Alvord Tracks

very good bw.tones

Great work , well done ................. Best regards.

Thanks. This is an image I shot in 1999 with my 4x5. I am working on it again for a show of old and new landscape images in the spring. I have digitized it and have printed a digital negative on Pictorico Hi-Gloss for making a contact print in the darkroom. I do most of my B&W this way. In looking at this and my first few test prints from the darkrook, I think I need to work on bringing some detail to the shadows behind the two shrubs center left, maybe even the one behind the rock on lower left. I am finding them distracting. Thoughts?

Excellent work! 6

Paul, you're a lot closer to this photo than I am; I don't find the relatively deep shadows on the left to be too much.  In fact, a bit of darkness on that side may help balance the amount of dark tones on the right, and it also helps to set off the white area where the tracks are located.

As others have said, the tones are superb.  Taken as a whole, I really like the darker tones in the background, both in the sky and on the mountain, because they contrast so nicely with the foreground, and they help to guide the viewer's eye to the foreground -- my eyes don't drift up and away.

There's a lot going on in the photo -- lots of elements, lots of structure, lots of tones.  It's a pretty complex scene.  Yet in the one relatively smooth, light area in the foreground is a little set of prints (I'd guess coyote).  Because of the complexity of the scene, they may not be immediately seen, but the process of "discovering" them just makes their occurrence more special and appreciated by the viewer.  The place is silent and "empty," but a short time ago a lone animal trotted by; there's more to this place than meets the eye.

It has been a great challenge to work on this image digitally and in the darkroom. It was always difficult to print under the enlarger and it was no easier to get it the way I wanted it to look in photoshop. I think I have 20 layers. I can longer get the silver gelatin paper I originally used to print it and am stuggling to get the look I want with the paper I have....but I am close. Yes this is a comlex image and it was a complex day. I took another great image that day over ten years ago about half way acros the playa on my Mt Bike. I will be working on that one next. Alvord Wave.  Thanks for the comments and suggestions.