Photography And Truth, Part II

If you haven’t yet had the opportunity to read Part I of this discussion, I would urge you to do so here.

I suspect that the main reason behind the expectation of a photograph portraying ‘reality’ (which, by the way, ignores the fact that what one person perceives as reality might well be a bit different from the way another perceives it) is the historical use of photographs in journalism. This raises two issues. The first is whether one should expect the same ‘rules’ that apply to journalism to also apply to fine art photography, and the second is just how much ‘truth’ is depicted in an ‘unmanipulated’ journalistic photograph.

There exists a certain ‘code of ethics’ regarding the use of photographs for journalistic purposes. One can certainly understand that images used in this way should not be ‘altered’. But, in reality, an ‘unaltered’ image doesn't necessarily depict total truth either. As previously mentioned, the choice of focal length used will effect the apparent facts in the image. Exactly how far away is the subject, as opposed to how far away does the photographer want the subject to appear to be? Does the subject know they are being photographed?

But, I believe this issue is a minor one compared to the issue of in-camera cropping. What is just outside the frame and left out can, at times, tell as much about the situation as what is included. I will never forget a piece that I read which showed a photograph of a young person seemingly caught in the act of violent revolt. This image had been used as news in many prominent newspapers and magazines. One photographer, however, had the wherewithal to take a photograph of the overall event. What was actually occurring was that there was a group of perhaps 30 or so photographers all crouching down (just outside the frame) and taking the same image. The subject was now seemingly ‘enjoying’ his portrayal of revolution. Meanwhile, each of the photographic journalists had independently and conveniently cropped out all the others. There was no apparent enemy and the photographers certainly did not seem concerned about exposing themselves to danger.

Viewed from this standpoint, the story seemed to change. It now appeared that the subject was posing for the shot and the image seemed more like propoganda than news. Was it real? Can the presence of one camera change reality? What about 25 or 30 cameras all trained on the same subject? What urging, either actual or subliminal, might have been taking place to get the subject to perform?

Just to be clear, I am not a journalist and have never been one, so I apologize and am certainly willing to accept correction if any of the details above are erroneous. Nor, I should add, am I a conspiracy theorist. However, it does appear to me that, at least to some small extent, every image conveys only the reality that the person behind the lens wants it to. It would appear, then, that there are some similarities between journalistic and fine art photography.

However, bringing the discussion back to the topic of fine art photography, I think the biggest issue involving ‘truth’ as it applies to photography in the digital era comes in the form of ‘innocent’, as opposed to overt, manipulation. What is this rather sinister (said sarcastically) impediment to the portrayal of truth. Why, none other than the RAW format itself!

While the casual point ‘n shooter typically sets his or her in-camera parameters and shoots in .jpg format, all the while not necessarily thinking about the fact that the camera is doing its own post-processing, the serious photographer most often shoots in RAW format. The interesting thing is that RAW not only allows, but DEMANDS, post processing interpretation of the final image because the initial RAW data, which has not had any post-processing applied to it, is quite bland and just as ‘untruthful’ as an image that has been heavily manipulated. So the final result of an image taken in RAW format must then become, at best, only a representation of reality based on one person’s memory.

In the end, the debate regarding digital manipulation is likely one that will never end. 'Truthfulness' in imaging, as in many other things in life, is ultimately only as honest and factual as the person behind the lens.

Nonetheless, I do suppose that ultimately some conclusions can be drawn. For one, though there may be no 'right' answer about what represents truthfulness in photography, it is quite important to at least give the issue a good deal of thought despite the fact that the resultant guidelines might only serve as personal ones. In fact, since there is no 'right' answer, going through the thought process may well be more important than the conclusions.

My (current) personal guidelines are as follows:

1) For photography presented as art, I believe 'anything goes'. Viewers may not like the artist's style if it involves 'over the top' manipulation, but I don't believe that one's artistic expression should be limited simply because the medium happens to be photography. Nor do I think that such art needs to come with a 'disclosure statement' stating that it was manipulated. My one exception to this is #2.

2)I believe that wildlife photography is a separate and special situation and that it should be clearly indicated if the subject was photographed in captivity. Likewise, if anything has been done to substantially change the meaning of the photograph with cloning etc, I think that should also be indicated. It would also be acceptable to simply and clearly state that the images have been altered.

3)Though I am not a photojournalist, I would hope that images where there is misrepresentation (as in the example of the 'revolutionary' given above) would be treated as if they were manipulated.

4)If asked, be truthful...never represent known manipulation as no manipulation.

For further interesting and far more eloquent discussion of how one might consider thinking about these issues as they regard fine art photography, have a look at Alain Briot's essay entitled "Just Say Yes", which can be read here.

So that is my list......have you thought about yours?

"Photography, as we all know, is not real at all. It is an illusion of reality with which we create our own private world." ----------- Arnold Newman

Photography and Truth - Part I

I have never understood why photography is essentially the only artistic medium in which people seem to expect literal, factual interpretations of a subject. It is not at all unusual for someone, after looking at and seemingly enjoying a photographic print, to turn around and question if there has been 'manipulation' of the image because of the intensity of color or contrast, the perspective of a particular lens, or the use of shutter speeds that provide an unexpected appearance. Unfortunately, many of these comments are made in a derogatory fashion; there is seemingly no artistic vision or expertise involved if there were ‘adjustments’ that were made……it is as if to say “well, once you are allowed to make adjustments I could have done that as well”, and therefore the perceived ‘value’ (and I am not talking about monetary value here) is lessened.

I simply don’t get it! I have never heard anyone complain to a painter that their work wasn’t good because they painted the sky bluer than it was on that particular day. No one tells a writer that something couldn't have looked as they described it. Sure, people may not like the painter's or writer's style, but that is quite different from not liking an artists’s work because it does not portray reality.

As an aside, the whole situation reminds me of a famous story regarding Picasso, which goes something like this (who even knows if it is true at this point). A tall patron asked Picasso why he portrayed people the way he did, despite the fact that ‘they don’t really have angles like that’. Picasso reportedly asked him if he had a photograph of his wife with him and asked to see it. The person did and showed it to Picasso. Picasso then took his thumb and forefinger and, in an animated fashion, used them to measure the size of the woman’s head in the photograph. He then held his now separated fingers up to the light and said to the tall patron, “How odd, your marrying a woman with such a small head.” Point well made.

The issues and concerns regarding manipulation have certainly ‘gotten worse’ in the digital era, where anyone can cut out their bosses head and place it on a monkey’s body. Clearly, however, ‘manipulation’ occurred long before the digital age by making choices as simple as deciding what focal length lens to use or even what type of film to load into the camera. For more complex manipulation using film, one need look no further than the type of magnificent work Jerry Uelsmann does today using ‘only’ film and the darkroom.

What it seems to essentially boil down to, at least in my mind, is that most people expect photography, even if presented purely as art, to accurately reflect reality. This expectation is simply not present in essentially any other artistic medium.

To Be Continued.........

The Twin Jewels Project: Pastel Morning

Today, I thought I would post another image that I am considering for inclusion in my "Twin Jewels Project". There is also a quick story that goes along with this one. I have off one Friday every six weeks and on that day I try to get out to photograph since I am usually devoid of responsibilities, at least for the early morning.

This particular image, entitled 'Pastel Morning', was taken on one of those Fridays. This particular morning sticks in my mind because it was a morning on which I decided I would get up early enough to try to shoot sunrise at one of the "Twin Jewel" parks. That was a little unusual for me. While I usually do get up early on the mornings I go out to photograph, the park is about an hour's drive away, so while I usually get there early enough to have a couple of hours to photograph in nice morning light, I am rarely there early enough to actually photograph sunrise.

After hauling myself out of bed, I found myself wondering if I was crazy to get up so early to catch sunrise on my day off. I wasn't quite sure where to go for a good view and was thinking that, in general, Western Pennsylvania does not even have particularly grand sunrises and sunsets because the very hilly terrain tends to block the lower horizon in many areas. The fact that it was quite cold outside just made matters even worse since, as I have mentioned before, cold weather and I are not the greatest of friends.

Back to the photograph in a minute, but to complete the story, very shortly after capturing the image and having experienced an unexpectedly majestic sunrise, I received a call on my cell phone from one of my partners who needed to get some information about a patient from me. He had expected to have awakened me at home, and when he heard where I was and what I was doing thought I was completely crazy. I had been wondering the same thing myself earlier, but, by this time, I had already experienced the magnificent sunrise and in my mind it was clear to me that the crazy thing would have been to have been anywhere else but this particular spot on that particular morning.

"Pastel Morning"
Copyright Howard Grill

Back to the photograph. I decided to photograph sunrise over the lake in the park. Of course, I wasn't quite sure where over the lake the sun would rise ( I guess you could call that ill prepared, but that is one of those things that I just never seem to be able to figure out....can anyone tell me how to do so reliably?) so I just got into position pointing generally east, according to my car compass.

As I mentioned, I wasn't prepared for anything spectacular. While it was still fairly dark, I picked out an area across the lake that I thought had the most interesting graphic appearance I could see. I liked the way the mountains seemed to cross the flatter foreground at an angle.

As sunrise approached, the sky started to glow completely orange! I had never seen coloration so intense in this area before. As it got brighter, the open sky stayed orange and the cloudy areas became an unusual pastel blue color. It was most definitely worth getting out of bed and into the cold.

I remember thinking that one of the great things about nature photography is the surprise of never knowing ahead of time what you are going to see and be able to photograph. The mornings when one gets up early and nothing materializes just serve to intensify the incredible feeling you get when you are 'out there' and this sort of scene plays out. I do realize that other areas of the country have much grander sunrises and landscapes in which to portray them, but, for the area I am trying to portray in my project, it simply doesn't get any better than this.

The final image is cropped a bit from the original frame. It struck me that the pink and blue bands were very linear graphic elements of the image and that even the green tree lined land areas seem to fit in as a linear band. I cropped a bit from the top and bottom of the image until the width of the bands of color seemed to complement each other just right to me.

After sitting through the sunrise, I was not only amazed by how quickly the light got more and more intense, but also by how it faded just as rapidly. It was all over within 30 minutes, at the most. I had to snap a picture afterwards as a great example of how important it is to be at a location at the right time and just how quickly the light and mood can change. So here is 'Pastel Morning Plus Thirty Minutes". Don't be late!

"Pastel Morning Plus Thirty Minutes"

Copyright Howard Grill

Five Question Interview

I was interviewed by Pittsburgh photographer John Craig as part of his "Five Question Interview" blog series. Click here to check it out.

And while you're there, also check out his terrific blog and peruse some of the images on his website.

Actually, I was quite surprised and very honored to be included as part of his series. Turns out that John lives only a few miles from me. We've never met, but I hope we get a chance to at some point in the near future.

Thanks for the very kind words, John!

Trillium: The Final T(h)rill Of The Year

Well, the trillium 'season' comes to an end. The flowers are rapidly fading away until next year. In many ways, their short lived nature adds to what makes them so special. It is truly an amazing experience to be out in the forest alone, surrounded by hundreds of these beautiful plants.

I have to say, I really enjoyed and appreciated the feedback and suggestions regarding my photographic 'pursuit' of trillium. And so, I offer my last trillium shots of the year:

"Peeking Out"
Copyright Howard Grill

Below is a shot of the elusive yellow trillium. The yellow trillium here in Pennsylvania seem very different than the images I get when I Google 'Yellow Trillium', and yet this is definitely trillium (to the best of my knowledge). They have a yellow tint, the park ranger said there were yellow trillium at that site, and, other than for the center, these looked just like the white trillium plants and, in fact, were growing amongst them.

"Yellow Trillium"
Copyright Howard Grill

Finally, I return to the image that I had 'in my head' and mentioned in my first trillium post. The concept was of a 'sea of white', and I think I have gotten close this time. The question is, can an image of hundreds of flowers work when only one of the flowers is in focus?

"Sea Of White"
Copyright Howard Grill

Work or not, the best part is that there is always next year.........

Gadgets That Work: McClamp

Move over Plamp, the McClamp's in town and he's takin' over...... Seriously, I have been a longtime user of the Wimberly Plamp for taking photographs of plants and flowers in the great outdoors, where the wait for the wind to die down can seem interminable while you develop lower back spasms from being bent over and looking into the viewfinder for the little buggers to just hold still for a second. The Plamp certainly helps. But there have always been a few things that I have found very frustrating with it:

1) It seems absurd to attach the one end of the Plamp to your tripod. The whole point is to hold the flower still while the photographer does what is necessary to get a good shot. In my mind this means the optimum function would be to not only hold the flower still during a gentle wind but to also hold it still while making adjustments with the camera. While the Plamp does an amirable job with the former it fails miserably with the latter.

To attach the end of the device to your tripod leg is totally counterintuitive. Why? Every time you want to adjust the tripod the least little bit to get the flower in the frame just the way you want it....well, you know what happens, the flower moves as well. You can't move one without moving the other and a frustrating battle ensues. To say just move the Plamp and not the tripod is not the answer because the Plamp movements tend to have to be fairly coarse ones. Sure, if there is a sturdy tree or plant nearby that is not too fat and not too skinny you can clamp your Plamp to that, but how often does that happen...repeat after me N-E-V-E-R.

2) The Plamp always seems to apply too much pressure to the plant or flower in its jaws than I would like. When I am done, I always have this sneaking suspician that the holding process is not quite as benign as I would like to believe. True, you can put the stalk in the larger open portion of the Plamp jaw, but then it still holds it either too firmly or too loosely, depending on the size of the plant or flower.

Enter McClamp-The Stick. I bought one on a lark, mainly because of the two issues above, just to see if it could improve on the Plamp. McClamp-The Stick......in, Plamp out!

For one thing, no more clamping the darn thing to the tripod. It is very similar to the Plamp but has a pointed plastic stake attached to one end that you just shove into the ground. Presto, no more plant movement every time you adjust the position of the tripod.

On to problem number two. This part is a bit tough to describe, but the area within the central part of the jaw that holds the plant is filled with a foam that has a good bit of give. Put the stalk of your fragile plant in there and it is held firmly, but not so tightly that you feel guilty as you walk away. Have something sturdier or heavier that you want to grip? No problem. The ends of the jaws have hard plastic that holds more tightly, similar to the Plamp.

One warning, since the stake on the McClamp needs to be pushed into the ground, the McClamp-The Stick won't work if the terrain is extremely rocky or 'solid as a rock'. Then you're back to the Plamp, or the McClamp-The Clamp, which, like the Plamp, attaches to your tripod but still has the foam for a kinder, gentler plant hold.


I am really pleased with the gadget. B&H sells them. I should mention that I have no connection to the company that make the McClamp.

By the way, I was using my McClamp to hold trillium in place this weekend and you know what that means, stay tuned......

The Twin Jewels Project: Water Painting

In a prior post, I spoke about and described what I call “The Twin Jewels Project”. Today I thought I would talk about another of the images that I think has ‘made the cut’ for inclusion. It is also the last of the three for the project that I have used in prior different discussions in this blog. Future images I discuss for this project will be new to the blog.

“Water Painting” began as a motion study and ended up as a study in both motion and color. As I was walking by an area of the river that runs through one of the “Twin Jewel” parks, I noticed that there was a lone stone that was disturbing the movement of water going by and I thought it might make for some interesting images if I used a slow shutter speed to blur the water. I stayed at the spot for about twenty minutes or so taking shots at various shutter speeds, hoping that some of them would prove to have interesting shapes captured in the moving water to contrast with the stationary rock.

Several of the photographs did prove to have abstract shapes in the water, but the ones that I found most eye-catching were the ones that portrayed the water in an ‘intermediate’ fashion. By this I mean not totally smoothed out so that the overall sense of motion is lost and yet not so frozen in time that there is no sense of motion blur. My favorite one came right out of the camera like this:

"Water Painting" In Its Most Basic Form
Copyright Howard Grill

I was quite attracted to the preservation of both the shape of the swells as well as the tonal variation. But, in my mind, the image still lacked something; I didn’t feel as if the viewer was drawn into it. It didn’t seem to have that something that makes one want to dwell on and examine all of its nuances.

Boosting the contrast was a start, but I felt that what the image really needed was strong color with associated variations in the color tones to go along with the motion. Despite the fact that the color I was introducing was more ‘surreal’ than ‘real’, I felt that it nonetheless transmitted the feeling I was trying to convey when I took the shot. As I worked with the image, I felt that the linear motion blur of the water seemed like paintstrokes that called for the strong color (and hence the image title).

In addition, as I have also previously discussed in regards to this image, I rotated it since it seemed more peaceful with the rock in the rotated position. And so, I ended up with a final image as seen here, which I think I will likely include as part of the project:

Water Painting
Copyright Howard Grill

Do the saturated colors go to far.......?

More Trouble With Trillium

Well, here we go....another trillium post. If you haven't seen my prior 'writings' on trillium they can be found here, here, and here.

First of all, apparently there are no highly experienced botanists that are out there reading my blog with any regularity. Why do I say that? My last trillium related post lamented the fact that the emergence of the trillium had been delayed because of the cold weather we had been having. When I had gone out into the field expecting trillium, I was early and found only plants that I thought were trillium that had not yet bloomed. I ended up making some documentary and abstract type shots of the plants and calling them trillium. Well, I returned yesterday and the trillium were in early bloom, but, much to my surprise, what I had thought was pre-bloom trillium clearly was not. I am not sure what it was (if anyone out there can tell from the photo, please let me know), but I guess I will ultimately find out since there is plenty of it and I go back to this location frequently.

At any rate, on this trip there were trillium in bloom, and it reinforced just how tough it seems for me to get really good shots of these plants. I could do more processing work on the following images and I do plan to return again as the lighting wasn't all that great on this particular day, but thought I would post what I was able to capture.

"Guarding The House"

In the prior posts, I had mentioned that I had wanted to portray the flowers as a 'sea of white', but that the plants simply grow too far apart for me to be able to achieve this. I got some great suggestions on how to capture that impression and, in particular, one from George Barr that I thought was quite on the mark and that I hoped would do the trick. The idea was to represent the 'sea of white' with three or four flowers made to look closer than they really were by 'compressing' the apparent distance using a long lens while keeping one flower in tight focus. The image could then be converted to black and white to accentuate the white flowers.

As it turns out, the plants grow far enough apart that the portrayal was easier said than done. Armed with the idea that I didn't actually need many plants, but that just a few in the right position relative to each other might give the appearance of a 'sea', I set out to look for plants growing in the right orientation to each other. I spent about two hours searching, but even with my 400mm lens I couldn't find a grouping that was close enough for even the 400 to portray as very close to each other. Then, having given up on the grouping idea, as I was driving out of the park I spotted a 'clump' that looked like they might be lying in the right relationship to each other to allow me to portray what I was after....but it was a narrow road with no parking. So, after finding a safe spot to pull over and hiking back, here is what I found:

And, after converting to black and white:

I personally like the black and white version better, though I wish the background were smoother. This was taken with a 180 macro at a wide aperture, but because the flowers were growing on a very steep slope the background was at a fixed distance from the plant no matter what angle you came in from. Anyway, not perfect, but closer to what I was trying to get at.

While photographing the trillium, I noticed that several of these lovely flowers were growing nearby, and I couldn't resist grabbing a quick shot. I believe it may be a "Beaked Trout Lily" , but I am not entirely certain. Anyone know for sure? Whoops, almost forgot there were no botanists out there :>)

All Images Copyright Howard Grill

By the way, Mark Graf was apparently also out photographing trillium this weekend and got some absolutely marvelous abstract shots that can be seen here. Check out the amazing lighting he was able to capture! They inspire me to go out and work on the trillium some more.

35mm Tilt-Shift: Roll Your Own

I ran across this 'recipe' to make your own 35mm tilt-shift lens....sort of like a do it yourself Lensbaby. Let me say up front that I haven't done this myself, as I already own a Canon tilt-shift lens. However, it looked like a very neat idea to me and so I thought I would share it.

The instructions can be found here.

If anyone gives it a try please let everyone know how it goes.

Genesis Of An Image And The Three Layered Orton Effect

I find it interesting to see how an image evolves from starting concept to finished product. With some images, it is clear that they are keepers from the very start. However, with others, their potential might not be immediately obvious and they just sit somewhere (in the drawer, on your hard drive....wherever). Then, at some later point in time, the photograph gets 'rediscovered' and viewed in 'a new light' and with fresh ideas.

That is what happened with a shot that I have recently been working on. I initially posted this picture in my last blog entry entitled "I Like It", which was about Adobe Lightroom. The evolution of this image is, I think, interesting, and illustrates why I rarely delete images unless they are grossly out of focus or hopelesly incorrectly exposed.

I took this particular shot over a year ago at a nearby city park and remember thinking it was nice enough, but didn't really feel it was anything all that special. I do remember that there were kids running around the field and that I had to wait for moments when no one was in front of the tree. It remained on my hard drive until I 'rediscovered' it after having both purchased Adobe Lightroom and running across an interesting Color Infrared preset by Martin Evening, which is available here. As I mentioned in my last post, here is the original:

Lone Tree

Copyright Howard Grill

After seeing the image again, I thought it might be worth pursuing if I could somehow get it to express what I was thinking and feeling at the time I took it. The white tree appeared unique compared to the others in the background and had a large area where it was standing alone. It almost seemed as if the non-flowering trees were giving the 'queen' of the trees a wide berth. The color infrared treatment that I had found seemed to give it just what I felt it needed. The result was the image below, which, again, I posted in my last entry.

At this point, I thought I was done with the image. However, the more I looked at it, the more I was dissatisfied and felt that it still needed more to bring out everything I wanted it to convey. I wanted it to take on more of an ethereal, surrealistic feel to go along with the unusual color of the infrared effect.

I had recently been reading about digitally mimicking the so-called Orton effect. This effect was described by and named after photographer Michael Orton, who took two overexposed images of a scene, one in focus and one out of focus, and combined them together as a 'sandwich' in one slide mount in order to generate a soft, surreal, painterly effect. The basic technique used to generate the digital equivalent is described here. I had never tried this before, and this seemed like the perfect first image for me to experiment with.

I liked the result....but there was still something nagging at me. I felt that the 'queen', to maintain her regal feel, should not be as blurred as the other trees in the background and that more emphasis was needed on 'her'. The emphasis was easy to create with a gentle vignette. However, localizing control of the Orton effect seemed unattainable, with my only choice seemingly to increase or decrease the blur in a global fashion.

But then, while Googling the Orton effect to try to better learn how to control it, I ran across the 'three layered Orton technique', which offers the ability to do just what I wanted to. I rarely write about Photoshop tecniques in my blog, but I did want to share this video tutorial because it really is something fairly unique and quite easy to do while allowing very exacting control over the effect. Once I understood the approach, I was able to easily restore as much sharpness to the tree as I wanted. I found that a partial restoration of sharpness seemd to give the tree the regal feel I was after while still maintaining a dreamy effect. So here is the final image (with a bit of a further cropping from the left side and bottom):

The Guardian
Copyright Howard Grill

The effect is a bit difficult to appreciate with even the largest image size that Blogger allows, which is still quite small. If interested in seeing a larger version, I posted one on the Fred Miranda forum in order to receive some feedback. The larger version can be seen in that forum here, as it is not yet on my website.

Here is the excellent video tutorial by Bob Campbell that describes the three layered Orton technique. Give it time to download....it takes a few minutes to load, but it is worth the wait.

I think the evolution of an image over time is interesting. In the digital age, one can always run into the problem of taking continued adjustment and manipulation too far. I hope I have not done that here, but, in my mind, this final version seems to express what I was after much better than the prior attempts.

In the end, I am quite happy that I had not deleted this last year.

I Like It

Lightroom, that is. I like it. Didn't think I would, but I do. I knew I would end up getting it eventually, so I got it about two or three weeks ago, before the price goes up. Sure, there are lots of thing to not like about it (no need to elaborate on them here) and, more than likely, they will be fixed in future versions. Some argue it wasn't yet ready to be released. It was certainly a pain in the butt to take time out and read the requisite Lightroom book or two to learn how it all comes together.

So why do I like it? I had planned on using it mainly as a digital asset manager, but have fallen in love with the develop module and with develop module presets in particular. Now, I know ACR 4.0 in Photoshop CS3 is going to have the same basic develop module....I don't know if the presets are available in the same way that they are in Lightroom. Maybe someone that already has CS3 can fill me in on that.

So what is so great about presets? I find that they really enhance creativity. How so, you ask. At times I may look at an image and think it would look great in a certain way.....high key, infrared, contrasty black and white.....you get the idea. I know Photoshop on an intermediate level, but not so well that I can just make these things happen the way I previsualize them. There are a fair number of presets available for free on the internet that easily integrate right into Lightroom. When you scroll over them with your mouse (without even clicking) in the Develop module, the effect of the preset is seen in the preview panel in all its glory. You can literally visualize fifty presets in a minute or two.

In my mind, the key here isn't that you choose a preset and that's it. At least that's not what I do. If I have a certain idea in mind, I scroll through the presets and find one that approximates what I am previsualizing and use it as a starting point. It is a lot easier to get to your imagined result when you are starting on the right path. It is as if someone gave you a gentle nudge in the right direction and then, at least with an intermediate knowledge of Photoshop and Lightroom, you can get to where you want to be.

Here is an example of what I am talking about.

Lone Tree
Copyright Howard Grill

Not a bad shot, in my opinion. But it didn't pop; didn't have that something that makes the white tree feel as isolated and, at the same time, unique, as I wanted the image to have. One minute of looking through my preset collection gave me what I needed. A digital infrared treatment and then, in the develop module, I could take it from there. Some changes in exposure value, contrast, and vibrancy after applying the preset brought me to what I think conveys the feeling I was after.

Lone Tree
Color Infrared Treatment As A Starting Point
Copyright Howard Grill

Some may say this is 'cheating'. Then again, some think that any use of Photoshop to enhance an image is cheating. I view it as a tool that is helping me to more efficiently get closer to my vision....if that is cheating, so be it. Besides, cheating at art.....I'm not sure I get that. Perhaps a topic for another post.

So, where does one get these presets? Try here and here.

Yup, it sure isn't perfect, but I am enjoying discovering what it can do and how it can get me to where I want to be!

The Trouble With Trillium, Part III

Several weeks back (here and here), I wrote about needing some advice in order to improve my photographs of the trillium in a local park. In return, I received some excellent suggestions, which can be read as comments to the postings.

On occasion, I am able to get a day off and go out for some photographing, and today was one of those days. I was really looking forward to trying out some of the suggestions and hoping to come home with some nice trillium images that, as described in the two prior posts, express the idea I have in my mind.

Normally, the trillium would be out and in full bloom this time of year. As I was listening to music during the hour drive, I had, in the back of my mind, the concern that the absolutely dreadful, cold weather that we have been having here lately was going to have delayed things. But I had the day, and off I went.

When I arrived.....not a blooming trillium in sight!! So, instead of a multitude of white blooms, here is the status of Western Pennsylvania trillium on April 20th.

Trillim Up, But Not In Bloom Yet
Copyright Howard Grill

Needless to say, not everything always works out as planned. I still had a nice time out in the woods, though. And with the desire to work with what one is given, I made some trillium leaf abstracts instead.

Trillium Leaves
Copyright Howard Grill

Stay tuned, though. I still hope to manage to get out in the woods when they are in bloom and let everyone know how I did with their advice.

Photo-Ku

In several prior posts, I mentioned attending an absolutely superb Oregon Coast workshop taught by Nancy Rotenberg. As part of that workshop experience, we were given several 'assignments' to help us develop our vision and focus. One of these assignments was to write a haiku to accompany one of the photographs we had taken. Sounds silly, right? Turns out it was anything but. The idea was to have us take an image and hone down on the singular idea that we were trying to convey; to break the image down to its most basic elements. As Nancy puts it in her book (see below), writing haiku helps a photographer to "focus on essence". The exercise was helpful not so much in finding an image already taken and analyzing it, but, rather, in learning to get into a 'haiku state of mind' in order to gain a deeper appreciation and understanding of what one is aiming for when making photographs.

Nancy talks about this exercise in her excellent book entitled "Photography and the Creative Life", which is self-published and available from her website. It is a book well worth owning not only for the beautiful images, but also to gain a deeper understanding of the creative process.

Rather than discuss this further, I will mention why I decided to write about photo-ku at this particular point in time. One of the things I enjoy is discovering new photographers and their work, usually through their websites. When folks make comments on the blog, I am usually interested in seeing what type of work they are doing and, if they have a profile, I take a look at their website.

Stephen Durbin made a comment regarding my blog post entitled "Portraying The Unthinkable", which led me to his website. I not only enjoyed his wonderful images, but found that he has an entire page where each of the images is associated with a haiku that he has written! This immediately made me think about the workshop exercise that we had done.

Take a look at his images and the associated haiku here and I think you will understand the point of the exercise. Next time you photograph give 'the haiku state of mind' a try and see what happens.

Unencumbered By The Gravity Of It All, Pt II

A few days back I wrote about going out to photograph with my seven year old daughter using a cheap point and shoot camera and not worrying about 'making good images'. That post was entitled "Unencumbered By The Gravity Of It All". Recently, Heather added a comment saying, among other things:

"Kudos for sharing this amazing world with your daughter. I'd like to see some of her photos!"

Hey, I can do that!

I thought that after yesterday's post "Portraying The Unthinkable", something a little lighter would be in order. So, here is a selection of my daughters images from the trip described in the original "Unencumbered" post. They are taken straight from the camera with dad adding just a quick touch of sharpening for the web. I present Nature, as seen through the eyes of a seven year old armed with mom's point 'n shoot:

Oh, and by the way, Heather, if you are out there reading this, I tried to e-mail you a few weeks back but the e-mail got returned to me as undeliverable.

Portraying The Unthinkable

The portrayal of suffering in artwork has always been, at least for me, a difficult issue. Nonetheless, surely there is a role for such imagery outside the venue of photojournalism. One of the problems, in my mind, is getting around the use of sensationalistic, overtly gratuitous, and graphically violent images when attempting to convey a message that is, at its core, violent and horrific.

Recently, however, I had the opportunity to see an exhibit by photographer Adam Nadel entitled "If My Eyes Speak", which clearly demonstrated to me that the unthinkable can be presented in a way that conveys a message, and conveys it powerfully, while still respecting the dignity of the victims. In fact, by giving those who have been violated a spokesperson who themselves were part of the suffering, by giving them a voice and a face, by making it clear that these were human beings that were 'just like us', the message is delivered in a manner that, in many ways, is more powerful than the portrayal of mounds of dead and mutilated bodies.

Nadel's project consists of simple portraits of the survivors and, in some cases, the oppressors. The photographs are presented with a short caption or quote that tells a portion of each person's ordeal. Though not physically part of the image, each caption is inextricably bound to a particular photograph. Simple, short, and extremely effective.

Emmanuel Murangira,
survivor

These rooms were filled with the dead.
50,000 killed in this place.
The killers enjoyed themselves.
I am one of 4 survivors.
My entire family was murdered.
I was shot.
Later that night I regained consciousness Ð
I was under a pile of bodies.

I visit sometimes
because I feel more comfortable
being among the dead
than the living.

Copyright Adam Nadel

Rather than my trying to explain the reasoning and goals behind Mr Nadel's project, it would be most effective for me to simply quote for you sections from the artist's statement that was distributed at the showing. I should also add that I find many artist's statements not particularly useful but, clearly, this one deserved to be read and digested along with the exhibition.

Regarding the so-called "voyeurism of trauma photography", as Mr. Nadel puts it, he says:

".....Journalism can be like advertising - try to draw people in and keep them looking at your product. With this mentality, why would a photographer not expect that the more sexy and graphic, the more easily accessible the more likely their images will get maximum exposure......"

He goes on to say:

"I am not saying this is the ultimate reason why images are chosen for publication, but it's a significant and powerful one that results in a very particular relationship between the viewing audience, photographer, and subject. These are the forces that make it harder for the viewer to sympathetically connect with the individuals in the images. The photographer is in the same situation.

How do you get around this? I am not sure. But, at the heart of the work (my project in question) what we are discussing is the creation of a relationship between the viewing audience, photographer, and photographed that allows for clear and direct communication about war's violence that is intentionally non-sensational, at least visually, and allows for emotional and intellectual engagement."

Regarding the integration of text with his images he says:

".....As important is the need to create a caption that could not be separated from the portrait. By doing this, the words of the people in the photograph, not of an editorial desk, are the caption for the image. The sitter directly suggests meaning for the viewer. The bedrock is that the photograph's message can't be changed or altered without diminishing the impact of the portrait/testimony. Their strength is in their unity......"

He continues, ".....There is debate over the role that 'captions' play in fundamentally defining the meaning of a photograph. I do not endorse the view that words are ultimately responsible for a photograph's meaning, but I do believe that a very powerful partnership can be formed between pictures and words that not only improves the message, or should I say focuses the meaning, and allows the viewer an opportunity to directly engage, both emotionally and intellectually, with the individual in the portrait."

Regarding this strategy he states "....I am sure there are many people who think empathy or "spectatorial sympathy" creates a whole new set of problems. I just don't know how to escape these issues while still working within the photographic medium. I am trying to find ways to minimize the medium's negatives while still providing the audience access to the hardships most in the west have the luxury of avoiding."

Indeed, an artists statement that truly guides one through the thought processes involved with the creation and presentation of the images.

Some of the work displayed at the exhibit can be seen here, although the exhibit has since been expanded to include not only images related to the atrocities in Rwanda, but also those in Bosnia and Darfur.

These are immensely powerful images that spoke to me in many ways.

Integrating Photography Into Life

Lately, and I think it has something to do with warmer weather and the arrival of Spring, I have been feeling, rather strongly, that I am just not getting enough opportunity to do photography. Family and work obligations clearly limit the amount of free time that one has.

Don't get me wrong, the purpose of this post is not to voice complaints. Rather, I have been trying to think about ways that photography can be more easily integrated into the time that one has available. For example, as many of you know, I am a cardiologist practicing in Pittsburgh, PA. However, I spend, on average, one day a week outside of Pittsburgh, seeing patients in a small town in Ohio. I have found myself thinking about the possibility of starting a photographic project there, as it might not be too difficult to spend an hour or so photographing after work and before going home. I have to admit, if I had all the time to photograph that I wanted, that project would probably not make the top of the list, but I am trying to think in a utilitarian way.

Another thought that I had revolves around making images of some older and beautiful buildings near my home.

The mainstay of these ideas is that it would allow me to photograph without the one hour travel time in each direction that has been the case with most of my photographic excursions.

Thinking about these ideas makes me curious as to how others might have tried to integrate photography and photographic projects into their schedules. What has been an effective strategy? What has not worked out well? I would certainly appreciate any insight that people might have about these issues.

Twin Jewels II

I have previously written about what I call The Twin Jewels Project and mentioned that I would intermittently be posting images that I think might ‘make the cut’ for project inclusion.

Three Trees
Copyright Howard Grill

This image is entitled “Three Trees”. Right next to one of the park’s parking areas was a tract of forest with the ground covered with fall leaves. I knew I wanted to capture an image of the trees and ground but was left with what, for me, always seems to be a problem with photographing forests and trees. That is, how to simplify the composition; to ‘clean it up’ so that what is included in the frame produces a harmonious graphic composition and doesn’t just look like ‘a bunch of trees’. In my mind, this is a classic situation that the saying “painters start with nothing and keep adding until they get something beautiful and photographers start with everything and keep removing until they get something beautiful” pertains to. Well, I might not have gotten that quote exactly right, but you know what I mean.

So I stood along the roadside trying to visually isolate a grouping of trees that looked like it could ‘stand on its own’, along with enough of the ground to show the leaves. I was also hoping to find a grouping that would work together graphically but not be right next to each other, in order to introduce a sense of depth into the image.

I was ultimately drawn to this particular grouping. I tend to find, when working on composition, that once a ‘problem is solved’ things are still never as settled as one would hope. There is always the next level of ‘discovery’ within the composition to work on. In this case, I found the grouping I wanted, but then started wondering how the three main trees should be oriented with respect to each other. It was obvious that their relationship to each other could be changed by merely moving the camera a few inches to the left or right. I ultimately decided that the best approach was my initial reaction, which was to have the three trees oriented in space so that they didn’t touch and had equal spacing around them.

Sometimes, after the fact, relationships are found in a composition that hadn’t been planned on and which turn out to be a surprise. In this instance, I had liked the appearance of the greenery growing by the closest tree. What I hadn’t realized is that there was a bit of an ‘echo’ of this throughout the picture, with the most distant tree also having an associated green plant of its own. The tree on the left does not have a plant beside it, but the green discoloration of the tree trunk and the small patch of green grass to its right side seems to make up for this. I also like the way the yellow canopy of leaves echoes the darker leaves on the ground.

Finally, and this is not at all apparent on a small web image, I added ‘extra’ sharpening to the most forward tree during post-processing, which allows it to ‘pop’ from the image even more and enhance the three dimensional effect.

Based on my rather verbose description, it is probably obvious that I think this image ‘works’, but I am always interested in the impressions of others. I do find interesting the amount of thought that can go into making a picture of something as simple as a grouping of trees.

Bill Jay Revisited, Part II

As promised, here is Part II of the Bill Jay interview video. See here for Part I. See here for more on Bill Jay. The video does seem to take 1-2 minutes to load, but since no one has complained in the comments section, I assume there have been no problems with it and that it was worth a look. I enjoyed it anyway.

Bill Jay Revisited, Part I

About a month ago, I wrote a blog entry about photographer, writer and photographic educator Bill Jay, which can be read here. If you haven't had a look, it is worth a read simply because of the link to his extensive writings on photography, which he has kindly made available on his website.

I happen to run across an interview with Bill Jay in two parts and thought it was quite interesting and well worth sharing. I am posting Part I now and will post Part II next.

This is the first time I have posted a YouTube video interview. The embedded link seems to work on my computer. If it doesn't work on the posted blog please let me know in the comments section so that I can try to fix whatever went wrong.

Unencumbered By The Gravity Of It All

I’m not talking about the force that keeps us tethered to the ground. I’m talking about gravity, as in seriousness.

Let me explain. Usually when I go out to photograph it is a very serious undertaking indeed. I get up quite early to shoot in the ‘good light’ and take a backpack of equipment carefully chosen based on where I plan on going and what I am hoping to try to make images of. For the most part, all of my ‘serious’ photographs are made with a tripod that is placed after careful deliberation and experimentation. I usually go out alone, as I don’t know all that many people that are into photography.

I had a very different experience a few days ago, which, in many ways, was like a breath of fresh air.

I have always hoped that perhaps one of my three children would develop an interest in either nature or photography so that as I, and they, get older, we might enjoy going on photographic trips, or at least hiking, together. Well, so far it sure isn’t happening, at least not yet and at least not with the two older ones.

So I decided the time was ripe to give my seven year old daughter a try. I have several waterfall pictures hanging in my home, and she has drawn crayon pictures of me taking photographs of the waterfalls. Several times in the past, I had asked her if she wanted to go with me to where I take these pictures and see the real waterfall, but she has always said no. Well, on this particular day, she had no friends over and I told her that if we went not only would we see waterfalls, but we could both take little point and shoot cameras and she could take her very own pictures of the falls. Reluctantly, she agreed.

In a moment, I will tell you how she liked it, but first let me get to the real reason I am writing this. I wanted to take her because I wanted to see the happiness on her face at seeing her first real waterfall and to give her the opportunity to take her own photographs. In my mind, the only reason I was bringing a point and shoot camera was to take pictures of my daughter. From the standpoint of taking any photographs of the park……well, the camera was small and cheap, the light was terrible with direct, harsh, overhead sun, and I had photographed this particular area so many times I was sure that there would be nothing that I would find particularly interesting photographically.

Just The Two Of Us

Yes, I took plenty of quick snaps of my daughter. But something else also happened. Walking around with just a little camera at the absolute wrong time of day was, well maybe exhilarating is too strong a word, but it was really fun. Maybe it was because I felt like I didn’t have to try to find nice shots. Maybe I didn’t even make any nice shots….but the point is that I didn’t care. The light was bright and harsh…….fine, I saw some harsh shadows that were nice to take some shots of. Everywhere I looked I started seeing things that I could just take some quick shots of to see if it ‘worked’. I even decided to tuck away a number of ideas that I had for when I did come back with a ‘serious’ camera. There was something uplifting and freewheeling about just going at the wrong time and trying to make ‘lemonade out of lemons’. I am starting to think that going out in this fashion might actually be very beneficial at those times when one seems to hit a creative ‘brick wall’ and nothing seems to flow. I am going to give it a try the next time I am in that dreaded zone. It certainly couldn’t hurt.

Hanging On

Oh, and by the way, my daughter had a great time and wants to go back. I don’t know if she will develop a love of photography and be my ‘photo buddy’ or not….…but here is the devious trick I used to try to bring her one step closer to making that happen. Several times she would stop and ask, “Dad, is it OK if I take a picture of that?” To which I replied, “Sure you can. You can take pictures of anything you want. That is one of the really nice things about photography…...there are no rules!” Hopefully, music to a child’s ears. I will report back in ten years and let you know whether or not it worked!