One of the most important things we can do when we are engineering our photos, or direct, where we want the viewer’s eyes go – what is it that we want to see them. To do this, we should use the architecture of the image to bring visual interest in areas that are most important and who we want to either hide or find ways to subdue at least interest.
A great disadvantage we have as visual artists, using photography as our expression, it is that when we make a picture, there will often be things in the background, or even in the foreground, that we do not really want interest-creation elements. Sometimes we can control those people before creating an image, or by changing the camera position slightly by some housekeeping only a few housekeeping. Keep in mind that I come from a film background, and before the arrival of real good digital cameras and from the origin of digital imaging, we had to handle those issues before exposure because they could not be easily removed later. If we do not remove the garbage from the image before creating an exposure, the only way to take care of those things was that they spend hours in excluding them on the final print using a spotting dye, whether it is in color or black and white. This is tedious work, and thankfully it is very easy using Photoshop now.
In that case, what are those things that allow us to direct the human eye to the place we want? Here are some: Human eyes will have a tendency which is the lightest, the most bright, the most opposite, the fastest meditation, or which is in minority. This is true in the spectrum of photography, and in black and white work we mainly deal with those three factors. If you combine the element of color, it becomes important to understand that some colors have more visibility, in general, in human eyes. And when I am on the subject of color photography, anyone should understand the basic color schemes.
As you see the illustration of the original negative scan as well as a proof print, here as duplicate I can do as a real dark proof, what was done to make it more interesting and to direct the eye where I wanted to go to it? First of all, I made the opposite increase overall, be careful to keep high-value tone separation and shadow expansion. In digital words, I was careful to avoid either highlight or shadow clipping. Subsequently, I increased the opposite of the mamtus cloud, which was at the center, where there are strikes, and the contrast in the ground under the cloud decreased. I also darken the sky in the upper left corner, but not black. The next step in Photoshop was to create an empty layer, was set to multiply as a blend mode, and then had to paint a very light brown above the corners, especially left and right in the lower corners. I was careful to save the dark area from infiltrating the center, where a light tone would take the viewer’s eye into the image. The goal was to emphasize the texture of that huge storm cloud on the horizon. The viewer’s eye was to be directed to a dramatic cloud with intentions.
The one who is in minority gets the most attention
Many years ago I was with some friends in the mountains of North Colorado. They were to take a picture of Elk, who were in the rote so it was easy to find them. When I was with them, a cow alk and her year’s calf went out of the brush nearby. Fortunately I had a canon F-1 with 200 mm f/2.8 lenses, attached and loaded with the Ektachrome E100s film. As you can see, although most of the area is white, your eye naturally migrates to the cow and its calf because their forms are in the minority in the frame. , Always occurs in almost any change of the place.)
Use the depth of the area to pay attention
Using relatively wide-focused aperture, as most people know, help limit the depth of the region. Some people refer to it as “bokeh”, not to be confused with “bouquet”, which is a system of flowers. When we limit the depth of the field in an image, we limit the limit of its acceptable sharpness and, using the tool, are able to focus on the area where we want it to go.
In creating this image, my goal was to use the limited depth of the area to help separate the aspen in the foreground from the rest of the forest. A modest fog had started forming, which worked to separate the tree to some extent. However, the lenses on large -format cameras have maximum aperture that are quite different from a full frame DSLR camera. For example, the maximum aperture with the lens used here was F/5.6, so it is more difficult to limit the DOF. I used a new Photoshop Tool to complete the task. It is called nerve and works relatively well. In the darkroom I will use a piece of mesh between the lens and the image to increase the blot in the background.
However, we do it, in my opinion, one of our main tasks as visual artists, we have a way to find a way to communicate with viewers, whether they are gallery gour or looking at an electronic file on an online computer monitor. I hope that I can help equip other photographers with the knowledge stored in my 40+ year career. And, God prepared, I would like another forty years because I think I am finally taking my sea feet under me.
