On Ice

"Do you know what blood looks like in a black and white video?
Shadows.
Shadows. That's exactly what it looks like." Lake Marie John Prine


* * *

I've been printing color all day today. One thing I'll say is that I have a lot more flexibility with color than I've ever had before. I'm doing all my printing on the silver rag paper. Rich air-dried look. I have a lot to play with and compare: the new things from the A640, and a years worth of shots from the Canon Rebel and the 20D. The one obvious difference between the point & shoot and the SLR is the sensor size and the resulting greater amount of noise at higher ISO that you get with the A640 type of camera. There are one or two small sensor cameras with less noise at higher ISO, but they are missing other features that I like. There is also at least one P/S with a larger sensor on the way from Samsung.

I still vote for the turn / swivel LCD screen for composing. It gives a 100% view, which is more than I can say for some of the dSLRs. I've had very little clipping (chopping off highlights); and it is okay at ASA 400 if run through Noise Ninja. (I made noise profiles for the A640 which work a lot better than auto-profiling).

All that being said, I need two cameras. One for daylight walking around (A640) and one for low-light, or more static stuff.

But the SLR is necessary as the second camera for low-light, or more static stuff. At that point you just go nuts because in the Canon line there are so many choices it can make your head spin. If money was no object (which it is) than I'd spring for the 5D with a couple of prime EF lenses.

But money is still a consideration - and given the rate at which I go through cameras - I think for now I'll just stay on the sidelines and work with the A640 until I find out that the 6D is out and the price of the 5D has been cut in half - or something like that or buy EF Canon lenses for use with say the 400D - and know that when I do spring for the full-frame, I'll already have the lenses.

Roosevelt Island, Night

Mets

They're running out of pitchers... But it doesn't matter... Willie said that if John Maine couldn't start tomorrow they were going to give the ball to Julio Franco.

It's been a

busy couple of weeks - business-wise. I just caught up with everything: a couple of images for textbooks; two large prints for business offices; and a bunch of regular orders. And enjoying the A640 - taking it with me everywhere - and continuing down the color road: full steam ahead.

I got to see the Carbon / Silver Walker Evans exhibit. Just a quick note about that - I was initially disappointed that they didn't say what paper / printer / ink they used for the inkjet renditions (which were superb); but then as I was thinking it over - I thought: oh - why do they have to disclose the specifics... When you see silver gelatin prints in a gallery do you see which developer / paper / enlarger was used? No. That's up to you to investigate if you want to find out more.

There are many large prints - which are stunning. The exhibitors make a point of saying that they were able to "open up the shadows" and show details that you don't ordinarily see in the work. That was true - but personally - I probably would have left the contrast as it was in the original work - but that's just my taste.

It was a stunning exhibit and any chance you get to see Walker Evans photographs, whether they're original contact prints, inkjets, or posters - it's always a good thing.

It's at the UBS Gallery: 1285 6th Avenue, until Nov. 9

color workflow

I will try to write a little bit about my own color workflow but honestly, it is very fluid and different for each image. What is the same is that whatever camera I'm using - I want the camera to do as little as possible in terms of saturation / sharpness etc. If the camera has RAW capability than I will go with that. With the jpg / A640 it is set to neutral which I think is even less saturated than normal mode.

The fun begins by trying to imagine different looks for the image. In the "Thirsty" image (for example) there are about 15 layers, each with a squarish piece of the image - some pieces burned with multiply, some dodged with screen; and trying to make some pieces more or less prominent by the pieces around it. In other words - and I've mentioned this before - the color work is like painting and less real than the b&w work. Why that should be - I'm not sure.

I have a lot of choices with the Exposure plug-in in terms of film-looks - but some images are part Kodachrome, part Ecktachrome... It's like playing with a puzzle.

The image below of Dunkin' Donuts - is pretty straight foward. After the usual noise reduction is run, the image was converted to Kodachrome 64. Then pieces that I wanted to stand out - the windows - a bit of the parking sign - about 10 different pieces - were screened so they'd stand out in the darkness.

I don't think that I've used the Saturation adjustment layer at all - though I don't know why not. But saturation and de-saturation is achieved by using color / multiply blending and sometimes by making use of a b&w conversion layer for desaturation or to pump up the blacks.

What I'm trying to say is that it's like working on a mosaic - esp. the urban landscape which is all squares and rectangles with an occassional circle tossed in.

Why choose Kodachrome 64 for Dunkin' Donuts and not the EES which I was using for the Coney Island stuff? I don't know myself but the Kodachrome has a pinkish glow that seemed right for Donuts!

Did you ever stand in front of a bare room while a designer showed you paint swatches? That's sort of what it's like. You hold up swatches and try and imagine what an entire room with that puce swatch will do for you. In the case of The Poe Cottage shot - I wanted a moldy, greenish, decrepit look. For Thirsty - the more garish the better. It is, after all - freak shows and Coney Island.

Chrysler Reflection

color notes

I posted the first recent color shot on 8/29/2006 - less than a month ago. I see that I had been getting bored with my usual walking around street stuff and had been going through lots of old b&w photos.

I don't think there was any conscious decision to switch to color - it just happened - the same way that I might suddenly decide to listen to Miles Davis instead of Randy Newman. There had been jabs at new forms such as infrared that petered out; book projects that didn't go anywhere (my fault) - and other sporadic or maybe the word is spasmodic gestures.

At the same time - a couple of other things happened: Markus mentioned Alien Skin Exposure - but for how good the b&w conversion was; that was on the back-burner somewhere; the M3 acted up at slower speeds and I was wondering whether I wanted to get it overhauled; but to be honest - I was prob. just bored. In a funk. Road closed ahead.

And so - one thing leads to another (as it usually does) - and I find myself back in digicam world. Not - however so that I could do b&w conversions - but so that I could do color and compose on the LCD with the tic-tac-toe grid.

And Alien Skin - and various Photoshop blending techniques (b&w + color film blends) was giving me this roll your own recipe: take two layers of Tri-X 400 and blend with Kodachrome 64 in screen mode at 34% mix. (Don't take that literally but you see what I mean).

The color palette became manageable for the first time. Result of the plug-in plus n number of years working in PS, plus time spent printing digitally, plus my own personality, plus Miles Davis playing constantly.

I think that Dylan and John Prine are excellent for b&w; but if you want to do color - I suggest jazz.

Also - b&w - I still opt for film. Color - right now it's digital. I say "right now" 'cause I know myself and nothing you read here has little hope of being permanent. Everything I say should have a footnote, a caveat, and a disclaimer: these thoughts are of the moment - and should not under any circumstances be taken as gospel. I do not stand behind them at all. Not only do I not stand behind my ideas - I stand in front of them! They are swiftly approaching and will knock me on my can if I'm not careful.

Dog, Subway

[a640, @ 400]

New Yorkers: Helpful and charming

With my A620 dangling from my wrist, standing in Times Square station by the shuttle, looking at the signs - a man approached me and asked with great sympathy where I was trying to go and whether he could help me with directions.

Ah - but if I'm so much of a New Yorker - why was I looking at the signs? Truth is, I am subject to momentary spells where the design of the sign becomes compelling. Why did they make this a circle and that a square. Why was that yellow and that red? These spells generally pass without incident but there may be new drugs to take care of it.222

"Can I help you sir" from a fellow New Yorker means that you have really hit the New York Photography Zenith. It means that you are now the helpless tourist. Congratulations.

I told him that I was trying to figure out the best way to get to B&H Photo and asked if he had ever heard of that store, and that I thought it was on 34th street but I wasn't sure how to get there from 42nd street and that was why I was looking at the signs.

He thought about it a minute and suggested either the R, the W, or the 1, 2, 3. I thanked him profusely for his kindness - told him that the subways were just so confusing and that I was from Milwaukee. He said he was glad to help and then went on his way.

Hooray. I have finally made it into the true photographer tourist hall of fame. Next stop: get taken in a three-card monte game on 10th avenue.

untitled 0492

Canon A620 @ ISO 100 --> Noise Ninja --> Photokit Capture Sharpner --> Alien Skin Exposure --> EES Subdued --> Photokit Sharpner for web --> Photoshop Save for Web

Leica M8

Luke sent me a link and in this link (in French) a guy is actually using the Leica M8. There is a also a video.

Here is the Leica M8 link.

Thanks Luke.

color

Adams said that the negative was like the musical score, and that printing was the performance - and I think this is fitting for black and white. In fact, with manual dodging and burning in the darkroom there actually is a physical performance to making a print (lots of waving of arms like a conductor).

I would say that the color capture is just a blueprint. Someone still needs to construct the building. The color capture is just a sketch that needs to be painted.

The explanation for this is pure mathematics: black and white - x number of variables. There are simply more - exponentially more - color variables. And, just about all of these color variables can be messed with (uh manipulated) in Photoshop.

Oh sure - composition - some idea of what the photograph is about - technique - still important in the color shot - but nowadays the color capture - whether it is for fine art, or commercial purposes - is just the beginning.

Do you remember contrast masks for film? Registration issues? Cross-processing?

Could you really do all this at home?

Now that we live in this grand undreamed of future - the color darkroom is just a program and a printer. Skill and imagination are just as important as they always were - but just as the blog has made everyone an author and publisher - the color printer and Photoshop have given everyone - a shot at doing sophisticated color work. And just as some blogs are going to keep you hooked by the author's skill - the same goes for the digital color darkroom. Oh, you know what I mean.