Pressure and Productivity

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There is nothing like facing a deadline to stimulate the creative juices. Of course, sometimes this works in reverse. Pressure also has the potential to shut me down. The alternative, then, to shut down mode is struggling with the other demon. The demon of unleashed possibilities. Suddenly, ideas come from anywhere and nowhere. The closer the time comes to "deliver the goods" the more possibilities pop into my head—all of them demanding attention—immediate attention, naturally.

I understand that this is mostly an escape mechanism. If I become immersed in a new project, how can I be expected to stay focused on meeting an approaching deadline? What a convenient excuse to postpone the less satisfying aspects of completing a job!

Most often I am able to maintain enough discipline to meet the requirements of a commitment, but it is often difficult to avoid the distractions. The deadline for the coming art show was no exception. I squeezed in work periods to finish the pieces for the show, but my heart was already in the next project.

What was demanding attention? Some things that I am not at all certain about. I don't have any fancy explanations for this exploration. Mostly, it boils down to the fact that there was a strong impulse, and I followed it. Obviously, it is quite different from what I have been doing for a very long time. Goodness, I rarely even experiment with monotones, color addict that I am. Furthermore, all my photography heroes (both famous and not so famous) inspire me with somewhat classic photography entailing a minimum of digital manipulation. Yes, I have made prodigious use of digital tricks to obscure distracting and downright ugly backgrounds in the case of equine photography. That large order completed recently included many examples of digitally altered backgrounds. Still, I have regarded those efforts, to some extent at least, as compromises.

Recently, I began looking at some old images in a completely different way. What I found myself wanting to explore was the full potential of using Photoshop techniques to strip out distractions and put the focus on what the image is about for me.  The image posted March 29 was the first piece that came out of this experiment. The resulting images are so different from my norm that I am not quite sure how I feel about them.

I enjoy honing my Photoshop skills, but I want even more to become a better photographer. In many ways, this feels like a detour. Yes, it is fed by some recurring back pain, nasty weather, and far too many health concerns at our house—all of which complicate photo shoots. Nevertheless, the real story is that the drive is there and I am going with the flow. I just get a bit nervous about being swept over the falls!

Oh, well, this is where I am and whether or not I am completely puzzled by the effort that went into all this work and end up tossing it out in a few months is beside the point. For now, this experiment pleases me, distracts me from all the nasty, nagging questions, and almost takes the place of my long hikes along the trail. It is another example of art as therapy. Besides, who knows where this exploration might be leading?

Photos to Share and Photos to Hide

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Several recent comments here, as well as posts by other bloggers, have caused me to think more about the decisions we make regarding the fate of our photographs. For me, at least, it's usually fairly simple to identify the bombs that I really don't want to be reminded of. Ever. Those are deleted during the first edit.

Then, there are the ones that may someday work—they aren't exactly singing to me, but seeing them the next time I open the folder won't send me into a fit of depression.  A few of those get processed, sometimes reworked a time or two, and sometimes shared. Periodically one of them even becomes a new favorite.

Rarely, there is a RAW file that fairly shouts, "Me. Me." When that happens the picture is usually shared in one form or another. Sometimes those get printed.

Now, if only all the pictures fell neatly into one of these three categories. Unfortunately, I end up with too many in the "What Now?" category. In this case, I find that the dialogue runs toward, "I like it. I think. But, I'm not sure why. Is it because this reminds me of something that I have previously admired? That's probably it. Mine is a lousy imitation of something good. Yeah. I hate it. I think." When that happens, I spend varying amounts of time weighing the risks of showing something that I am drawn to, but have absolutely no confidence in. (This scenario fits the photo I published on March 23.) Sometimes, I am in a what -the-heck mood. On other occasions, I cave and the photograph remains in the folder sinking further and further to the bottom of the black hole that is my old folders. Eventually, most of those images are lost and forgotten.

Lately, I have posted a great number of pictures from my "drive-by" folders. I don't prefer to shoot that way, but we seem to always be on the road these days to some appointment or the other, and the camera helps me make the trip with some degree of calm. You probably recognize the picture above as another from the series taken along Highway 58 on the way down to Bakersfield. I have become self-conscious about posting so many of these pictures taken on the fly with the G7, but this is mostly what is happening in my life at the moment.

Do you ever have discussions with yourself about whether to share a picture, or tuck it away in your "private file"?

Posey

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Yesterday was one of those days when I was in the mood to lazily lean back in my rocking chair in front of the fireplace and enjoy the rain from our comfy living room. You have the picture, right? A throw around my shoulders, Sheltie at my feet, a little reading, some music, maybe a little television, and some time spent just watching the rain fall.

Switch the music, something allegretto now, and wipe that last image. Instead, I was working on the large order for my friend and client down south. Having printed proofs a week or so ago, I have spent some time each day, for the last few days, making those final tiny tweaks to all the images. This is definitely not therapy for my back. Quite the contrary. But, it is a labor of love.

Since these are the images on my mind, I thought I would share a couple of them with you. The horse in both of these pictures is one of her stallions, Posey. As you can see by the second image, My friend loves a fanciful approach. While she is a big fan of more straightforward, representational pictures, she also gets pretty excited about a few that are made into something outside reality. Early on in my processing of the files from that shoot last April, I had been playing in Photoshop one day and had fiddled around with this textured background made from a photo taken at her place. Later, when she viewed her sideshow to make selections, I showed her both versions of this one—the "straight" one with the out-of-focus background (same background as the one above) and this version. Without a second's hesitation, she went for the more fanciful treatment. 

In a Photoshop Daze

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For the last several days, I have been a photo-processing fool. I have been steeped in Photoshop—working on files from recent shoots, the trip to Death Valley last spring, and a large order from my dear friend and client, L, at Silent Knight Farms. I see sliders and layer masks when I close my eyes.

The unexpected turns in my life that began in June, last year, put a major dent in my schedule, and I am about as far behind as a person can get. But, it's work that I enjoy. I love the experience of seeing a RAW file come to life on my screen. I enjoy the work so much that I need to pinch myself periodically as a reminder to get up and stretch my back.

The photo above is one of my favorites from SKF and the one on the left was taken in Death Valley. By the time I got home from each of those trips, I was already dreaming about returning as soon as possible. Silent Knight Farms is all about horses—gloriously beautiful animals turned out to do what they love to do: run like the wind. Death Valley is matchless—a truly awe-inspiring landscape. It is a joy to be at either place with a camera in hand. 

Caught Up In Details

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Still caught up in my details phase, I went out Monday with the 70-200mm and continued to use my lens to isolate elements of larger objects. I found focusing (no pun, intended) on close work, a wonderful way to shut out the rest of the world. The time passed quickly. It is an approach I don't often take, and I thoroughly enjoyed the exercise. 

One of my favorite aspects of the final product was the collaborative aspect that occurred during the processing phase. The Husband has a good eye and asked if I had considered going darker with one image that I was processing. That set off something in my head and I began tinkering. One thing led to another and eventually each image ended up being treated to some Photoshop love. 

I expect I will have more days of wandering around the place searching out details that interest me. With many doors having closed for me recently (at least temporarily), I am busy tapping the walls and looking for new doors.

Loving the Dodgers and Higher ISO

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A few weeks ago, Paul Lester posted about higher ISO’s and his remarks started me thinking again about my most recent gear purchase. When I bought my Canon 50D, I knew full well that I wasn’t buying the camera that offered the best high ISO performance on today’s market. However, it ended up being the camera that best suited all my needs—cost and fps also ranked high on my must-have list. Because I still try to avoid going over ISO 640 to minimize processing chores, I have yet to fully explore all the possibilities of higher IS0’s with my newest camera. But, I am growing more confident that there are occasions when it’s high ISO to the rescue.


I didn’t gain the new confidence because I buckled down to some serious testing, but, as usual for me, stumbled into the information. A few days ago, The Husband took a break for a ride and left me toiling over the steaming heap of numbers we had been wading through for tax preparation. When I was completely burned out (it didn’t take long, since I had been at it off and on through the day), I decided I also needed a break. A little time watching one of our recorded episodes of NCIS was just what I needed. I escaped to the living room, turned on the TV, hit DVR, found an episode, but then realized I wanted a glass of water. My detour to the kitchen, put me within range of the radio I had left on in there the last time I snuck in a few minutes to catch up with the baseball game. Uh, oh. Ninth inning, Dodgers down 2 to 1, two outs. Rats. Maybe worth a minute for the nail to be put in the coffin. What? Holladay missed the ball, the Dodgers are alive?! Well, NCIS can wait. This was a playoff game, after all. As I listened to Vinnie call the play-by-play, I looked out toward the back pasture and noticed that The Husband had removed Lancer’s fly mask and the gelding was exerting a little energy fretting over being left alone.

Now there were three distractions calling. The Dodgers in distress, a distracting 40 minutes or so of TV drama, a relaxing photo shoot of Lancer (because after all I have hardly any pictures of the chestnut.) ;) The Dodgers won. I mean they won my attention and they won the game, a wonderfully exciting nail-biter. It was playoffs for NLCS over NCIS all the way.


The minute the winning run crossed the plate I grabbed the 50D and headed out toward the pasture to try my luck. By then, it was getting late and to get decent shutter speed and good exposure in the few remaining moments of light, I opted for ISO 2000. The files required a little extra time for noise reduction and I could probably do a better job with a noise reducing plug-in; but, so far, I get along with Photoshop CS3. While it’s true that I wouldn’t put these photos up against those shot under better circumstances; once again, I felt good about my choice to buy the camera. Without that higher ISO I would not have gotten the photos I hoped for. Of course, I would have gotten something different and the result might have been terrific, but I could always experiment in that direction. Having choices is nice.

Rules and Regulations

This story reminds me of the ongoing conversation regarding the encroaching limitations on photographers. The number of photographers who would be affected by this particular set of regulations is small. But, it's still a scary thought. It almost makes you wonder if some day photographers could be be singing, to the the tune of Paul Simon's "Kodachrome", of course, "Mama, don't take my Photoshop away.

Flawed Workflow

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The more progress I make with this cleanup the more I realize how much is yet ahead of me. It isn’t as if I had dumped files on random hard drives with no system at all; still, I have found my system woefully wanting. Part of my problem is that I got completely shutter-happy for several months this year and my shaky system was overwhelmed. It was overwhelmed partly because the system was weak, but mostly because I got took hundreds of pictures and began rushing to the next batch of photos before I completed the workflow on the previous one.

As for my filling system, it isn’t as if I hadn’t spent hours reading articles about workflow and organization. But, not surprisingly, if you read twelve experts on organization of files you get twelve different plans for surefire solutions. At this point, I am more convinced than ever that some of this flailing about it is an inevitable part of the process. I suspect that ultimately, each of us has to establish a system that works for us. For example, I remember studying the workflow of one individual who organizes all his files almost exclusively by numbers, assigning each project a unique number. Ugh, my head hurts just thinking about it. Though I learned early on that some numbers, dates and file numbers for example, are essential, that expert’s methods would turn me into a whimpering wreck in less than a month.

My method of organizing my files is still in flux and that is the major problem. The biggest problem was procrastination. I put off the drudgery work and had fun. Am I contrite? Not really. Yes, I now face an unholy mess. But, I had a grand time creating it, and I learned a great deal. It will be a long slow process, but I am getting closer to sorting out the chaos.

And then, there’s the anxiety about some of the photos I am tossing. Believe me, in spite of my jokes about machetes and General Sherman tactics, I am proceeding somewhat cautiously. Confidence in my editing abilities has grown in the last year, but I have a ways to go in that department. I still consider myself a near-beginner at this photography thing and a hungry student.

There were some interesting comments on my last post about editing old files and I noted the anxiety others face when deleting old photos. I would love to hear some ideas on workflow systems.

Art Show Mode

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I am still in Art Show mode and, because of the images I am working on, I can only see horses, as you can tell by the picture above. Because the equine part of the show in May got the most attention, I have added only new work that capitalizes on that interest. The new work for the June 5th show consists mostly of stylized pieces such as the one here, and most of them involved considerable Photoshop work. Once again, I enjoy that part of the job, so it hasn’t been drudgery. Still, I have my days when I think that I am tired of the monitor screen, don’t want to touch the mouse, and just want to take new photographs. As you might guess, the start of my SoFoBoMo project is still at least a week away and I am getting a little antsy about that. Finally, I am in the midst of framing for the show with ninety percent of the printing done, but I won’t wrap this up for a few more days.

When I am doing this much processing, it seems I slip almost completely into a non-verbal mode. Anyone who visits this blog frequently knows that most of the time I can happily chatter on almost endlessly about almost nothing. But, when I am working on certain types of pictures, I tend to sink down into another kind of being and there aren’t many words there. That’s where I have spent most of the last week.

Not surprisingly, preparation for this show has been a learning experience. The learning is in the form of a reminder. Some of the new pieces were worked on months ago (years in some cases), but were never printed; and, while the files looked fine to me on the screen, test prints proved that they were not quite ready for prime time, after all. It is amazing, isn’t it, how great the distance between “almost good enough” to “yes, that’s what I was looking for”? Those last few tweaks go slowly for me, partly because I often need to walk away from an image for a while and come back to it with fresh eyes.

And that’s not the half of it. When I am working on a new piece, I usually have no clue where I am headed. I just know that there is the shadow of something in the photograph and I won’t be content until I have coaxed that out. And, wouldn’t it be fun if it were as simple as sprinkling some Photoshop fairy dust on the image and waiting for the new image to magically emerge? Still, the ability to transform a photograph so profoundly (even with hours of patient starting, backing up, and starting again) to ultimately produce something that touches people is almost magical to me.

I am quite aware that this talk about so much work in the digital darkroom brings up a sensitive topic for many photographers. If you are purist and don’t think photographs should be tampered with, you would run—not walk away from much of what I produce. I happen to swing back and forth between the two schools of thought. I have periods where I am only interested in photographs that required minimum processing. On the other hand, I go through phases of taking photographs to the point that many viewers aren’t certain what the origins of the image might be. Never having functioned as a photographer prior to digital, I have no allegiance to the purist school. I live there when it pleases me; when I get hungry for something else, I switch back to the fairy dust.

Norwegian Masks and Really Smart Objects

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Niels Henrikson (who lives in Canada, by the way, but often posts eloquent descriptions chronicling his visits to family in Norway) frequently produces instructive posts and his latest two are especially noteworthy. The most recent one covers some intriguing ideas for creating masks. I wanted to post a follow-up saying first, “Thanks again, Niels for the lesson”. While I don’t do a great deal of masking lately, when I do need a mask I like to have as many possible tricks up my sleeve as possible. It’s clear to me that there is no such thing as a one-size-fits-all solution to creating masks. Sometimes I have to make several false tries before I hit on the one that works in a particular instance. Niels’ tips are a welcome addition to my bag of tricks.

Secondly, I recently learned something about working with CS3 that has already proven extremely useful, and it fits nicely with Niels’ post. If you import your image from ACR as a Smart Object, you can then create a second layer as a New Smart Object via Copy. Each of these two Smart Objects then has a separate intelligence. In other words, if you double-click on the original layer to return to ACR and make changes in that Smart Object, those changes have no impact on the copy that you created. Then, when you go to the copy or second Smart Object and make new changes in ACR, no changes are produced in the lower original Smart Object. With these two Smart Objects and a mask you are in business.

While I have not been doing much processing in Photoshop lately—I do most of the work in ACR, both of these new techniques are sure to make their way into my workflow on those occasions when a photo could use a little TLC.

Addictions Come in Many Forms

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This is the sort of thing that sometimes happens when I decide to spend just a few minutes playing in Photoshop. (Really. Promise. I won't be much longer. How much time have I been doing this?! That's not possible. Are you sure?) I still say there should be a warning label on Adobe's product. "This software can be addictive for certain personalities. Side effects include lost sleep, damaged relationships, poor work habits, reduced productivity, depleted bank account, large numbers of destroyed brain cells during the learning process, and, in some cases severe dependency. Use with caution and at your own risk."