AM by gravitas et nugalis

Featured Comment: John Linn wrote: "Speaking of cold, still no furnace? Didn't you get a new furnace courtesy of Irene?"

my response: As I write, guys are in the basement installing the new furnace. And no, the boiler survived Irene but all the ancillary equipment - burner, etc, - was replaced. It does appear that those pieces survived the latest debacle but we won't know for certain until they try to fire up the thing.

triptych # 10-11 (ku # 1236-41) ~ water and atmospherics

Water and atmospherics ~ St. Mary's Bay - Nova Scotia, Canada • click to embiggenIf the wife had not been with me outside of Digby, Nova Scotia, I could have spent the better part of 4 days picturing the ever-changing view of the water and atmospherics from the deck of our rental house.

PS Because of the no-so-good results of downsampling these pictures so that the triptychs fit on a smaller screen, I have presented them @ a 2000 pixel wide. By using your browser's Zoom Out function, they can be debiggened to fit your screen.

triptych # 9 (civilized ku # 2513-15) ~ some things are better in 3s

Houses ~ Lunenburg, Nova Scotia • click to embiggenMy apologies for not posting for a while. Since my return from Nova Scotia, I have been beset by a combination of client work, social commitments, and the processing of 90+ pictures made while in Nova Scotia. Today's entry is the start of a long look at Nova Scotia along with some more samples of my pictures + words project.

Update on Friday, May 24, 2013 at 10:51AM by gravitas et nugalis

Featured Comment: Jimmi Nuffin wrote: "How old would you say that house in the middle is?"

my response: Insightful query. IMO, the house in the middle looks to be classically ageless. However, if I had to guess without actually putting numbers on it, I'd says that it's a little more than twice as old as the house on the right, with house on the left being somewhere in between.

triptych # 8 ~ munching my way to Armageddon

Rulfs Orchards ~ Peru, NY • click to embiggenRulfs Orchard is one of the regular stops on our farm store shopping rota. One of the advantages of where we live is the fact that the wife and I get a lot of our beef, pork, chicken, produce and fruit directly from local farms and we're here to tell you that there ain't nothing like farm fresh food.

Rulfs Orchard is our primary source of apples (8 varieties) but they also grow strawberries, blueberries, vegetables, sweet corn, pumpkins & more. All of that is all well and good but as far as I'm concerned the real bonus is an on-premise bakery featuring homemade crumb & pastry pies, cream pies, fruit pies, donuts (as Homer Simpson might say, " Mmmmm, donuts. Is there anything they can't do?"), cookies, breads, muffins, sticky bnuns, and cakes.

The way I figure it, if I eat enough of Rulfs fresh fruit and vegetables, I can eat as much of the bakery stuff as I can stuff down my gullet. No problem. Right?

civilized ku # 2393 / diptych # 15 / triptych # 7 ~ "handling" color

Garden hose ~ Au Sable Forks, NY - in the Adirondack Park • click to embiggenCherry trees ~ Au Sable Forks, NY - in the Adirondack Park • click to embiggenSmall quarry ~ Peru, NY • click to embiggenOn the entry ku # 1219 ~ entre chien et loup, Sven (no link provided) wrote:

I really like the way you and another photographer / blogger (Ming Thein) handle colour ... my efforts are ham-fisted compared to you two guys ... Any advice on the topic would be appreciated!

my response: It would very time consuming, entry making wise, to give meaningful / comprehensive advice, re: color processing work, on this blog inasmuch as my color work on any given picture is usually quite involved / complex with many individual steps. An entry detailing such work would have to be very long and involve the making of a significant number of screen grabs, all of which, to be honest, is more work than I am inclined to do.

That written, I can try to give a broad / general outline of my color processing procedures ...

1) I always shoot RAW, so my first step is a RAW conversion - using a dedicated conversion only software - in which I make global color adjustments. The objective is to produce a file which is, over all, color corrected / adjusted to the original scene. On many occasions, I also convert a second ISO bracketed image file for use in capturing additional highlight or shadow detail.

During the conversion processing, I use WB correction, global exposure adjustment (very minor, if at all), curves (LAB and RGB, depending upon my objective), global hue & saturation correction, shadow adjustment (again, very minor, if at all), and highlight recovery (if needed).

2) After the converted file(s) are saved, I open it in Photoshop and go to work - at this point, I make localized color, hue and saturation, and tonal adjustments as I deem necessary to achieve a result which is as true to the original scene as is possible. I pay particular attention to over saturation in individual colors and color casts such as UV effects.

Some localized adjustments are made by copying and blending highlight or shadow detail, taken from my ISO bracketed file(s), into my master image file. The blending is achieved by placing the copied details on separate layer and blended using the Multiply or Screen blending options and the opacity slider in the Layers Palette.

In Photoshop, my primary adjustment tools are; curves in both RGB and LAB color space (each color space has its own specific capabilities), hue & saturation sliders (generally for specific individual colors), sponge tool, and the eraser tool (for very fine localized blending).

When checking for color casts or making color adjustments, I rely on my eyes (my monitor is well calibrated) together with the Info Palette - the Info Palette can tell me exactly where on an individual color curve to make an adjustment as well as determining, numerically, the results of a color adjustment.

The Info Palette is especially useful in obtaining very clean neutral colors (whites, grays, blacks). Good clean neutral colors in a picture are very important because all other colors will "pop" (without the need for over-saturation techiniques) when they play off neutrals.

One of things I am most pleased with, re: processing pictures, is the fact that most viewers of my pictures really think that I don't do any post picture making processing at all. Their first impression is that I have just used what the camera gave me because my pictures look so "natural".

IMO, that impression is a highly desirable end result. After all, as Robert Adams wrote In his book, Beauty in Photography:

Why do most great pictures look uncontrived? Why do photographers bother with the deception, especially since it so often requires the hardest work of all? The answer is, I think, that the deception is necessary if the goal of art is to be reached: only pictures that look as if they had been easily made can convincingly suggest that beauty is commonplace.

All of that written, I would be remiss if I didn't point out that, when making pictures, I have an eye for color. In a very real sense, my eye for color in the natural / human-made world is the most important asset I have for "handling" color. My eye is very aware of and sensitive to color harmony or color discord and I use both color qualities / characteristics in the making of my pictures. Again, in a very real sense, I have a "head start" with "handling" color even before I set to work in the processing arena.

triptych # 6 ~ American amnesia

Commemorative monument / Battle of Valcour Island ~ Peru, NY - in the Adirondack Park • click to embiggenI am constantly amazed, in so many ways, by American's collective amnesia.

One case in point will be on view today, Election Day, when an incredible number of memory-impaired fellow citizens will cast their vote for a man who needs Obamacare to cover his pre-existing condition of Stage 3 Romnesia and who spouts a litany of failed policy ideas. Ideas which, in their last and most recent implementation, flushed our economy (taking a good part of the world economy with it) down the toilet and also turned our national debt from a surplus into a deficit. Those memory deficit voters seem to not understand the adage which tells us that doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result is the definition of insanity.

That written, another area of American Memory Deficit Disorder (AMDD) is found in the arena of American history. Very few Americans, with exception of avid history buffs, remember, much less know about, the significant tide-turning battles fought along the Adirondack Coast during the American Revolutionary War.

Case in point, the Battle of Valcour Island on Lake Champlain.

Seriously, how many out there have ever heard of it? A battle which most military historians regard as the turning point of the American Revolutionary War. A battle - one amongst many along the Adirondack Coast and nearby environs - in which Benedict Arnold (later to become America's most notorious traitor) distinguished himself as an American Revolution Patriot of the highest order, an esteemed position which he later embellished* by his actions during the Battle of Saratoga.

While most Americans know Benedict Arnold as a traitor, I wonder how many know of his many heroic actions on the battlefield. Actions, which in my neck of the Adirondack woods, have him in good standing as a true American Patriot.

*Bendict Arnold distinguished himself through acts of intelligence and bravery. His actions included the Capture of Fort Ticonderoga in 1775, defensive and delaying tactics despite losing the Battle of Valcour Island on Lake Champlain in 1776, the Battle of Ridgefield, Connecticut (after which he was promoted to major general), operations in relief of the Siege of Fort Stanwix, and key actions during the pivotal Battles of Saratoga in 1777, in which he suffered leg injuries that ended his combat career for several years ... Despite Arnold's successes, he was passed over for promotion by the Continental Congress while other officers claimed credit for some of his accomplishments.