“Hudson Valley Trail, New York”

In landscape photography we often discuss the many different ingredients that go into making a successful image. Things like composition, color, mood, light, and of course subject. And while these are all essential parts, the aspect I think is underestimated and not talked about enough is the relationships between these elements.

• How does the subject interact with the rest of the composition? Is the main “character” easily defined? Imagine a movie where you couldn’t tell who the main character was, or a song that did not have a recognizable melody. How quickly would you lose interest?

• How does the color influence the balance and design of the image? Saturated color is great, but only when a harmonious relationship exists with some other part of the composition, otherwise it loses its ability to convey a strong message other than “here’s a lot of color”.

• Are the tonalities balanced in a way that leads the eye in a meaningful way? Light is a powerful force in our search for evocative landscapes, but are you controlling the light through careful composition, and removing what may be distracting?

These questions are all based on relationships and how we use them in landscape photography. I’ll be covering these ideas in-depth in an upcoming article, but for now think about these concepts the next time you are out with your camera. Even simple things like using a longer focal length can have a dramatic impact on your ability to create stronger relationships. Avoid the temptation to capture it all, and use 70, 80, or even a 100mm focal length to narrow down your field of view and work with basic shapes, lines, and color. This will help you recognize relationships much easier, and your images will gain clarity because of it.

“We photograph something for two reasons: for what it is, and for what else it is.” – Minor White

Annapolis River Marsh, Nova Scotia

“A great photographer’s power is the product of light and composition. This might be called the photographer’s voice. Repeating the composition of another, even if the light is different, pointlessly repeats what has already been ‘said’. It is mere mimicry. Photographer’s should strive for their own voice, strive to say something genuinely different about the place in their own way.” – David Ward

Choosing the right paper for your prints can be overwhelming these days given all of the choices available, and especially critical with large print sizes. Recently I had to make 17 large prints for two corporate customers, NYU Langone Medical Center in NYC, and Lawrence Hospital in Bronxville, a suburb of NYC. I strive to provide the best possible product and experience for all of my customers, (which for me means going way beyond what is expected, and choosing the best materials and tools available) so I thought I would share some info on my paper choices and printing workflow. For my large format printing, I’m using my workhorse Canon iPF8100 printer which is still going strong after 3 years of regular use. I replaced one of the print heads 4 months ago, and Canon replaced a faulty circuit board last year under warranty. Other than that, it has worked great and ink usage is extremely good. meaning it is very efficient.

I printed mostly out of Lightroom 4, and a few images were printed out of Photoshop CS5. This was because a small number of images were captured on an older camera with less resolution, so I used Alien Skin Blowup 3 to enlarge them, and it was just easier to print out of Photoshop at that point. I used custom ICC profiles for all papers which I create using my X-Rite i1 Photo Pro spectrophotometer.

"Mt Beacon Light" - 40" x 60" Canson Platine

The 40″ x 60″ print above was printed on Canson Platine Fiber Rag 310. Why did I choose Platine? Simple, I love the texture, dmax and detail. Dmax is a measure of the deepest black tone a printer/ink/paper combination can reproduce, and this is important for both shadow definition and contrast. For this particular image my goal was to preserve shadow depth and create as much contrast as possible to really make the sunlight jump off the paper. I also wanted to maintain as much detail as possible, which is a key part of the image, and again Platine really does a great job of conveying that detail to the viewer. Platine also has a very nice texture which adds just a bit of depth and dimension to an otherwise flat print.

Proper camera technique really helps with making a print this large from a 35mm camera – low ISO, tripod, mirror lockup, optimal f stop and focal length for the lens, and optimal post processing. So camera settings are: ISO 200, f/8 @1/60th sec, 24mm. (That’s my iPhone with the same image for a size reference

"Nature Patterns" - 37" x 54" Canson Rag Photographique 310

"Autumn's Play" - 40" x 60" Canson Rag Photographique

20" x 60" Panoramas - Canson Rag Photographique

All of the above prints were made on Canson Rag Photographique 310, another favorite paper of mine but for different reasons. In this case I chose Rag Photographique for its beautiful matte finish and very smooth texture. I wanted more of a watercolor look, which really brings out the colors and creates more of a painterly effect, which I think helps convey the feel of the images as I originally conceived them. Of course dmax is still very important, and while not as high as Platine, Rag Photographique still delivers very nice blacks and rich contrast. The key of course is very careful soft-proofing and testing using small proofs to make sure the image is optimized for the paper. This is where the latest Lightroom 4 really helps with its ability to not only soft-proof, but also create print specific files for each paper you use. All of these prints were adjusted slightly for the paper, and this is really critical to maximizing your prints.

Above is the new soft-proofing feature in Lightroom 4 where you can preview the original image on the left and the adjusted “soft-proof” virtual copy on the right. Lightroom even renames the virtual copy with the name of the paper profile so you know which paper this proof is meant for – very cool. The adjustments I make to the virtual copy are only for printing, the original remains unchanged, and no need to create additional files on my hard drive – it is all generated from one RAW file.

Once the prints are permanently installed,  I’ll post photos of the installations once I get a chance to visit the locations. Stay tuned for some upcoming video tutorials on paper selection and soft-proofing in Lightroom 4.

I received the following two questions from a loyal reader, so I thought they would make a great post and hopefully be useful and informative for all of you who read the blog.

1. Do you use “protective” filters on your lenses — like the UV filters? 

In general I prefer not to use protective filters for two reasons. First, it makes it a hassle to remove and add different filters when I want to use say a polarizer or an ND filter, which for me is quite often. The front threads on filters (especially UV) are often not as smooth and machined as well as the threads on the lenses, so in my experience screwing filters onto other filters is frustrating at best, especially when working under difficult situations (around or in water, low light, or bad weather).

Second, I don’t like the idea of putting a clear filter over my $1800 (or more) lens simply for protection. If you’ve paid all this money for great glass, you certainly don’t want to put a $100 filter over it. Optics are everything in overall image quality, so I’m very discerning about what I put over my lenses. (Personally I think the UV filter idea is a  great way to up-sell more products at the photo store, but that’s only my opinion.) I find lens hoods can provide significant protection from the elements and can help a great deal if the camera or tripod falls. In eight years of shooting I have yet to lose a lens to damage, though I have come close! You’ll have to evaluate your own situation and shooting style, and what works best for you.

My trusty 70-200 with crucial lens hood. I never leave home without either.

One product I recently came across which I may check out at some point are Xume Adapters – basically a quick release system that uses magnets to add and remove filters onto your lens. They look really cool and would make switching filters so much easier in the field. I’ll write a review once I get my hands on the system.

2. In doing landscape photography, how often do you find yourself taking shots at focal lengths (full frame), say of 150 mm or higher?

My honest answer is not as often as I would like. Longer focal lengths (generally from 70 to 200mm on a 35mm full frame camera) are great for capturing the “intimate landscape”, a phrase coined by Eliot Porter for scenes that lie between the compositional world of the grand scenic and the microcosm. I think this is an area all outdoor photographers can benefit from studying and practicing as it is too easy to get seduced by the grand landscape and want to capture it all.

One key element to any successful photograph is simplicity, and longer focal lengths can help immensely in that respect. While a painter starts with a blank canvas and adds complexity, we start with utter chaos and must remove until the frame, and therefore your message, becomes clear. Wide angle lenses make this extremely difficult to do.

Longer focal lengths also have the visual effect of magnifying and compressing distance by making objects look closer to the viewer than they really are. In other words, wide angle lenses add space between objects, telephoto lenses subtract space. This can be used creatively in the landscape depending on how you want to convey and interpret the scene in front of you. So I would say a 70-200mm lens is essential for any outdoor or landscape photographer that wants to capture both the grand landscape and the intimate details of our world.

Morning Sun, Forked Lake, Adirondacks

Twilight Color, Acadia

Have any questions you’d like to me answer about photography, workflow, printing, business, or life in general? Send them in and I will try my best! As always, I love your feedback and comments – thanks again for reading.

This great info graphic by swissmiss has been making its rounds on the internet today, first on Seth’s blog, and also on Chase Jarvis’ blog, and I recommend you read both for their individual takes on this subject. When I saw it I immediately smiled because it proves that a picture is worth a thousand words! The vast majority of my time is spent away from doing what I love most, which is exploring ways to be creative and tell stories with my camera. The longer I do this, the more I have come to realize and appreciate this is exactly what it is. And it is this clarity of defining it that helps me stay focused and motivated to handle the other aspects of the business where I spend the majority of my time. Would I love to out source some if this as Seth recommends? Sure I would, and I am slowly moving in that direction. Being smart about what you should do vs what you should get someone else to do is a vital aspect of running any business where time is the most valuable resource, and I would dare anyone to find a case where that is more true than in landscape photography.

That doesn’t mean I don’t enjoy the other “stuff”, on the contrary I do. The realization that I am living my dream life, and that each day I have to pinch myself that it is for real makes dealing with the “stuff” a little easier. For sure there are some great benefits – the greatest for me is that I get to spend much more time with my family. I was a stay at home Dad for the first 3 years of my son’s life, and that alone is something I would not trade for anything.

What most do not see is the endless challenge of marketing and selling your work when the mortgage depends on it. The camera seems to stay in the bag for weeks at a time. Health insurance remains out of reach. But nothing in life is guaranteed, and the time we have been given can never be replaced. Spend it wisely, strive to do what you love, and take a moment to appreciate your last breath – there are many that do not have that simple but profound opportunity. It’s all in the simple details.

I’ll be giving a 2 hour seminar titled “Intro to Fine Art Printing” this weekend at Unique University, part of Unique Photo located  in Fairfield New Jersey. Sponsored by Canson Infinity,  I’ll be talking about the basics of printing your own work, the latest fine art printers, workflow, and of course Canson paper. I’ll also have a bunch of my own prints on hand to use as examples of the different papers I use, and also highlight key aspects of a successful print. There will also be a Q+A session where I’ll try to field all of the questions thrown at me!

Of course there is no way I can teach everything about fine art printing in a few hours, but I hope to give participants a thorough overview of what is involved, and provide some practical tips they can put to use in their own printing right away. This is a deep topic but I’m always eager to share what I’ve learned over the years, and give other photographers a deeper respect for the art and craft of printing. Many photographers choose not to print their own work, and I totally respect and understand that. I have always been interested in the finished product, which for me is the print. It is what I sell and how I make my living, so it gets my focus and attention as much as any other part of my photography.

I’ll have some photos and post some tips from the seminar here next week – if you’re interested and in the area, check it out.

Unique Photo SuperStore
123 US Hwy 46 (West)
Fairfield, NJ 07004
Phone: 973-377-2007

Winter View, Hudson Valley

As any outdoor photographer knows, winter can be a challenging time to get inspired about shooting, especially when the weather turns cold, the colors seem drab, and we long for the warm days of summer. Surprisingly, here in the northeast we’re experiencing some very warm weather, and winter seems all but gone. Even so, winter can provide many unique and interesting conditions, and your favorite locations can become new and fresh again with just a little imagination and letting yourself become open to discovery. Time, patience, and some luck (which we all know comes from hard work) all play a role in your success as a nature photographer. Here as some tips and ideas to keep you motivated while me move towards greener days ahead.

1- Focus on textures that help provide visual interest

Even in the grey days of winter, look for interesting textures that provide visual rhythm, something that keeps the viewer interested, whether a pattern or a shape. Here I focused on the foreground, which I thought had amazing detail that gives the eye something to spend time on, and keep a viewer from wandering out of the image.

Winter Light, Constitution Marsh

I always teach that a photograph should have a clear subject, and here it’s definitely the grasses in the foreground. Find patterns that help emphasize textures, and use optimal apertures , the sweet spot of any lens, to capture as much detail as possible. For most 35mm lenses, f/8 to f/11 works best.

Above you can see how I try to lead the eye of the viewer through texture, light and shadow, and perspective. The foreground detail really provides the foundation for interest, and the highest areas of contrast (where the arrows are pointing) pull the eye back into the image creating depth and dimension.

2- Always be aware of light

Awareness of light, its direction, quality, movement, intensity, and emotional impact is a crucial skill to practice. I never get tired of studying light, and always learn something new each time I go out into the landscape. Great light works in any situation, just as emotional impact will always prevail over a technically perfect image. I watched the light begin to illuminate the tops of the mountains in the background, and knew by the color and quality it was special.

Winter Light, Constitution Marsh

The challenge for me was deciding how much of the mountains I wanted illuminated. Too little and the intense color doesn’t really have the impact I want – too much and the feeling I want to convey, involving the viewers imagination, is gone.

Successful composition is a question of balance and simplicity – as Edward Weston famously said “Composition is the strongest way of seeing.” Balancing the foreground details, colors, and shadows with the richness and color of the light is the essence of this photograph. Whether I succeeded or not is up to the viewer, but for me it captures how I felt about that special moment in time that morning.

3- Experiment with different techniques

Because the scene was so wide, I also decided that it would be a panorama, so I shot 5 horizontal images, then stitched them in Auto Pano Giga. This is a great piece of software for stitching of images, and I find it consistently does a better job than Photoshop in regards to alignment and smoothness.

For this I setup my tripod and mounted my camera with a bubble level attached to the flash port. Once I made sure the camera was perfectly level, I could then rotate it horizontally without any worries about the horizon shifting significantly. I captured the 5 images in manual mode to keep my exposure settings consistent, overlapping each about 25%. I approximate the overlap visually in the viewfinder, and with practice it becomes easy – when in doubt, play it safe and capture more than you think you need.

I processed the 5 images in Lightroom, exported them to Auto Pano, and when the stitch was completed successfully, re-imported back into Lightroom for final tweaks and adjustments. This included cropping to remove the black edges, and some slight dodging of the foreground.

4- Focus on details

While this should be on your mind in any kind of weather, cold weather turns water into a myriad of different abstract shapes, textures, and reflective surfaces – all worth exploring with your camera. Remember to fill the frame as much as possible, use leading lines to lead the viewer into the image. While many of us know the rule of thirds, try and forget it for a bolder composition instead. Often it’s when the rules are ignored that you free yourself to experiment and take chances.

Broken Ice, Hudson River

Long Dock Ice

These are a few tips and ideas that I worked with on my recent shoot. Mostly I hope they inspire you to get out and enjoy nature, regardless of the weather.

Please leave your feedback and comments below – I’m always happy to answer questions.

During my trip to France last month, I was given permission to photograph the Canson paper mill in Annonay France. This has never been done before, so I was really thankful and grateful for their trust.

During my tour, it was fascinating to learn how paper is made, and how difficult it is to create just the right texture, feel, color, and finish that will appeal to painters and photographers. To learn that artists such as da Vinci, Monet, Picasso, Degas, and Van Gogh used Canson paper, and that many of the originals in the Louvre Museum in Paris were painted on Canson paper is both impressive and speaks volumes about their quality and legitimacy. I came away with a deeper respect for the pride they take in paper making, as well as their commitment to being green and environmentally friendly.

Because Canson does not allow any photography during public tours, I couldn’t take any photos but kept wishing I could after seeing how impressive the mill was. I thought it would be great to show my blog readers (you) some behind the scenes images, so after some friendly negotiation, I was allowed to return to the mill camera in hand, with full clearance. I promised to let them approve all photos first before I made any public. They will also be using some for their own promotion.

I hope you enjoy this inside look at paper making, and learn something in the process about the value of quality in all of our creative materials and tools.

Quick Facts

• First papers made in 1557 for writing and books
• 1809 – first tracing paper
• 1947 – Canson supplies all paper for school students in France
• Raw materials used to make paper: wood pulp, water, bleach pulp, fillers (calcium), starch, dyes, sizing agents, steam (to dry paper)
• Fourdrinier – machine used to make the paper
• Capacity – 1 roll per hour (each roll is 3 tons , 2.6 meters wide)

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Raw materials used for paper making

Raw materials entering the manufacturing process

Paper pulp ready for the "Fourdrinier Machine"

The huge and loud Fourdrinier machine where the paper is rolled out to exhaustive quality standards.

The "wire" where the water is separated from the pulp

The “wire” from overhead – moves very fast and I had to make sure not to drop anything, otherwise the whole plan would have to stop because of me!

Canson Technical Director Philippe Noblet explaining how the texture of the paper is tested daily for consistency.

Then final roll which weighs 3 tons and is 8 feet wide – ready for testing and cutting into proper sizes. These papers are used by artists as is. Inkjet papers are then sent to another processing plant to revive the inkjet receptive coating. Otherwise, the papers are the same in quality and feel.

Cut sheets ready for boxing

Rolls ready for the converting plant

And here’s how the machine looked 100 years ago – these images from the Canson Museum.

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I wanted to highlight a recent documentary I discovered online called “Press Pause Play” which offers a fascinating look at the digital revolution and all of its implications for artists. I found it extremely engaging, as well as thought provoking in so many ways. 

In an age where everyone has affordable access to the tools to be an artist, especially in photography, how do we separate the good from the great. This is one of the very ideas I have been writing about on this blog since I started, and continue to focus on here and in my workshops. We all have access to the gear and technology, therefore getting the next best lens or camera body, or improving your HDR skills is not necessarily going to help you say something meaningful.

So the question becomes how do you stand out? How do you rise above the saturation of imagery in the world today? 

Watch the video, and let me know what you think in the comments below.

Clear Water, Hudson River

I received a few emails with questions about this months wallpaper photo “Clear Water, Hudson River”, so I thought it would be a good opportunity to write a “Making Of” article for the benefit of all readers.

Planning

This photograph was very much planned in advance in the sense that I needed a very specific and limited window of conditions for the image I had in my mind. I wanted low tide for a strong foreground (the rocks are completely submerged during high tide), sunrise during winter for quality and direction of light, and optimally minimal wind. Because the sun rises much further south during the winter, it actually creates a nice backlighting condition when looking south on the Hudson. This creates a subtle but dramatic lighting effect which improves the sense of depth and dimension in the image. Notice how the rocks in the foreground (especially on the lower right) and the mountains across the river have a beautiful 3 dimensional quality to them as the light seems to flow around their shapes.

Of course we can plan for these conditions, but there is no guarantee that everything will come together when the time comes to set up the camera. After several failed attempts, I found myself standing on the edge of the river once again this year hoping for a chance to capture something special. The weather forecast predicted clear skies for the day, but the morning started off rather cloudy and somewhat foggy. Patience and perseverance paid off however, and all of the elements I look for in a successful landscape photograph came together for a few moments: light, color, composition, and drama.

Setup

Wanting to create a panorama, I setup my Canon 60D with a Canon 24L f/1.4 lens and shot 7 images in a vertical position. I leveled the tripod as best I could, and used reference points along the river to make sure each successive shot would overlap the last by about 25%. Camera settings were Manual, f/11, 1/250 sec @ ISO 200 with highlight priority turned on. I also used a remote shutter release with mirror lockup enabled to keep movement to a minimum and ensure the sharpest and cleanest image possible. No filters or multiple exposures used. (No bias here, just didn’t think about either at the time.) I especially dislike polarizers when shooting a panorama because of the inconsistent look you’ll wind up with as you change your angle to the sun – given the effect is most pronounced at 90° and least effective at 0° or 180° from the sun.

Notice the focus point in the foreground, which is about 12′ from the camera – @ 24mm, f/11 gives me a hyperfocal distance of about 9′, so I approximated the distance and focused there. This brings everything into focus from 5′ to infinity, plenty for this image. I used manual focusing to avoid any anything changing between the 7 images.

Post-Processing

I processed the 7 images in Lightroom, making slight brightness adjustments to each so that they would match up better when merged in Photoshop. Lightroom has a great feature which allows you to select several images,then export them directly to Photoshop for merging into a Panorama. (Control-click on a group of selected images, then select “Merge to Panorama in Photoshop” from the menu).

Once the process is complete, I flattened all of the layers in Photoshop, then saved the new panorama to Lightroom. I don’t crop in Photoshops because I would rather use the non-destructive cropping in Ligtroom instead. This allows me to experiment with different crops and sizes. Finally I added a graduated filter in LR to control the highlights (and sun) in the upper left, and added some subtle dodging to some of the foreground rocks.

The resultant image is the equivalent of 32 megapixels, enough to make a print 54″ wide a native resolution of 180ppi. I could probably go much larger using Alien Skin Blowup (my favorite plugin for re-sizing images).

Lightroom Print module showing native resolution and size.

Summary

The important points I wanted to share here are:

• become intimately familiar with your favorite landscape locations
• be aware of light at all times
• use a tripod
• don’t use a circular polarizer for panoramas
• patience is your best ally, time is your best investment
• think about what inspires you to make photographs

Finally, why this image and why does it work for me? The lighting was the critical element since it had to be made in winter, yet I didn’t want it to be a “winter” image. The calmness and clarity of the water, together with the overall mood of the image is what I wanted to capture –  that helps convey what I felt, and often feel about the Hudson Valley. It shows how I view the world, how it inspires me to appreciate the very basic and simple things in life, and most importantly how I want to share that with others.

Thanks again for your questions, and please feel free to leave any other questions or comments below.