The Evolution of an Image!

Not too long ago I was shooting film. I would take my film in to be processed and anxiously go pick it up as soon as they said it was ready. Fuji Velvia, a positive slide film, was my film of choice. It was also preferred by most professional nature, landscape, and architecture photographers. Sometimes I miss the sharpness, extra contrast and rich color that you got from looking at a Velvia transparency. Despite all the good things about digital,  matching the look of Velvia is not an easy thing to do most of the time.
Today I shoot everything with a high end, high megapixel camera. I have it set to capture in what they call "raw". This is the image in an unprocessed state. Shooting in raw will give you color and contrast that is dull compared to what you saw and photographed. Many things may need to be adjusted until this image looks the way you remembered it. However, who says it has to look exactly how you remembered it. Neither film nor digital have ever recorded things exactly as we saw them anyway.

 

 The top image was taken last November on Orange Beach in Alabama. This is how the raw file looks in Adobe Bridge before any type of adjustments have been made. This image is surprisingly dull considering it was about five minutes before sunset and the sun had just popped out from behind the clouds. The light was about as sweet as it gets. Its also has not had any sharpening applied to it.

This second image was processed back in November not long after it was taken. Many adjustments were made with the raw converter in bridge. The image was then opened in Photoshop where some final adjustments were made. The last thing I do is sharpen the image. It may seem strange that it needs to be sharpened. I have a $7,000 camera body with a $1,200 lens attached. I have a very steady tripod and use good technique to create the sharpest image possible. However, this is one of those little things about digital that most people don't realize.

The other day I felt compelled to fiddle with this image a little more. Originally I had opened up the shadows some which is probably closer to the way our eyes see it. However, darkening the shadows and kicking up the contrast brings out more color and accentuates the shapes of the dunes. It dawned on me that this is close the way a perfectly exposed Velvia transparency would have looked. Next time I print "Orange Beach Sunset" I am going with this version unless someone talks me out of it.

On the road in Alabama!

During the last week I have had limited access to the internet. I have checked email several times but that is about it. In some ways I feel I am going through internet withdrawal but at the same time spending less time on the computer is probably something I should do more often. Last Wednesday I left my home and headed to Fairhope, Alabama. The Fairhope Arts and Crafts Festival was Friday through Sunday. The weather was great but I can't say the same thing about the sales. During this time I have been staying at my cousin's house in Fairhope. Tomorrow I will drive to Louisiana for my next show. I set up on Friday for the Oak Alley Arts and Crafts Festival which will be held on Saturday and Sunday. Hopefully the chance of rain which is forecast for Friday and Saturday won't materialize.

Yesterday I went to Bellingrath Gardens near Mobile, Alabama. http://www.bellingrath.org/ I wish I had been there about a week or ten days ago. Azaleas were blooming everywhere but most of them were past their prime. I got a few nice images. The top image is of Mirror Lake. The next two images were taken in the Oriental-American Garden. They are of an interesting bridge that crossed part of a pond and the view of the pond from that bridge.

Adjacent to the gardens was the Bayou Boardwalk. It was kind of neat but I saw absolutely no wildlife of any kind from the boardwalk. No herons, no egrets, no gators. I don't think I even saw a sparrow. Here is a picture of the observation tower which looks out over the boardwalk. It's a shame there was nothing to observe.

After leaving the boardwalk I got back to the other side of Mirror Lake. It seems that one of the workers was having a bad day. Apparently he got a little too close to the slope of the lake and the rear of the mower slid into the water. A few minutes later a tractor was driven to the site and pulled the mower out. Glad he waited until I took my picture of Mirror Lake before having his mishap with the mower.