ESFotoClix Blog

Before this blog launched, I had the opportunity to visit Vasquez Rock Park, California. The following two images are the out-of-camera (OOC) and post-processed versions as I achieved them back then.

Out of camera (NEF-to-JPG converted in ViewNX): click for larger image

Post-processed with single image pseudo-HDR technique: click for larger image

After spending a holiday with Ansel Adams, I decided to revisit this photo with the things I learned from the master (detailed in ref1 and ref2). Before anyone reports me to a mental health specialist, that last sentence (and the title) are figurative: I did not physically return to Vasquez Rock Park, and Ansel Adams was with me only in spirit.

My first inclination was to try a B&W conversion, giving myself full freedom to exploit features in this image, namely form, texture, as well as shadow vs. light contrasts, that should be well-suited to a solid B&W final image. The easiest way to accomplish this would be to use an orange filter to get a richer set of dark gray tones in the sky, but unfortunately, given the coloration in the rock, that would render the foreground in very high key tones that would diminish and in some places eliminate texture and shadow vs. light detail. To address this, I tackled the sky and rock in separate layers. With the sky separated (masked) from the rock, I also went ahead and darkened the blues and added some saturation and hue. Application of an orange filter revealed some noise in the sky, but since it was now isolated in it’s own layer, it was easy to apply noise reduction and some Gaussian blurring only there to improve smoothness. For the foreground rock, I chose a cyan filter to render the tones more as mid-grays to whites and thus accentuate texture and shadow vs. light details. Note that this also has the effect to render the rock as more “actual” (though not “real”), or in other words, to show it with tones one might more reasonably expect having seen the original color scene. The separate layers also allowed me to apply a bit of “Clarify” and Unmask sharp to the foreground layer only and avoid some of the haloeing and noise enhancement that can happen when one does this across the entire image. Put it altogether, and I think one can say the final product deviates from reality — certainly in the sky — and yet retains a connection or handle to the original scene so that the interpretation I chose still makes sense and rings “true.”

B&W Multilayer conversion: click for larger image

For full credit, I went ahead and processed the color version. This time I did not use the pseudo-HDR attempt in my original post-processing attempt. Rather, I used separate layers to spruce up the sky a bit from the OOC bland version with hue and saturation, and backed off brightness a tad to make for richer blue tones. On the rock layer I enhanced local contrast through curves and layer super-position (multiplication in this case) as previously explained in this blog (see ref3 and ref4). The result is a fairly rich image that pleases me a great deal more than my original attempt.

Color Multilayer conversion: click for larger image

It’s fair to say this image departs from “realism.” I would claim, however, that it achieves “actuality” by retaining a strong connection to reality. In this color version, for instance, the sky isn’t as “dramatic” as in the B&W version simply because it can’t be made so without causing us to question whether the image is “genuine.” In fact, the sky feels “real” because I took care to keep its color within reasonable limits. Additionally, the tones in the rock are richer, redder, but I would hope we haven’t fallen into the “make redder to make it better” trap Adams disdained. Even if Adams felt I reddened the rock too much, perhaps he would give me credit for achieving a less “garish” result than I generated in my original pseudo-HDR version. And he would most certainly rejoice at the latitude of control we can exercise in color image post-processing and B&W photos alike. At any rate, we can see how both the B&W and color versions here built upon the potential of the original image to achieve an artistic interpretation which, though retaining a connection to reality, departs from it as well to bring out those details we want to portray more effectively.

As I wind down this write-up, I also find it irresistible to point out that this is the type of result one can only achieve when willing to go beyond the OOC image. Even with superb customization of in-camera image settings, it would be nearly impossible to produce results comparable to the last two images — certainly not consistently for all situations. Perhaps this is why I haven’t seen a single Ansel Adams print that didn’t go through extensive dark room optimization to realize the master’s vision.