On the way to get a cup a coffee ~ Au Sable Forks, NY - in the Adirondack PARK • click to embiggenAs has been noted quite a number of times,The Landscapist is not a blog for the gearheads nor the technophiles of the picture world. That is not about to change, but ....
....Thanks to a comment on civilized ku # 607 ~ too hot to handle from Mark Meyer (Mark M's treatment of color in his work ain't too shabby either), who stated ...
The treatment of color in your work is exceptional.
... I got to thinkin' that, with a lifetime of experience under my belt, re: making and printing color pictures, it's really a bit of a waste that I haven't made any real effort to pass that knowledge and experience on to very many picture makers. To be certain, when asked, I always gladly provide whatever help and information is called for. Over the past few years here on The Landscapist I been in receipt of many behind-the-scenes emails requesting info on various picture making aspects and have tried to respond to all of them.
That said, I am launching a new (but limited) feature here on The Landscapist -
Once or twice a week, I will field and answer a question or two about the technical aspects of picturing making/processing/printing.
That said, I have little interest in discussing gear. What I would like to encourage are discussions about how a picture was made from the exposure and processing point of view - the very thing that makes the treatment of color in my work exceptional.
One of the best criticisms I ever received about my pictures is that they don't look as if much processing work, AKA - RAW Developer and Photoshop, was performed on them. The comment was NOT meant as a compliment but, in fact, I took as such because I want my pictures to look natural and not all processed to hell and back again.
To that end, I use a wide variety of picture making and processing techniques - blended exposures (manual, not auto or HDR), local contrast and color adjustment, WB adjustments, layer blending, local hue and saturation adjustments, to name just a few.
The truth is, it takes a lot of processing to make a picture look natural and my reason for wanting my pictures to look natural was best stated by Robert Adams:
...only pictures that look as if they had been easily made can convincingly suggest that beauty is commonplace.
So, pick a picture, any picture about which you have a question or two - especially one that might relate to your own picturing making - and then ask away.
Monday, August 16, 2010 at 11:50AM 
