Lethe

PLEASE VIEW LARGER -- Thanks.

 

I found this when going through my files and decided it was worth working on. I have worked on a couple of versions from the same original and I think I am happy with this one now so I thought I'd share it with my friends at PN.

 

All comments are welcome.

 

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This is the outflow of Myer's Creek in Oregon, just south of Cape Sebastian (background right). This shot is from just after what would have been dawn (about 6:00 am). I had spent the night in my car at the beach after a frustrating sunset. I had tried for a number of shots at sunset and had been horribly annoyed by a badly scratched GND filter (bought a replacement in SF a couple of days later).

 

I only took a couple of casual shots in the morning and only because I was there already and had everything set up the night before. The fog was quite dense and it was very heavily overcast. I didn't think that anything had turned out from those shots; so, I am pleasantly surprised that this was lying, buried and hiding in my files.

 

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The title refers to the river Lethe in Hades in Greek mythology (whose name in English translates roughly to forgetfulness or concealment).

 

Cross that river and enter the mists.

 

See comment below.

Esta es excelente, y vista en formato grande es maravillosa.

This is by far my favorite of this batch. Very nicely composed and your processing displays a wide array of beautiful tones.This has a very nice feel and mood.

This is an extraordinary image with its clever and careful composition and the wonderful tonality. The way you captured the fog is amazing 7/7

Beautiful composition, nice tonal range. The bright, serpentine line of water in the foreground adds to the overall success...

Congratulations Ian on a truly beautiful image! Wonderful composition, great subject and excellent processing. Well done.

 

Regards,

Mike

 

Great sharpness and composition. The color tones are really nice, too.

Outstanding image.... I love the tones. Best regards.

A very, very compelling composition; and I believe that the toning suits it to a T. You have a wonderful range of tones in this too. Nicely seen; and I'm glad you went back and dug this one out and shared it with all of us. Nice work, Ian! Cheers! Chris

colors and composition is original. The curve composed on the bottom by the river make it very interesting! The fog on the beach is not common and make this picture recognizable!I love it!

Phil

Site: Philippe Albanel Photography

RSS : Flux

Very fine shot! A quite special composition, with repetive lines gives a kind of a reverse lead from right to left, after the lowest line(water) leads us into the frame, from left to right. Was initially thinking about suggesting a left crop tight to the rock, to better keep the eyes in the frame....but that might interupt the flow of the comp. As it appears now the rock is guiding my eyes out to the left....and then the eyes goes down to the start again. Did you consider a tighter crop yourself?

Regards!

Thank you to everyone for your kind words and comments.

 

Atle, I had not, personally, considered a tighter crop from the left. I had, however, considered burning in the mist there just a touch to encourage the eye to remain in the frame. In fact I have done this just a bit already. The similar burning is more noticeable on the right frame edge than the left and I could slightly increase the effect on the left side to match.

 

I did have some people on another side suggest a tighter crop from the left -- but, that was on an earlier and significantly inferior version of the image. I did try a left-side crop when re-working the image into its current format and found such a crop unsatisfactory. There is a very nice, harmonious, balance here that I feel is jeopardized by tightening the crop too much.

 

In the end though, I am happy with the current image and I don't find myself drifting out of frame too badly. I will probably leave things as they are.

I just added this picture in my favorite pictures folder. I love it, so clean, so perfect.

One of my new favorite of yours. Great mood and atmosphere. A lot to like here. That foreground streak is awesome.

Absolutly fascinating!

Best regards

Gerd

 

 

 

As an Egyptology student, you should consider visiting the Egyptian Collection at the Boston Museum of Fine Arts. Our MFA has one of the best Egyptian collections in the world and it's large. Check this out:

 

http://www.mfa.org/egypt/explore_ancient_egypt/

 

Now, regarding your photo ... Compositionally, it's wonderful and has that other-worldly quality, which I love to see photographers capture. It's a stunning photo. I don't care for the toning, however. I've used it sparingly myself in the past, but now prefer the straight-up b/w. I'm curious as to why you chose to use the toning for such a beautiful composition. Good title for the photo, btw.

 

Regards,

Maria

Nice shot Ian. Beautiful soft light, a lovely variety of subtle tones, and well composed. Nice work.

All the best,

Neil

Thanks again to everyone for their comments.

 

Maria, I would love to visit the MFA Boston sometime. The Old Kingdom collection is particularly strong thanks to the material collect by Reisner. I was in Boston for a debating tournament at MIT once; but, I didn't really get to see much of the city or visit the museum.

 

As for the issue of toning, I like toning. I almost always prefer a toned "B&W" image to an un-toned one. There are a number of reasons for this.

 

1. Just a faint hint of colour can help further an emotional message that I hope to bring through my images. This image in a cold tone would have a completely different feel and elicit a completely different emotional response. Moreover, this image in a solid warm tone would start to feel overly nostalgic. I have tried carefully to evince a feeling of elegance, harmony, even grace through my choice of toning.

 

There are a few occasions where I have changed my mind on the toning of an image after posting. These are usually because I felt the toning wasn't creating the emotional response I desired.

 

2. I like split-toning in particular. I like split toning because it allows me to control the perception of contrast in the image. By selecting a contrasting split-tone like this one (cold highlights, warm shadows) I am able to accentuate the sense that the highlight areas are distinct from the shadow zones. If I had chosen a unified warm tone (or chosen a split tone with supplementary colours), it would have unified the elements of the image more.

 

3. Most viewers' monitors are not neutral -- most are bluish, some are greenish, some over-compensate and are actually too pink. By choosing a toning -- and then using it fairly strongly -- I can help assure that the image won't be viewed with an incorrect toning (i.e. it won't look cold toned when I wanted warm).

 

So, for these reasons, I view toning as an integral part of the B&W process. I almost always tone. Sometimes I tone aggressively, sometimes very subtly, but only rarely do I not tone at all. Usually I split tone, but, sometimes I use a unified tone.

 

I view toning as just another tool. But, I find it to be a VERY useful tool. In the same way that I usually use a graduated neutral density filter, I usually tone. Both are immensely useful tools and they are both infinitely variable. I can easily choose to have just a tiny bit of the effect or a lot of it. I can choose to accentuate one element or another.

 

To me, it seems a shame to waste the opportunity.

Ian, I'm arriving late to this wonderful image. For me, it's the FG stream that makes this image really sing. It is excellent without it but, with it, it excels. The toning looks great on my very well calibrated monitor (Eizo CG222W). Did you see this as B&W from the outset?

Thank you Jeff. Not only do I think that the band of water reflecting the forground make this shot; but, that little river is what made me pull over and choose this location for sunset in the first place. I had been driving down the coast looking for some sort of accessible beach with rocks out to sea and, preferably, a stream or river mouth. I felt overjoyed when I found this easily accessed beach and the beautiful little river.

 

When I found the RAW file in my folders recently, there was absolutely not doubt that it would be B&W. There is a subtle and soft pinkish hue on the horizon in the RAW. It has a certain charm. But, I found the colours flat and lifeless overall. I immediately converted to B&W and went from there. When I was showing the before and after files to my father (who greatly prefers colour) he suggested that he liked the colour and was totally flabbergasted as I had not even considered keeping the colour.

 

I also knew that some of the contrast adjustments I wanted to make would look more natural in B&W. That sounds funny but I hope you know what I mean. I guess it is partly that the long history of B&W work by people like Ansel Adams has created an acceptance of certain amounts of tonal work and stronger contrasts that would be less readily acceptable in colour (or would require much more work to naturalize). I also think that the almost white horizon would be bothersome in colour whereas it is very attractive in B&W.

 

Now, when I was first choosing the composition I was thinking of a colour image -- but that initial composing happened the night before at sunset in very different (cloudless) light.

Hello, Ian. What I appreciate is that you took the time to really answer that "question" on the toning. I got what you're saying and do understand it. I guess I'm b/w purist, but who knows, one day I might branch out with more toning. I don't feel I'm missing anything, however, but it's good to know your views.

Thanks Ian for such a detailed explanation. B&W doesn't come naturally to me but it's shots like this that really inspire me to go deeper into it. As a side issue, can you suggest where I might be able to get some info and guidance on toning?

Maria, thanks for coming back to this. Its nice to know my comments were appreciated. I should add that I certainly have nothing against other photographers not toning. Its a case of chacun à son goût (to each their own taste).

 

For example, If you get the periodical Lenswork (if you don't, you should: http://www.lenswork.com/) you might have seen the recent portfolios from Mitch Dobrowner. His work is phenomenal: http://www.mitchdobrowner.com/ .

 

Now, on his own website his work is left un-toned -- straight B&W. I have also seen it published in SilverShotz in straight B&W. But, in Lenswork, everything is given the same warm duotone -- its just how the publication is printed.

 

His work is also being featured in Lenswork's new special editions programme (fine art prints at average people prices) where it will be printed in the same warm duotone as in the Lenswork publication. It is even displayed on Lenswork's website in the duotone: http://www.lenswork.com/specialeditions/lwf-012.htm

 

I think it worth having a look at both the duotone and the straight B&W and asking which you prefer aesthetically.

 

I just simply prefer the warm duotone. This isn't even a case of using the toning for any intended effect or emotional response (as I usually do) -- I just think the warm-tone makes the images feel deeper and richer and more 3-dimensional.

 

And, conversely, I find that cold-tones tend to flatten images and make them feel less 3-dimensional and more "abstracted". I therefore use cold tones conscious of that results.

 

 

Jeff,

 

For toning, I know of no truly good resource. There are some photographers whose toning I have admired. I'll try to write a short list tomorrow.

 

The only other thing I can think of really is that Brooks Jensen (editor of Lenswork) puts out a podcast on all issues photographic. It is on whatever he wants to talk about and drifts in frequency. They are all short (under 10 minutes -- most under 5). He has talked about toning on a number of occasions (i.e. why is Lenswork toned, why a warm-tone etc...) and I enjoyed the discussions.

 

I don't agree 100% with him. Most notably, I use tones for specific images rather than adoption a unified warm-tone and I believe in the power of using toning for precise image-specific purposes.

 

But, his observations on how toning is often not noticed by the general public, about how its effects can be subtle, and about the 3-D and 2-D effects of warm and cold-tones are all things I agree with.

 

It is a podcast worth subscribing to anyways -- he used to have all 400-500 back issues still available when you subscribed through iTunes (so you could find the older toning discussions). There is more information here: http://www.lenswork.com/lwpod.htm (podcast 1 -- podcast 2 is something else although still very interesting and engaging).