Day of rest…
Lost my voice yesterday. Was very funny trying to work with a squeaky voice. Is returning today…
Will rest tomorrow too…
Have been loving white paper lately haven’t I.
So often we are told not to blow out our highlights. Yet in so many beautiful and even famous photographs it’s done consistently. Much like adding pure black.
Of course you can blow them out. Just do it intentionally, rather than inadvertently. A white blob is an ugly sight. A beautiful white shape that allows the rest of the tones to sing is very beautiful. It’s a compositional decision that you need to make. With clear intentions. Not sloppy exposures.
I will have to print this one to see if it really works. One of the last lessons I gave Serena, was making the very clear point that the image you see on the computer is very very different to the one you see in a print as the final photograph. The goal is to make beautiful printed photographs. Ok, so that might not be yours, and that is fair enough too.
’It’s not the same!’ I hear over and over when someone first sees their print. How can it ever be the same. One is produced with lights and the other with paper and ink. Two totally different mediums. One that works on screen may not always work on paper, and vice versa.
Even with my gorgeous flash colour accurate Ezio Monitor, which I absolutely love, there are differences. Huge. The print changes brightness in various amounts of light, it also changes colour as the colour temperature changes. We can pick up the differences in as little as 200 kelvin, let alone a bit of reflected colour coming in somewhere unexpectedly.
A fantastic calibrated monitor still uses lights to project your image and the print is ink on paper. You can easily see the differences between a good monitor and a cheaper one, and this will help you create beautiful prints.
But, and it is always a big but….. It is a different medium. Just like film and digital photography are different mediums, that just happen to share the same names. Photography. Photograph…
At least a print is a print. Lol…
Am contemplating what to write for Better Photography’s next issue. I think I just found it.
Cabage Palms, Mungo Brush, Myall Lakes, in camera jpg, sepia added and tone curve adjusted, photograph and text copyright © Len Metcalf 2019