Isabella Breeze. Lake Isabella CA. Spring 2011. Linhof 4x5.
This has been sitting for the summer, but as we start traveling once again for 3 months of road touring, I decided it was worth posting. It’s my very first 4×5 exposure. Well, not including the accidental frame I ruined because I forgot to shut the lens. 4×5 film is something I’ve spent 2011 falling in love with. This frame is imperfect, but I wanted to share because I never want to forget the feeling it gave me. A sense of wonder at the sheer simple function, yet inspiring complexity and quality of the large format medium. It’s an operation that by it’s very nature forces one to slow down, to think and to visualize.
I stood right on the shore of Lake Isabella, almost at the water line at sunset on this early Spring day in 2011. It’s actually the very one I talked about on the drive back, during this Episode of the Photo Couch podcast. It’s was a calm relaxing sunset on the edge is this beautiful lake and it felt good. Once the sun had faded I packed up and drove to the other end of the lake where we had camped the trailer on the shore. Where kids and my beautiful wife were waiting with a hot spaghetti dinner.
Right cut. Original RAW file desaturated in LR. Left cut, same file with the Dynamic Silver III preset from Silver Shadows 2 applied in LR.
Just a few quick observations today. One reason I stay in a RAW as long as possible is that quality and dynamic tonal control is at it’s highest on an original RAW file. Once we leave that environment, we can certainly still work with tonal values, but we throw away some of that precious information.
On the right is a sharpened and desaturated original file from Sunset’s Hidden Falls. On the left, the same file with nothing more than applying Dynamic Silver III from my new Silver Shadows 2 toolkit. This effect pulls out dynamic range without flattening the shadow and contrast too much. It could also be done manually of course.
Once I have the dynamic range under control, then I’ll move on to external edits as needed. I don’t hesitate to go into Photoshop (though I try to stay in 16bit mode) for detail work. I did plenty of that on the final version of this). But getting my basic tonal range managed before I leave the RAW file behind gives me better results and helps me maintain that quality as high as possible for my wall prints. It’s a better wokflow and a better image.
Artists Sunset – Ken Whitmire in Pacific City Oregon. Fall 2011 by Gavin Seim.
It was one of those Sunsets. The ones with stunning clouds and radiant colors that seem to last forever. Like a great song that keeps on playing. I was on a road trip to the Oregon Coast with Ken Whitmire, the renown portraitist. Ken was working with a family on the beach in Pacific City and I assisted, while getting images and video for a project we were working on.
About halfway through Ken was on his ladder, having this family of five walk down the beach. I just stood back and watched. A bit envious of the amazing portraits he was going to take home. It was a stunning evening. I took in the incredible ocean landscape with some awe. In between video clips, I decided to go vertical and try to illustrate Ken as the working professional in his environment. I hoped for a sort of memorable feel that that artists and photographers could relate to.
This has been really well received. I admit, I did not realize it would strike such a chord, but I’m glad it did. To me this says something about creative craftsmanship and taking your time. It reminds us to take the extra steps up that ladder to make an image Great. That’s what Ken Whitmire has done for over fifty years and I’m glad I got to be a small part of that.
Our road trip was a memorable one in more ways than one. In fact by brother and I wrote a short short story about this trip. You can read that here on the Brothers Seim blog.
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Song of a Dreary Day - Upper Tipsoo Lake, Mount Rainier National Park, Sept 2011, by Gavin Seim.
Mountains are something that never quite grow old. But they don’t always cooperate with my whims. Clouds and mists and empty skies,this was one of those days. Sort of.
We headed up the mountain around sunset. A group of photographers and I were out camping that weekend for an event I had organized. I was hoping for one of those radiant late summer sunsets, but not today. Oh, it’s beautiful and peaceful and all, but that does not mean the light was doing exactly what I wanted.
Still, even on the days that seem less than perfect, there is light. Light that has a subtle beauty all it’s own, especially if you catch it at the right time. Well, there was light on those peaks, and there were even dramatic clouds mixed in with that sky that at a glance appeared a bit boring. They kept peeking out as they blew past the peaks, and I waited for them. I think there was a song in that light after all.
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By Gavin Seim (updated 01/13) – This may be the most important piece I’ve written on photographics. Because no matter what you photograph, once you see in Zones, you’ll never see the same again. You’re on your way to truly mastering light.
I started photographic study when I was twelve. But in recent years I’ve started working with 4×5 large format film and digital side by side. I’ve explored endless exercises in tonal control, “truly” learned to visualize, and implemented the Zone System that was developed by Ansel Adams and Fred Archer, both in my film and my digital work, in color and black and white. Zones are the language of light and they’ve changed everything about how I see.
Master Zones & Exposure Dynamics – Get Gavin’s Workshop Series.
The idea of visualizing and using Zones is not promoted much today. It seems much of the industry arrived at digital and decided that the past 150 years of photographic knowledge were somewhat irrelevant. Maybe it’s that many never took the time to understand Zones to begin with. Which is a shame because it’s so brilliant. What I’m about to show you is not taught much, but understanding it WILL change your image making forever. I’m not kidding; once you grasp this, you’ll never see light the same again. You’ll probably want more after this, so check out the links at the bottom for further reading. Also you can get hands on in my annual 3 day Lights & Shadows workshop. And check out my video series, EXposed which gets deep into Zones. OK lets dig in.
Sunsets Hidden Falls. Yosemite, 2010 – A general look at where I placed the scene elements in relation to the Zones. Each arrow leads to what I see as the zone on the scale.
I’m going to stay simple because these concepts are simple. I’ve not come up with a new digital based zone system, a stripped down version, or an article filled with nerdy equations, white papers, or complex charts. This is not hard and you can start putting it to use TODAY. Since most of us are in the digital world, I’ll focus on that. I’m going to show you how to use the core of the Zone System to make you a vastly better photographer. I’ve also brought along some examples for analyzing said Zones.
To those of you who already know this, kudos. But I challenge you to consider whether you’re really using it, or just buzzing along in digital bliss and fixing things later. Excuse my bluntness, but this is happening to the best of us. We need to get back to basics and visualize, control tone, dynamic range, image quality and presentation
The Zone System was a complete approach that included everything from the initial exposure to the final print. Now we don’t use darkrooms much these days, so I’ll focus on the pivot point of the Zone System: the Zones themselves. That said, I would encourage you to study the whole process even if you don’t use film. It will help you gain a better understanding of photographics. Not only that, but old books like Fred Picker’s Zone VI workshop deal with it quickly and effectively and can often be had for mere pennies.
1. The Zone Scale.
The Zone Scale lies at the core of the Zone System. It consists of eleven squares that span from clipped black (Zone 0) to clipped white (Zone X). Each square represents a change of one stop. The first part of using Zones starts before you release the shutter. Truly visualizing your image is like nothing else. Once you master it, you see the image you plan to make (including your edits and refinements) in your mind before you ever take the photo. It changes how you photograph and how refined the resulting images become.
Brilliantly simple, the Zone scale allows us to visualize all our light from complete black to complete white in clear one stop increments.
To begin with look at the Zone scale. Now look at your scene. Now back to me 😉 What’s outside your window right now? Visualize what Zones the things around you fall within. Then imagine you’re taking a photo. Imagine where the Zones “would” fall if the image came out exactly as you wanted. It does not have to be what you “see” but what you “visualize” for the finished image. How do YOU want to make it?
Think about how Zone levels on various objects in this scene would complement your primary subject as well as your supporting cast of elements. Sometimes it helps to begin by visualizing a scene in black and white even if your final image is going to be color. Thinking in terms of tones can be helpful, especially early in the process.
All nine detail Zones photographed with digital. Metering was based on the brightest area here, but we could have metered meter any element and uses the system to place that element in any of the time values but simply moving exposure up or down (click for larger view).
