As a token of my appreciation, I am offering a post-holiday print special: an 8×10 archival print, double-matted to 11×14 and ready to frame for the low price of $49.95 (US shipping included). Buyers may choose either a white or black mat.

Orders may be placed using the links below:

Black mats

White mats

The offer is open to US buyers only, and will be available until January 1st, 2012.

Happy new year, everyone!

“Reality offers us such wealth that we must cut some of it out on the spot, simplify. The question is, do we always cut out what we should?” –Henri Cartier-Bresson

Discussions of photographic composition almost invariably preach for simplification. Elements in the frame that do not directly contribute to the aesthetic appeal of an image are rarely benign and will generally detract from it. While it is easy to see how such wisdom applies to the exclusion of such things as rogue tree branches or discarded beer cans, it may not be so obvious when it comes to visual properties pertaining to the experience and mood you wish to convey.

I’m sure many can recall images that inspired in them such feelings as awe, solitude, silence, cold, or any number of other impressions generally associated with senses other than sight. The ability to inspire such emotional or even tactile sensations through the use of visual elements is the proverbial “secret sauce” that often differentiates a good image from a great one. And yet, many photographers unwittingly exclude important visual information from their images that could otherwise be used to communicate with the viewer beyond the mere portrayal of objects.

One example is the effect of color temperature (or white balance). Variations in color temperatures can be very effective in conveying the sense of actual temperature. Shifted towards the blue end of the scale, even slightly, it can imbue a scene with such things as chill, purity, or even sadness. Move the slider towards the golden hues and the opposite emotions are triggered: warmth, power, comfort, etc. Our brains often compensate for variations in color temperature, resulting in the perception of color casts. It is important to keep in mind, though, that these casts are part of the objective reality of the scene. Technically speaking, if you set your camera to Auto White Balance (AWB) mode and work in anything other than mid-day light, the images you will capture will not represent the true colors in the scene despite looking realistic. Put another way: neutral is not necessarily the same as natural. By leaving the white balance decision up to the camera’s computer or the RAW converter you may inadvertently sacrifice more than you bargained for. When mood counts, you may want to set your white balance manually for each individual image.

Another important consideration is the proper use of “empty” space. In reality, areas of the image that do not contain objects are not truly empty. In many cases they will contain a subtle pattern or color gradient that can be used to enhance the mood through variation in color, or by creating a sense of scale and/or context for the primary elements. Don’t be too quick to ratchet the frame tightly around your main subject, even if there’s nothing immediately obvious around it. Sometimes a little “breathing room” can greatly enhance the viewer’s impression.

There are many other ways to capture mood and emotion in your images. Vignettes, creative blurring, local contrast adjustments, and many other tools can be applied to subtle but powerful effect. Unlike painting, for example, where elements are additively rendered onto a blank canvas, photography is inherently a subtractive art – we extract something out of a larger context and need to do so with such precision that it can stand on its own. Simplify, distill, subtract, and crop as needed but be cautious not to take away too much. Pay attention not only to obvious distractions but also to subtle variations that can make a profound difference in how your work is ultimately perceived. Make it your goal to communicate more than just the obvious. Images that invoke feelings transcending the mere graphical representation of things will likely leave a more profound and lasting impression with your audience.

Things continue to be busy but I did manage a couple of quick outings recently. Stay tuned for more writings and images on these pages in the next couple of weeks.

These were once referred to as “the baddest of the badlands” but every few years, when conditions are just right, they fill with dormant color for just a few days.

Shortly before the trip I heard an NPR interview with Wendell Berry. He read a couple of poems from his new book Leavings which I found deeply moving and personal. I tried to find the book to take with me on my trip but alas it was not yet available. The cover image, a simple photograph in nostalgic warm tone, stayed with me as I meandered the wintry beaches and coastal woods. As expected, the Northwestern winter offered rainy gray days and the same subtle beauty and soft lighting that struck me in Berry’s book cover. I spent several days immersed in the velvety mist, breathing the rich scents of ocean, evergreens, mosses, and wet earth. And, for the most part, had the deep woods and beaches to myself. And the ghosts – they did come. It was an emotional and memorable journey through time and light and solitude.

Leavings was waiting for me when I returned home and I enjoy it a little at a time, poem by poem. They are intimate, sometimes sad, reflections, yet they read to me as if I had conjured up the words and thoughts and feelings myself. And, in that sense, they are comforting to me. The words converge with images of this past week and take me back to the cloudy, foggy, private scenes I photographed, and to those silent conversations.

I originally intended to experiment with new mounting and presentation techniques for mural-size prints. To that end, I made a series of 30×40″ prints for my own personal use, with the intent of sending them to a couple of service bureaus for mounting using different methods.

Since I planned to hang the prints on my own walls, I picked a few personal favorites I didn’t yet have on display. It was a mix of 4×5 film scans and digitally-captured images.

In the past, I subscribed to the common wisdom that up to a given print size the difference between digital files and film scans will be a wash but beyond a certain threshold, the large format scans will consistently have the upper hand. I was surprised to find (by my own subjective judgment) that this was not the case and in fact at this size some of the digital files actually produced sharper-looking prints.

This seems to contradict not only common perception but mathematical calculations (which I generally try not to argue with.) The explanation came to me as I was working on the files, preparing them for print. The raw 4×5 scans were indeed significantly larger but as anyone who worked with large scans knows, straight out of the scanner the files looks gritty; and lines, detail, and transitions appear a bit “fuzzy”. In comparison, a good digital capture, albeit containing less pixels, is very clean with clear detail and well-defined lines.

There is a difference between resolution and sharpness, the former being actual measurable detail and the latter being perceived/subjective appearance of detail. Until recently I thought they were well correlated but I’m no longer convinced.

At large print sizes, the digital files lend themselves well to interpolation while retaining the appearance of smooth lines and detail. The film scans, on the other hand, becomes fuzzier and harder to sharpen.

I now believe that rather than a clear threshold, there is an interim area where large format film still has sufficient detail and require little interpolation and can appear sharper than the digital capture but beyond that, where both formats require significant interpolation, the digital capture gives a sharper appearance despite having somewhat less detail.

In the coming few weeks I will ask friends who share my experience with various formats to evaluate these prints and see if they share my subjective impressions.

For now, though, I wouldn’t be too quick to assume that a large format scan will necessarily produce a better print. I will also think twice about the need for higher resolution digital capture (medium format or future camera upgrades).

This is one of the prints in the set. It is cropped from a file captured using a first-generation Canon 5D. To my eye (and surprise) it turned out to be the sharpest-looking print of the batch.