Wild creatures completely reliant upon the land. Either up near people and towns or in the backcountry, they’re found in different forms of life. Either as herbivores, carnivores, or both. Such as this deer grazing on the forest floor, the time it took for this creature to mature and grow in the wilderness is an experience worth contemplating.
Having spent some time on Phlearn photography lessons today, I set out to develop a better idea about what it is to go too far with image processing. Where all photos get taken in RAW format but become processed by various tools and utilities in Photoshop CC. There are limits to understanding what actions get taken to meet specific objectives. Much of it about a cleanup, composition corrections, or slight adjustments in color, sharpness, and exposure.
Not for creativity or enhancement to make an image something it wasn’t. That has its place and I really want to start something there with random objects among images capture. More abstracts, people, and structures. More about light. More about the weather, mood, and atmosphere.
More spontaneity with images by everyday happenstance.
This is an image I spent time on to apply new principles learned. There are several before and after images compared. There are still issues with the image, but I’m not yet at a point where I can tell if those issues are normal. I believe there are issues I’m seeing with metering and there isn’t enough experimentation with program modes.
A short bit of experimentation with image processing. After learning somewhat more about place and context. To see further what bearing that would have. Rather than capture an image at face value, image processing has much to do with how you feel or sense the experience during the time while in a space of meaning. If there isn’t anything felt or valued, the composition and meaning can become flat or merely about technique. What you love and have passion for becomes lost in the repetition.
All those wilderness miles moved. Altitudes gained and lost. The wind, the cold, the wet, the color, and the beauty. All for the fear and the love of what comes by so much risk and hardship again and again. So what was the point? What is the drive and what do these seasons bring?
Far fared with far more to go. I fear it will never be enough and I’m okay with that.
Today’s time was spent at practicing the switch over from program to manual and back again with a one or two-stop change. Experimentation with various ISO settings, priority modes, and live-view. It was along about a 3-mile trail in Kings Canyon where the light was strong and unforgiving.
We went to Comstock Meadow where the forest beauty was complemented by the piercing light, even and pleasing temperatures, and strong aroma of the Sierra air. Today was time well spent to experiment, but to also again get a full immersion in these mountains I call home.
Today’s time was spent on blending practice. Several different images where some came out very hideous. This one was a final practice image for the day. Some photos I took quite some while ago.
Combined the same image across numerous layers to get an adjusted image with lens correction. Interwoven between two images a soft-light algorithm was applied with 50% opacity. Selective erasure and sharpening by an entirely different methodology. What you’re seeing are actually two copies of the same image combined and re-sampled together.
The depth of learning continues to better automate workflow through Actions. At least for photos that come together in quantity for outings. The manual process will stay indefinitely and with greater attention simply to get more from the creativity that follows. There is so much more to learn and practice.
This image is from a recent solo outing several miles out. The path along the way was lined with Sequoias on each side for quite the distance. The whole experience was memorable and deeply rewarding.
This image was processed with selective and brush specific sharpening. There were also whites and blacks stripped out with nonlinear exposure and light curves applied to get a better balance. Both vibrancy and saturation were increased ever so slightly. No more global editing for sharpness, brightness, shadow, or highlights. Those days are now long gone.
Picked up many new capabilities given significant advancements that have happened with process tools. Among the various new techniques taught and demonstrated, I’ve learned that selective and non-destructive editing of RAW images within Lightroom provides for a much more interesting experience. Where brushes and value selections among object layers give back a completely different way of showing an image. To get it to say something more or different than what came right from the camera.
Here is a random photo I took of two Mariposa Lilies. One prominent and one smaller, but kept back at a darker exposure. The image above processed to accentuate the difference between the two in an effort to communicate meaning. There were other overall curves and pixel density adjustments that were made as well.
The original RAW image shown below is directly out of the camera (converted to JPG). Time and practice will bring better results.
The release of Adobe’s Creative Cloud had me signing up without any thought or regret. So went straight from CS3 to CC. Several leaps ahead among versions, but the results are absolutely impressive. Such a difference to support the work of inspiration and creativity. I really love the change.
Photoshop and Lightroom integration with my Nikon is far better than my prior set up with Bridge. I’ve learned a lot about my new Nikon full-frame set up with FX lenses. To compliment that with these tools gives so much more editing control over images captured. Where there is much more ahead for far better quality.
Here’s an example with a photo that I took not long ago. Notice the difference? A sort of deceptive way of compensating for a small over-saturated segment of the scene.
More than once today, I’ve thought about our time in the mountains for all these years. A blessing and a privilege, or a gift because of unmerited favor. Whether by grace or circumstance, did we really orchestrate circumstances to see what we have seen, feel, and understand what was upon us? What I am very much grateful for is common for some, I suppose.
Yosemite’s inspiration and awe are just as strong today as it was well over 15 years ago. I can remember hiking back from Harden lake in Yosemite and taking a rest under a tree. It was an overnight backpack, and I was exhausted, but not quite back to the trailhead. Under the tree with my back at rest against the trunk, I looked up at the leaves and branches swaying in the breeze straight above me. I could feel the same breeze with my eyes closed, but while soaked and in over my head with where I was at. The breeze didn’t just make its way over me but through me. And I think just maybe it was more than the wind of nature but something more where the wind reaches the soul, with its sway and persuasion.
Something happened that day right then and there. Something changed and that is when it all began.
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