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CRAFT&  VISION LANDSCAPES IN THE DIGITAL DARKROOM MICHAEL FRYE LIGHT & LAND

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LANDSCAPES IN THE DIG ITAL DARKROOM

MICHAEL FRY

LIGHT& LAND

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The digital darkroom gives us tremendous control over our images. We can make them

lighter, darker, add contrast, change the colour balance, increase saturation, turn a colour

photograph into black and white, remove telephone poles, blend exposures with HDR,

combine ten images to capture innite depth of eld, or put a winged elephant in the sky.

But what do we do with all these choices? I think the guiding force should be your original

vision. What inspired you to press the shutter? What were you trying to convey? Every

decision you make should be guided by that primary idea, and by the feeling you’re trying

to convey. Communicating the drama of a stormy sky requires a different approach, and

different settings, than portraying the delicate beauty of a ower. Or, as Ansel said, your

“performance” in the digital darkroom should convey your “emotional and aesthetic ideas”

at the time you made the exposure.

A good musical performance needs the right tempo—not too fast, not too slow. It has to

have contrast—high notes and low ones, quiet interludes and boisterous passages—but

with smooth transitions. When the musician nds the right balance the audience feels it.

Photographs also need balance—enough saturation to bring an image to life, but not make

it harsh or garish; dodging and burning that draws the eyes to the right places, but not in

an obvious way; a colour temperature that enhances both warm and cool hues. When thephotographer nds the right balance, the viewer senses it.

INTRODUCTIONPERFORMING THE SCORE

“ I t h i n k o f t h e n e g at i ve a s t h e ‘ s co r e , ’ a n d t h ep r i n t a s a ‘ p e r f o r m a n c e’ o f t h a t s co r e , w h i c h

conveys the emot i ona l and aes thet i c i deas o f thephotographer a t the t ime o f mak ing the exposure . ”

  – Ansel Adams, 1983

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In this book I’ll take you step-by-step through each decision as I process ve different

images in Adobe Photoshop Lightroom. You’ll see my workow in action, and I’ll explain

why I use particular techniques in a particular order. But more importantly, you’ll come

to understand the aesthetic judgements behind each decision—how a certain amount of

contrast conveyed my vision, or why too much saturation muddied the colour rather than

enhanced it. As you look over my shoulder you’ll gain insights about how to convey your

own unique vision, and how to squeeze every ounce of beauty, emotion, and inspiratio

out of your photographs.

While I use Lightroom for these examples, the basic principles apply to any softwar

Learning how to make good decisions and nd the right balance is more important t

learning any particular tool or technique.

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A photograph is a photograph. Most of the techniques and aesthetic principles that ap

to other subjects apply to landscape photographs as well. But in some other photograpgenres the photographer is often concerned with only one subject. Landscape

photography frequently requires blending many different ingredients in a harmonious w

HIGHLIGHT & SHADOW DETAIL

In attempting to meld those elements together, landscape photographers often want to

show both highlight and shadow detail, even in scenes with extreme contrast. HDR an

other methods of blending exposures have made it possible to capture both highlight a

shadow detail in almost any situation.

These blending techniques are sometimes essential, but remember that contrast is go

Without contrast, photographs look at. Just because you can keep detail in the darkes

shadows doesn’t mean you should. Lightening something draws attention to it. Before

going to great lengths to preserve shadow detail, ask yourself whether those dark area

really deserve more notice. Are there more interesting things that viewers should be

looking at? Maybe those dark areas should stay black, or show just a hint of detail.

Or maybe only key areas should be lightened. Instead of automatically launching your

favourite exposure-blending software, try directing the viewer’s eyes by selectively

lightening and or darkening specic areas. I have yet to meet a photograph that couldn

benet from some dodging and burning.

LANDSCAPECONSIDERATION

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BLACK POINTS

& WHITE POINTS

How much of an image should be pure

black? How much pure white? This is a key

aesthetic decision for every photograph.

First, remember that every image is

different. You shouldn’t automatically make

ve percent of every photograph pure blackany more than you would automatically

place every horizon a third of the way from

the top of the frame.

Second, ask yourself whether anything in

the image would look black or white in real

life. If not, then we shouldn’t see black or

white in your photograph.

Third, and foremost, consider the feeling

you’re trying to convey. Landscape

photography is all about communicating

the mood of a particular place at a particulartime. Deep blacks and bright whites give

an image power and drama. A more limited

range of tones, with no pure blacks or

whites, may help convey serenity and calm.

Be careful, however, about creating large

regions of blank white in your photographs.

You never see washed-out highlights in

nature except when looking at the sun, or

the sun reecting off water, and it looks

unnatural to see them in a photograph.

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Should you process each image the same way, following the same steps in the same

order, or should you approach every photograph differently?

Yes. In other words, I think it’s helpful to apply a similar sequence of steps with most

images—that way you don’t forget something important, and you develop a certainefciency. But remember that every image is different, and you may need to change yo

approach to t a particular photograph’s unique aesthetic demands.

With Lightroom, or other non-destructive editors like Adobe Camera Raw, Aperture, or

Nikon Capture, the sequence of steps isn’t critical. When you make a change, you’re ju

writing a set of instructions about how you want the image to look, and those instructio

are only applied when and if you export the photograph. So you can start anywhere, ju

back and forth between different tools, and still end up in the right place.

But I think you’ll get to the right place faster, with less frustration, if you do some things

before others. It seems logical, for example, to make adjustments that affect the whole

image before worrying about small, local areas. I prefer to start with basic cleanup, like

cropping and removing dust spots; move to overall decisions about white balance, ton

(brightness, contrast) and saturation; then nish with local changes like dodging, burni

and tweaking individual colours. Here’s my typical workow in Lightroom:

- Crop

- Clone dust spots

- Set the prole

- Set white balance

- Optional: convert to black and white

- Recover highlight or shadow detail, if necessary, with the Recovery and Fill Light tool

- Make overall tonal adjustments with the Point Curve

- Adjust overall clarity, vibrance, and saturation with the Presence panel

- Tweak individual colours with the HSL panel

- Make local corrections (mostly dodging and burning) with the Adjustment Brush

- If necessary, ne-tune settings in the Detail and Vignettes panels

 WORKFLOW 

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 TOOLS

In a book this size it’s impossible to describe every nuance and keyboard shortcut in

Lightroom. For more detail about Lightroom’s Develop Module, I recommend reading David

duChemin’s Vision & Voice: Rening Your Vision in Adobe Photoshop Lightroom . For a

comprehensive look at all of Lightroom’s features I’d suggest looking at Martin Evening’s

The Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 3 Book , or D65’s Lightroom Workbook by Seth Resnick

and Jamie Spritzer.

This book has a different focus: to help you use the most important tools well, learn to

make good decisions about how your photographs should look, and produce a nished

image that captures the emotion and beauty that you envisioned

CURVES

There is one essential tool that needs some discussion here: Curves. Curves are the

single most powerful tool in the digital darkroom. Now that Lightroom 3 has a real point

curve, I use it for all global tonal adjustments: setting a black point and white point as well

as controlling contrast and brightness. There’s nothing wrong with the Exposure, Blacks,

Brightness, or Contrast sliders, but Curves can duplicate all their functions and more, in

one place, without switching back and forth between tools, and without the risk of one tool

working at cross-purposes with another.

Curves intimidate or confuse many people, but they’re actually quite simple to use. We’ll

start with some basics:

First, in the Tone Curve panel in Lightroom 3, click on the Point

Curve icon in the lower right corner (A). The lower-left end of

the curve is the black point: pushing it to the right increases

blacks (B). Make sure you keep the black point anchored to

the bottom of the Curves box; it shouldn’t be along the side of

the box or oating out in space, as this will change the output

levels and turn blacks to grey. Click on the left-hand triangle

in the histogram to see exactly what parts of the image have

become pure black.

The upper-right end of the curve sets the white point: pushing

it to the left increases whites (C). Again, make sure you keep

this point anchored to the top of the Curves box so you don’t

change the output levels. Click on the right-hand triangle in the

histogram to see exactly what parts of the image have become pure white.

Click anywhere al

the curve to add y

own point. Pushin

point up or to the

lightens that area

while moving it do

or to the right dark

it (E - following p

To remove a poin

drag it off the left

right edge of the b

The steeper the li

of the curve, the m

contrast; the shall

the line of the curv

the less contrast.

Moving the black

to the right, the w

point to the left, o

both, increases ov

contrast by makin

whole line steepe

(F - following page

After setting the b

point and white po

for 95 percent of m

images I make an

S-curve. This mea

placing two more

points: one about

of the way up, the

other about 3/4 of

way up. Then I mo

the 1/4 point down

and to the right, a

the 3/4 point up ato the left. This ma

the middle part of

curve steeper, but

the top and bottom

shallower, increas

the contrast in the

A

B

D

C

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midtones, while decreasing

it in the highlights and

shadows.

This resembles lm

curves. Film manufacturers

discovered long ago that

most images look better

with more contrast in the

middle values and less in

the extremes. The sameidea works for digital

images—except that we

have more control, as we

can tailor the shape of the

curve to t each individual

photograph.

You can adjust contrast

with the shape of the curve:

a shallow S-curve adds

a little contrast (G), while

a sharp S-curve adds a

lot of contrast (H). If you

move both the 1/4 point

and the 3/4 point about the

same distance from the

centre line, you’ll increase

contrast while keeping

the overall brightness the

same. To lighten the image

while also adding contrast,

use a lightening S-curve:

anchor the 1/4 point near its

original location, but push

the 3/4 point up and to the

left (I). To darken the image

while also adding contrast,use a darkening S-curve:

anchor the 3/4 point near its

original location, but pull the

1/4 point down and to the

right (J).

With just four points on a

curve—the black point, the

white point, a point about

1/4 of the way up, and a

point about 3/4 of the way

up—you can control how

much of the image is pure

black, how much is pure

white, the overall contrast,

and the overall brightness.

The most importantimage adjustments can

be accomplished with this

one tool, and with a little

practice, using Curves

becomes easy

and intuitive.

Some books advocate

placing many points

on a curve to lighten or

darken specic areas of

the image. I think these

local adjustments are

better suited to dodging

and burning tools like

Lightroom’s Adjustment

Brush, and a simple

S-curve is preferable for

controlling the overall

tonality.

If you’re using Lightroom

2, you can set a black

point with the Blacks

slider, a white point with

the Exposure slider (it’s

not exactly the same,but close), and make an

S-curve by moving the

Lights and Darks sliders

underneath the Parametric

Curve.

H

J

I

E

G

F

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DEFAULT SETTINGS

The default settings in Lightroom and Camera Raw include

+50 Brightness, +25 Contrast, and what Adobe calls a

“Medium Contrast” point curve (other Raw processors also

usually add contrast and brightness by default). The Medium

Contrast point curve makes a darkening S-curve, which, as

we’ve already seen, increases contrast and darkens the

image (A).

The default Brightness and Contrast settings also add curves.

These may not show up in the Tone Curves panel, but they

affect the image just as a curve would. Setting the Brightness

at +50 is like taking a point in the middle of the curve and

pushing it up and to the left (B). This lightens the midtones and

boosts contrast in the darker areas, but reduces contrast in the

mid-to-upper ranges of the image—something I’d rather avoid.

Putting Contrast at +25 makes an S-curve (C)—not a bad

thing, but something that’s easily duplicated, with ner control,

by using the Point Curve .

Aside from the specic effects of these default settings, I’d

rather not use multiple curves and risk one counteracting

another with potentially adverse effects on the image. I need just one curve to do everything necessary for most images,

so I begin processing each photograph with both Brightness

and Contrast set to zero, and the Point Curve set to Linear.

For good measure, I set Blacks at zero too, since this slider

duplicates the black point in the curve.

Here are three different versions of a photograph made along

the Merced River west of Yosemite National Park. The rst

shows the image with Lightroom’s default settings (D); the

second, my typical starting point, with Blacks, Brightness, and

Contrast at zero and the Point Curve set to Linear (E - following

page); the third, the photograph after adding my own curve

(F - following page).

With this image, the default settings—especially the Brightness

at +50—create washed-out colours. Keeping everything

“zeroed” makes a better starting point from which to add my

own S-curve and show the colour and contrast the image

needs.

A

B

C

D

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FE

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FINDING DIRECTION

Ultimately it doesn’t matter whether you prefer using Curves or some other tool, what

default settings you start with, or even what software you use. The goal is to make the

image communicate something, and there are many ways to accomplish that. Knowing

what you want to say is more important than using a particular procedure.

In the following examples you’ll see the unprocessed Raw le rst, and the nishedimage only at the end of that section. Rather than seeing my interpretation for that

photograph initially, you’ll learn more if you look at the at, lifeless original, evaluate

potential, and nd a direction. How would you process it? Would you make it lighter,

darker, add contrast? What feeling would you try to convey, and what tools would allo

you to do that? Trying to answer these questions at the beginning will increase your

understanding of the whole process.

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EVALUATION

This was the most incredible display of owers I had ever seen. Yellow hillside daisies,

orange San Joaquin blazing stars, and purple phacelia grew in pure stands, often an acreor more in size. It looked like someone had dumped buckets of paint over the hills. I only

had one afternoon and morning to photograph this amazing place, but as I was reluctantly

walking back to my car, headed to an unbreakable commitment, I found this composition

and made my favourite photographs of the trip.

Of course, this image may not look like much here. You’re seeing the unprocessed Raw le

with my default settings in Lightroom, including Contrast and Brightness set at 0, and the

Tone Curve straight (A). With no added contrast the image looks rather

at. I’ve become used to evaluating photographs with these settings,

and I can see the possibilities in sometimes dull-looking les. Before we

go any further, look at this image and see if you can nd its potential.

How would you process it? More importantly, what kind of feeling would

you try to convey, and what tools would you use to do that?

For me, I want to show the incredible colours, and convey something

about the wonder and awe that I felt in this place. Highlighting these

colours will require increasing the contrast and saturation, but not

beyond believability. I want viewers to marvel at the abundance of

owers, not conduct an internal debate about the photograph’s realism.

PHOTOSHOP OR LIGHTROOM?

Before going any further I need to decide whether this image will

require Photoshop, or whether I can do everything in Lightroom.

Lightroom has become a powerful tool (as have other Raw processors

like Adobe Camera Raw, Aperture, and Nikon Capture), more thancapable of handling everything that most images need. But I still use

Photoshop for a few things, like:

- Perspective cropping

- Serious retouching

- Complex selections

ONE PAINTED HILLS IN

THE TEMBLOR RANGE,CALIFORNIA

- Combining two or more images

(composites, expanding contrast range,

expanding depth of eld, panoramas)A

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The only item on the list that might apply to this image is “serious retouching.” When

composing this photograph I left a little extra room at the bottom and top. I knew I didn’t

want the sky in the frame—it was too bright and distracting—but cropping it out in the

camera might also have sliced off some of the yellow owers near the top. Keeping that

extra space left me the option of cloning out the sky if necessary. So before deciding

whether to use Photoshop I need to see if the top can be trimmed without losing anything

vital.

With the Crop Overlay tool (press the R key) in

Lightroom I bring down the top edge just enough to

eliminate the sky, and pull up the bottom edge to getrid of the dirt patch in the lower-left corner, then hit

Enter to see the result (B). Much better—no more

distractions along the edges, and the yellow patch

near the top is still intact. I won’t need Photoshop

after all.

Having made that decision, I can now use my

typical Lightroom workow that I outlined on page 6.

Since I’ve already cropped, the next step is cloning

dust spots, a routine matter with Lightroom’s Spot

Removal tool (I discuss this tool in more depth with

Example 4, page 26).

PROFILE & WHITE BALANCE

Now it’s time to look at the big picture. Before increasing contrast and saturation I rst

need to choose a prole in the Camera Calibration panel. In this case I decide to keep my

standard prole for this camera (Canon 1Ds Mark II), ACR 4.4. The other choices either

create undesirable colour shifts or make little difference. (I discuss proles in more detail

with the fourth example, on pages 26 and 27.)

Next, I evaluate the white balance. This is a vital aesthetic decision; a small change can

make a profound difference in the look and feeling of an image.

To make my eld workow easier I usually leave the camera set to automatic white

balance. But this means that I always need to look at the white balance later, in software.Here the camera chose 5000K. Just looking at this number tells me that the white balance

is probably close, as there’s a small patch of sun in the photo, and any image with sunlight,

or even sunset colours, should usually be around 5000K to 5500K—just like slide lm.

But I’m still going to move the Temp slider in Lightroom to see if a different white balance

might look better. In this case pushing that slider left to 4474K makes the image too blue

(C): it feels cool and aloof, and this photograph needs to be warm and happy. Pushing

slider to the right, to 5505K, certainly makes the image warmer, but to my eye, too war

turning the greens and purples muddy (D). Part of this photograph’s power comes from

colour contrast; the juxtaposition of the cool greens and purples against the warm yello

and oranges creates a visual vibration. If the greens and purples become yellowish, th

everything is warm, and there’s no contrast. So I decide to leave the white balance at

5000K (E).

POINT CURVE

Next comes the overall tonality. Before getting to the Point Curve I’ll look at the Recovery

and Fill Light tools. These actually do things that the Point Curve can’t, so it’s worth chec

to see if they might help. But in this case neither tool is necessary; the histogram shows

clipping, and viewing the image itself I nd no problems with highlight or shadow detail.

So on to the curve. As I explained earlier, I start with Brightness, Contrast, and Blacks

0, and the Point Curve set to Linear. Then I click on the Point Curve icon on the lower

corner of the Tone Curve panel. The rst decision is about black and white points. Sinc

there’s nothing pushed up against either end of the histogram—nothing already pure wor black—I have room to move the black and white points without washing out highligh

blackening shadows.

But I don’t want to go too far. Looking at this image, there’s nothing that I would perceiv

as black or white in real life. And while I want more contrast, a ower photograph shou

feel harsh.

B

C D E

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So I slide the black point (the lower-left end of the curve) to the right, making sure to keep it

along the bottom edge of the box, and push it far enough to give the shadows some depth,

but not enough to make them pure black.

For this image, a similar procedure works for the white point—sliding it to the left, but not

too much, being sure to keep the point along the top edge of the box to avoid changing the

output levels.

Here’s the resulting image, curve, and histogram (F). The steeper the line of the curve,

the more contrast. Moving the end points has made the whole line steeper, increasing

contrast.

The image already look livelier, but it’s not there yet. I press J to show highlight and

shadow clipping, and push both the black and white points as far as they can go without

actually losing detail at either end. This creates more contrast, but even though there’s

nothing pure white or black, the image seems rather harsh, and the brightest yellows, just

left of centre, look hot (G).

So I’ll try another approach. Instead of moving the black and white points closer together,

I’ll make an S-curve.

With this photograph I make a lightening S-curve—that is, I move the 1/4 point only slightly

down and to the right, but push the 3/4 point up and to the left quite a bit, so the whole

middle part of the curve is shifted upward. This makes the midtones lighter overall as well

as increasing the contrast. The result is brighter and livelier than what could be achieved

by only moving the black and white points; there’s good contrast, but the shadows are

more open. This ts the mood of the image better (H).

When adjusting contrast it can be difcult to nd the right balance. You want enough to

give the image snap and punch, but not so much that it starts to look harsh or garish. F

comparison, here are two more versions, the rst with a gentler S-curve and less contr

(I), the second with a sharper S-curve and more contrast (J). To me the middle version

is about right, but these things are always subjective.

CLARITY & SATURATION

There’s one more control for tweaking the overall contrast: Clarity. This tool boosts the

midtone contrast, and can add a lot of snap to a photograph. But I use it sparingly, as

make an image look too crispy. This is a ower photograph—it should feel a bit soft. B

add a little Clarity, going from my default starting point of +10 to +22.

H I J

F G

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You might have noticed that the S-curve increased saturation as well as contrast. That’s

one reason why I usually adjust tonality—brightness and contrast—before saturation. In

this case I think the overall saturation now looks about right, so I leave the Saturation and

Vibrance sliders at 0. As a comparison, here are three versions with the Saturation at 0 (K),

-15 (L), and +15 (M).

While the overall saturation looks good,I’d like to make the oranges and purples a

little stronger. In the HSL panel I push the

Orange saturation slider up to +24, and

the Purple slider up to +22. The change

is slight, but enough to help those colours

hold up against the bright yellows (N).

The last two adjustments—a slight increase

in Clarity, plus boosting the orange and

purple saturation—make only subtle

differences. But the cumulative effects of

such small changes can add to the beauty

of the nal print.

DODGING & BURNING

The image is nearing completion. The main task left is dodging and burning. At this po

I ask myself two questions. First, do any bright spots draw too much attention? Second

does something dark need to pull the eyes more?

To answer the rst question, the sun was striking a spot just left of centre. This bright

triangle bleeds off the left side of the photograph, pulling the eyes out of the frame.

I click on the Adjustment Brush tool and move the Exposure slider to the left. The amo

doesn’t matter, as it can be tweaked later, but I’ll start with -0.51—about half a stop. Usfairly large, soft-edged brush (Size 7.0, Feather 100, Flow 100, Auto Mask off, Density

I paint over the triangle. The result is a little too dark, so I push the Exposure slider bac

to -0.34 (O).

To answer the second question, the other two yellow patches near the top and bottom

didn’t receive any sunlight, and deserve to draw a little more attention. So with the

Adjustment Brush still activated I click on New, push the Exposure slider to the right, a

paint over the bottom yellow patch (P), then repeat the procedure with the top patch (Q

K L M

N

O P Q

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FINAL STEPS

The image is essentially done. I don’ttypically add much vignetting—if there are

bright spots that draw the eyes out of the

frame, I usually use the Adjustment Brush

to darken those specic areas rather than

use an overall vignette. Since I already did

that with the triangle

on the left edge, I

keep the vignetting

at my standard

settings (S).

There is little noise

(this was capturedat 100 ISO) so I

leave Lightroom’s noise reduction

tools at their default settings.

Every digital image needs sharpening.

The ne detail in landscape images is best

preserved by keeping the Amount high and

the Radius low. With my Canon 1Ds Mark

II, I usually start

with an Amount

of 60 and the

lowest Radius

possible, 0.5 (T).

The Detail and Masking sliders control

what parts of the image get sharpened. The

idea is to sharpen edges, but not sharpensmooth areas like sky or water, where the

sharpening would only emphasize noise.

Unfortunately using either of these controls

can leave textured areas like rocks or tree

bark unsharpened and soft, so I usually

leave these tools off—that is, I keep Detail

at 100 and Masking a 0. This sharpens

everything evenly.

(Note: sharpening settings can vary greatly

with different camera models. Also, I nd

that images processed with the new engine

in Lightroom 3 need more sharpening than

in Lightroom 2.)

With this image I’ll keep my standard

settings and adjust them later when I know

the size and resolution of the nal print.

Here’s a side-by-side comparison of the

original Raw le and the nal image (U)

(V). Quite a difference! The hardest part

of processing this photograph was simply

nding the right balance—adding enough

contrast and saturation to bring it to life and

capture the wonder of this place, without

going too far and making the image lookharsh, fake, or garish.

Of course some people might think

I’ve gone too far, or not far enough.

Photography is always subjective. But

to me this captures what I saw and felt.

The three yellow focal points are now in

better balance, and draw the eyes nicely

through the photograph from bottom to

top (R).

R

T

S

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EVALUATION

Again, this rst image shows the rather at-looking, unprocessed

Raw le (A). Before reading further, take a moment to think about the

direction you would take. How would you process this image? What

feeling would you try to convey?

This is one of my favourite sunrise spots in the Sierra Nevada high

country. On this morning a raft of speckled clouds drifted in, a great

addition to the scene. Every time I looked up from my camera I was

surprised by just how gorgeous the view was. I want the nished image

to convey some of the serene majesty and beauty I saw that morning.

 TWO SUNRISE,

GREENSTONE LAKE, SIERRA NEVADA

The histogram is nicely balanced, with nothing pushed up against either edge, showing

that there’s detail in the highlights and shadows. Certainly the photograph will need mo

contrast, but not too much. The feeling should be uplifting rather than dramatic. Also, w

a reection like this it helps to either darken the sky or lighten the water to bring them i

better balance and emphasize the symmetry.

CROPPING & CLONING

The horizon looks straight, but the main centres of interest—clouds, sunlit peaks, and

reections—reside in the middle of the frame, so there might be excess space on the s

that could be cropped.

With the Crop Overlay tool I bring in both the left and right sides and simply play aroun

with those edges until I’m satised. I don’t want to crop too tightly, as the image needs

feel expansive (B).

A few dust spots need to be removed; the Spot Removal tool in Heal mode takes care

these quickly. No other retouching seems necessary.

B

A

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The camera’s automatic white balance chose 7500K, which seems like a high number for

a sunrise photograph. Usually images with sunlight, including sunrises and sunsets, lookbest around at 5000 to 5500K, equivalent to slide lm. But to my eye 7500K looks about

right. I try pushing the Temp slider to the left, but going too far immediately makes the

image seem too cold. I settle on a slight move, to 7238K (D).

C

D

E

DARKENING THE SKY 

You have to be willing to alter your workow when the image calls for it. Usually my ne

step is to adjust the overall tonality with the Point Curve, but here I’d like to darken the

and bring it into better balance with the water before increasing the global contrast.

The Adjustment Brush seems better suited to following the crooked contours of the

ridgeline than the Graduated Filter tool. I set the Exposure to -0.51 as a starting point,

then use a big, soft-edged brush (Size 18.1, Feather 100, Flow 100, Density 100) and p

over most of the sky. As I get near the ridgeline I use the left bracket key ([) to make th

brush smaller. I keep Auto Mask off, as it sometimes creates halos around edges like tridgeline. By letting part of the brush spill over onto the ridge I can hide the transition a

avoid a tell-tale halo in the sky.

The Exposure setting of -0.51 is a bit too strong; I don’t want the sky to look darker tha

its reection in the water, something you’d never see in real life, so I back the Exposur

off to -0.34. Also, I push the Contrast slider up to +21 to bring out more denition in the

clouds (E).

PROFILE & WHITE BALANCE

In the Camera Calibration panel I look at alternatives to my standard ACR 4.4 prole. All

the other choices—Adobe Standard, for example (C)— make the sky too blue or cyan; I like

the slight magenta tint that ACR 4.4 gives the image, so I leave it at that.

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I

POINT

CURVE

Now that the sky and

water are in better

balance, it’s time to adjust

the overall tonality. First

I press J to activate the

clipping triangles in the

histogram, then push the

lower-left end of the Point

Curve (the black point) to

the right, keeping it along

the bottom of the box,

until some small areas

underneath the trees go

black (F). Even though

these spots are small, the

image already feels too

heavy, so I pull the black

point back to the left,

leaving the shadows more

open (G).

Next, I push the white

point (the upper-right

end of the curve) to

the left. A slight move

activates the clipping

warning in the brightest

snow patch, indicating

washed-out highlights.

This is something I usually

avoid—I don’t want blank

highlight areas with no

detail, as they usually look

splotchy and unnatural. SoI leave the white point in

its original position.

Next, as usual, I make an S-curve. A sharp bend makes this image look too contrasty

harsh (H), so I end up with a more gentle curve. It’s a slight lightening S-curve, bringin

the midtones up a little (I).

G

F

H

When adjusting contrast or saturation, it’s often helpful to deliberately go too far, then

off. Think of it as a pendulum. Increase the contrast or saturation until it’s obviously to

much, then decrease it until it’s obviously too little. Keep repeating this process, but s

a little less at each pass, until you nd a happy medium. If in doubt, think about the fe

you want to convey.

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CLARITY & SATURATION

Next, I push the Clarity slider up from my default setting of +10 to +18—a subtle change,

but too much makes the photograph look hard and heavy.

The gentle S-curve didn’t increase the saturation very much, so I push the Vibrance and

Saturation sliders to the right. Saturation boosts already-saturated colours while leaving

less-saturated colours almost untouched. Vibrance boosts those less-saturated colours

more. In this image Vibrance makes the blues too intense. I’m really more interested in

bringing out the warm tones. Since these are already somewhat saturated, the Saturation

slider does this well. So I end up with +7 Vibrance and +22 Saturation (J). The image isreally coming to life now.

DODGING & BURNING

Although I already used the Adjustment Brush to darken the sky, it’s worth looking at the

image again to see if there are other areas that need lightening or darkening. The sunlit

snow patches below the right-hand peak jump out at me—they’re a bit hot, and draw

attention away from more interesting things. So I click on the Adjustment Brush tool, set

the Exposure to -0.51, and choose a small, soft-edged brush. This time I select the Auto

Mask check box to conne my brush strokes to the white snow. This works perfectly, but

the Exposure setting is too much, so I back it off to -0.34 ( K).

Anything else? Yes, there are some bright areas along the edges that I’d like to darken to

help hold the viewer’s eyes in the frame (L).

 THE FINAL IMAGE

Here’s a before-and-after comparison (M) (N - following page). Does the nal image

succeed in capturing the feeling I was after? I think so, but it always helps to let a

photograph sit for a week or two, then look at it again with fresh eyes. The beauty of

Lightroom’s non-destructive editing is that it’s easy to go back and change any aspect

the image at any time.

K L

J

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 4216

EVALUATION

What potential does this image have? Take a moment to think about how you might

process it, and what you would try to convey (A).

In May, Vernal Fall is a thundering, roaring cataract, and you would get soaked by spra

if you were standing at this spot. But when I made this photograph in late July, the ow

had dwindled and the waterfall was lapping quietly against the rocks. The blurred motio

created by the slow shutter speed seemed to t this calm mood, creating a contrast in

textures between the hard rock and the soft, silky water. To me the nished photograp

needs to convey that quiet feeling, and emphasize the ethereal look of the waterfall.

The histogram is narrow and pushed to the left, indicating a low-contrast, underexpose

image. I’ll need to lighten it and increase the contrast.

But the big question is whether to leave this in colour or change it to black and white.

Sometimes I know before I press the shutter that I want the nal photograph to be in

black and white; other times I’m certain I’ll leave it in colour. But this is one of thoseimages that could work either way. There are some interesting subtle hues, but the

photograph’s effectiveness depends less on colour than on the contrast between the

light water and darker surrounding rocks. For now I’ll defer that decision and start with

some basic steps.

CROPPING

& CLONING

Although the overall framing looks

ne, I decide that I could trim the

top and left sides. There’s just a

little too much space at the top,and I want the viewer’s attention

focused on the more interesting

bottom part of the frame (B).

Cloning is a routine matter of

cleaning up a few dust spots.

 THREE VERNAL FALL IN SUMMER

YOSEMITE NATIONAL PARK

A

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PROFILE & WHITE BALANCE

My standard ACR 4.4 prole looks ne, and this choice

won’t matter as much if I convert the image to black and

white, so I stick with that.

Even if I do convert this to black and white, the white

balance can affect how the colours convert to shades

of grey. I’d like to start with a fairly neutral colour

temperature. The camera chose 6600K, which looks

a bit cool. I select the Eyedropper tool and click on thewhite water, but this changes the Tint slider from +15 to -3

and makes the image too green. So I press Command-Z

(Control-Z with Windows) to undo, then simply push the

Temp slider to the right, and settle on 7532K (C).

CONVERTING

 TO BLACK & WHITE

I can’t put off the decision any longer. The black and white conversion can have a dramatic

effect on contrast, so it’s better to do this before adjusting the curve.

Underneath the Tone Curve is the HSL/Color/B&W panel. I’ve created several Presets forthe Black & White mix. I start with one I call “Straight,” which leaves all the sliders for the

Black & White mix at zero. This looks pretty good, and convinces me that the photograph

should be in black and white (D).

My other Black & White Presets mimic the effect of coloured lters with black-and-white

lm: the “Red Filter” Preset lightens reds while darkening greens and blues, the “Blue

Filter” Preset lightens blues while darkening oranges and yellows, and so on. I usually

them all. In this case the warmer lters lighten the tan-coloured rocks, making them too

prominent. Here’s the image with the yellow (E) and red (F) “lters” for comparison. I s

on the “Straight” mix as a starting point.

But it’s only a starting point. In the B&W panel I push the Red and Orange sliders to th

left to darken the tan-coloured rocks. I want the cliff to recede visually so that the water

stands out cleanly against a dark background (G).

POINT CURVE

I move the black point far enough to make the deepest shadows dark grey, but not pur

black. I’m mindful of the soft look and feeling that I’m after, and real blacks will make

the image feel too hard. I slide the white point to the left, but not too far—I’m planning t

selectively lighten the waterfall further with the Adjustment Brush, so I need to leave so

head room (H - following page).

Next I add a slight S-curve to lighten the image and further increase the contrast. The

result leaves nothing pure white or pure black, but gives the image a rich set of charco

greys to contrast with the nearly-white water, a look that seems appropriate for this

photograph (I - following page).

C

D

F

E

G

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CLARITY 

After some experimenting I decide to set the Clarity at 0; with this image too much Clarity

counteracts the soft, ethereal feeling that I’m after.

DODGING & BURNING

As I mentioned, I’d like to selectively lighten the waterfall so that it stands out further

against the darker surrounding rocks. After clicking on the Adjustment Brush tool I set the

Exposure slider to +0.33, choose a medium-sized, soft-edged brush (Size 8.0, Feather

100, Flow 100, Density 100), and select the Auto Mask check box.

I keep the centre of the brush over the water so that the Auto Mask connes the brush

strokes to the light areas. The result was just what I was after—the waterfall really glows

(J). But now it feels like my eyes are being drawn out of the top of the frame. So I click on

Erase, make the brush size much bigger (to get a softer edge), and erase away the effect

from the top of the waterfall (K).

Now it’s time to look for distractions. Is there anything that’s too bright, that pulls my

attention away from the waterfall? Yes—the whole upper-left corner, and a small,

underwater rock at the bottom centre of the frame. In the Adjustment Brush panel, I clic

on New to add a pin, and, using a small brush, darken the underwater rock with the

Exposure set to -0.33. Next, I click on New again, and with a larger brush paint over th

upper left part of the image. I prefer a subtle effect here, so I nudge the Exposure valu

-0.17 (L - following page).

H I

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 TONING

There’s one more detail: I’d like to add a slight warm tone to the image.

In the Split Toning panel I set both Highlights and Shadows to the same values: Hue 45,

Saturation 3 (M). I’m not after a real split-tone effect here, just an overall warm tint.

 THE FINAL IMAGE

I can’t say that I envisioned the nal result from the

start. In this case I had to dive in and experiment to

nd the right path, but the nal version has the quiet

luminosity I was seeking (N) (O).

L

M N

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EVALUATION

Once again, take a look at the at, unprocessed Raw le and think

about the direction you might take. How would you process it? What

feeling would you try to convey? (A)

This is the only time I’ve seen a magenta reection in nature. Thecolour comes from a pink-owered redbud bush sitting in the sun on

the opposite bank of the river. I used a slow shutter speed, and there’s

actually nothing sharp in the photograph—the whole image consists of

blurred water. To me the photograph needs to feel soft, yet brilliant. I

think of the colour in the middle of the frame as a jewel set in the water.

FOUR REDBUD REFLECTION

ALONG THE MERCED RIVER, CALIFORNIA

The histogram is fairly narrow, so the contrast will need to be increased. There’s nothin

in the image that should be black, but some areas could be white, or close to white. I

denitely want vibrant colours.

CROPPING & CLONING

The photograph was framed carefully, and I don’t see anything that needs to be cropp

but there are lots of dust spots. Retouching images like this has made me more diligen

about cleaning my sensor!

I zoom in to 1:1, select the Spot Removal tool, and set it to Heal. Starting at the upper-left corner, I work my way systematically through the image using the Page Down key.

The trick to effective retouching, whether using the Spot Removal tool in Lightroom and

Camera Raw, or the Clone Stamp or Healing Brush tools in Photoshop, is to align your

clone-from and clone-to spots with the texture of image.

Here’s an example: I clicked on a dust spot, and Lightroom automatically chose to hea

from an area above and to the right. There’s an obvious circle caused by the mismatch

between the tones and colours of the clone-from and clone-to locations ( B). By moving

clone-from circle to the left, so that it lines up with the horizontal stripes in the water, th

retouching becomes seamless and unnoticeable (C).

PROFILE

The proles in Lightroom or Adobe Camera Raw can subtly or dramatically change the

colours of an image. Some proles create more saturated colours, some less, and the

overall colour temperature or individual hues can be altered, so I want select a prole

before making other decisions, especially about white balance and saturation. There is

A

B C

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necessarily a “correct” prole for

any camera or any image. Rather,

each prole can be thought of as

a different colour avour, and you

can choose the avour you like

best for a particular photograph.

In the Camera Calibration panel

of Lightroom and Camera Raw

you’ll nd a pull-down menu with

different proles. For my camera

(Canon 1Ds Mark II), and most

Canons, Lightroom and Camera

Raw come with eight choices.

Other camera brands will have

different proles, although with

some you may nd no choices

at all. You can also create your

own proles—I use the X-Rite

ColorChecker Passport to make

custom proles for special lighting

conditions.

My default prole, the one that

usually gives me the mostnatural, realistic colours with my

camera, is ACR 4.4 (D). But I

always check to see if another

prole might be better suited to a

particular image.

With this photograph the

differences are mostly subtle.

The “Camera Landscape” prole,

however, dramatically increases

the saturation, and shifts some

of the colours (E). As usual, this

prole exaggerates the colours

too much for my taste. But the“Camera Standard” prole adds

more contrast and denition to

the image compared to ACR 4.4,

without exaggerating the colours,

so I choose that (F).

 WHITE BALANCE

I try clicking on the white water with the Eyedropper tool to see if this will improve the co

balance. This shifts the colour temperature to 7650K, which looks too warm (G). Again,

want to retain the warm-cool colour contrast. When the colour temperature gets too yel

some of the blue notes in the water become muddy, and the image loses its vibrance. S

after a bit more experimenting I decide to leave the white balance “As Shot,” at 6300K.

POINT CURVE

As I said at the beginning of this section, there’s nothing that should be black in this

photograph. Parts of the water could be close to white, but I don’t want blank, washed-

out areas.

I start by pressing J to see highlight and shadow clipping. Next I slide the upper-right en

of the Point Curve to the left to set the white point, moving it until I start to see clipping, t

backing off slightly. Then I slide the lower-left end of the curve to the right to set the blac

point, moving it just far enough to give the shadows some weight (H - following page).

Then I make a sharp lightening S-curve. This looks better, but the image still seems a bdark and heavy (I - following page). I push the 3/4 point even more to the left, making th

midtone line of the curve almost vertical, but that clips, or washes out, some highlights

(J - following page). So I end up adding another point to the curve near the top to bring

detail back into the whites. This is a radical curve, but it creates the luminosity I’m lookin

for (K - following page).

D

E

F

G

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RECOVERY 

Even though nothing is technically washed out, some areas lack denition. So I push the

Recovery slider to the right until I see more texture in the whites (L).

SATURATION

The sharp S-curve has boosted the contrast, and with it the saturation, so I don’t think

more is necessary. I might even consider taking some out, but to me this looks about r

DODGING & BURNING

Some whites still seem too bright and lacking in texture. I select the Adjustment Brush

and start with the Exposure set to -0.51. With a moderately large, soft-edged brush I p

over the brightest patches of white, then readjust the Exposure to -0.43 (M).

H

J

I L

M

K

O

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MORE DUST REMOVAL

The radical curve has brought out some dust spots that weren’t visible before. This oftenhappens—increasing contrast makes dust spots more apparent. For this reason it might

make more sense to leave cloning until the end of the workow, but I prefer to do it early

because I nd it annoying and distracting to see those dust spots while trying to make the

image look beautiful. If more dust spots become apparent later, I just make another pass

with the Spot Removal tool to clean those up—which I do here.

 THE

FINAL IMAGE

Again, this is a big change from the original, unprocessed Raw le (N). But to me the

image conveys that bright, jewel-like appearance I was seeking (O).

shutter that I wanted the nal image to be in black and white I visualized a dramatic

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EVALUATION

This image cries out for a strong interpretation. What would you do with

it? What mood would you try to convey? (A)

I’ve spent many hours at Tunnel View in Yosemite waiting for storms

to clear. Usually I go home with nothing except memories of shivering,stamping my feet, and getting wet. But sometimes perseverance is

rewarded, as on this February afternoon when the sun broke through

and illuminated Cathedral Rocks.

Unlike the photograph of Vernal Fall, I knew before I pressed the

FIVE YOSEMITE VALLEY

AFTER A SNOWSTORM

shutter that I wanted the nal image to be in black and white. I visualized a dramatic

rendition with strong contrast, reminiscent of some of Ansel Adams’ photographs mad

from this very spot.

The histogram shows plenty of room on the left edge, but a small spike on the right,

indicating overexposed highlights. Pressing the J key shows clipping in the bright, sun

snow on top of Cathedral Rocks. These areas are small, so I should be able to rescue

them with the Recovery tool.

I envision a full range of tones in the nal image, with small areas of black and white, and

every shade of grey in between. The key word in that previous sentence is small; only tin

areas of pure black and white are necessary to create impact. Ansel Adams is known fo

high-contrast prints, but his photographs usually show only tiny areas of pure black or w

and many images have no real blacks or whites at all. His prints get their richness from t

variety and subtlety of greys, rather than heavy-handed masses of black and white.

RECOVERY 

Before doing anything else I need to make sure that I can bring back detail in those

washed-out highlights. If not, there’s no point in proceeding further. Pushing the Recov

slider up to 20 easily pulls in the highlight detail (B).

A

B

CROPPING & CLONING

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POINT CURVE & CLARITY 

After pressing the J key to show highlight and shadow clipping, I move the black point

enough to the right to make some tiny areas near Bridalveil Fall pure black (F). I leave

white point where it is—there’s no reason to throw away the highlight detail that I recove

Moving the black point has darkened the image too much overall, so I’ll need a to crea

a curve that lightens the mid-to-upper tones, while leaving the black and white points

unchanged. That means making a steep, straight line from the black point upward, the

bending the top of the curve over to meet the white point (G - following page).

The image now has small areas of black, tiny spots of white, and a balanced range of

greys in between. There’s plenty of contrast, so I only nudge the Clarity up to +22.

CROPPING & CLONING

Next, I consider cropping the image. There’s a small sunlit patch of snow along the right

edge near the top, something that could pull viewer’s attention out of the frame, but

trimming the right edge seems to truncate the rounded line on top of the Leaning Tower

(the tall, dark cliff near the right edge). So I leave that edge alone and trust that I can

darken that snow patch later with the Adjustment Brush if necessary.

A dark triangle of rock intrudes into the left edge of the frame, another potential distraction,

but cropping that out doesn’t seem to work either. This triangle acts as a visual bumper,

preventing the viewer’s eyes from bleeding off the left side of the image. In the end I decide

not to crop anything. After removing a few dust spots I’m ready for the next step.

PROFILE & WHITE BALANCE

Even though I’m planning to convert this image to black and white, proles can alter the

contrast, and the underlying colour balance can affect the black and white conversion. But

after some experimentation I decide to stick with the ACR 4.4 prole, and the “As Shot”

white balance, 5500K.

CONVERTING TO BLACK & WHITE

Before adjusting the Point Curve I need to convert the image to black and white, as thistranslation has a big effect on the overall contrast. I try each of my Presets that adjust the

Black & White Mix to imitate the effects of coloured lters with black and white lm. With

this image there’s a neat progression, with the blue “lter” providing the least contrast (C),

green a little more, yellow producing moderate contrast (D), orange a bit more than that,

and nally red creating the most contrast. Since I envision a dramatic, high-contrast nal

image, I go with the red “lter” mix (E).

C D

E

F

(J) Lightening and adding contrast to Bridalveil Fall and the surrounding area

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DODGING & BURNING

While the overall contrast now looks about right, this image needs extensive dodging and

burning to direct the viewer’s attention. The snow-covered trees along the bottom of the

frame are too bright. Bridalveil Fall is too dark—it needs to draw the eyes more. The sky

needs to be burned down to keep the viewer’s attention on more interesting things below. I

use six different pins with the Adjustment Brush, as the illustrations show:

(H) Darkening and adding contrast to the trees along the bottom(I) Bringing down the lower edge even further

(J) Lightening and adding contrast to Bridalveil Fall and the surrounding area

(K) Darkening and adding contrast to the sky and sunlit snow

(L) Lightening Half Dome

(M) Darkening some bright spots along the edges

G

H I

J

L

K

M

The cumulative effect is dramatic (N). In particular, I’ve created the illusion of a faint

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e cu u at e e ect s d a at c ( ) pa t cu a , e c eated t e us o o a a t

beam of sunlight striking Bridalveil Fall. Nature doesn’t always provide perfect lighting, so

sometimes you have to help it along!

I couldn’t get away with this much dodging and burning in colour. With colour there’s an

expectation of realism, but converting to black and white takes the image further from

reality, so we’re willing to accept tonalities we wouldn’t see in real life. To demonstrate

this, I’ve clicked on the HSL panel to change this image back to colour (O). Now the area

around Bridalveil Fall looks fake—like someone did some heavy-handed dodging. In black

and white this region seems believable.

FINAL TOUCHES

As with the image of Vernal Fall, I use the Split Toning panel

to add a slight warm tint to the image (P).

Is there anything else that needs to be xed? Yes—the

increased contrast has emphasized some small bright areas

in the sky along the right and left edges. These can easily be

trimmed, which I do with the Crop Overlay tool.

(Q) (R) This is certainly a large departure from the original Raw le, but to me the nished

photograph captures the dramatic potential of this scene. Is it realistic? Probably not. Does

it convey my “emotional and aesthetic ideas ... at the time of making the exposure?” Yes.

N O

P

Q

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Learning to express your vision with software requires trial,

error, and experience. But there is one small shortcut. While

digital tools keep changing, the aesthetics of photography

remain the same. One of the best ways to improve your digital

darkroom skills is to simply look at good prints. Galleries and

museums are full of photographs made by masters of the

craft, and they have a lot to teach us.

When viewing prints, look at the contrast. How much of the

photograph is pure white? How much pure black? Is the

print dramatic or understated? Notice the colour balance

and saturation. With black-and-white images, check for slight

colour tints.

Ansel Adams, one of the greatest landscape printmakers,

said “The difference between a very good print and a ne

print is quite subtle and difcult, if not impossible, to describe

in words. There is a feeling of satisfaction in the presence

of a ne print—and uneasiness with a print that falls short of

optimum quality.”

Learning software tools is relatively easy. Mastering the artand craft of the digital darkroom is another matter. Trust your

instincts. Find balance. Let your original inspiration guide you.

CONCLUSION

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 ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Michael Frye is a professional photograpspecializing in landscapes and nature. H

author and photographer of The PhotogrGuide to Yosemite, Yosemite Meditations

Digital Landscape Photography: In the Fo

of Ansel Adams and the Great Masters . His also featured in the book Landscape: T

World’s Top Photographers . He has writt

numerous magazine articles on the art atechnique of photography, and his image

been published in over thirty countries ar

the world, including the magazines NatioWildlife, Outdoor Photographer, American

Sunset, Texas Highways, Britain’s ProfesPhotographer , and Russia’s Foto & Video

Michael has lived either in or near Yosem

National Park since 1983, currently residoutside the park in Mariposa, California.

Michael is passionate about sharing hisknowledge of photography and helping o

express their photographic vision. Visit w

michaelfrye.com for free photo tips, tutorand photo critiques.

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Craft&Vision

Pixelated Image Communications Inc29115 RPO South Granville Post

Vancouver, BC, Canada V6J [email protected]

CraftAndVision.com

Copyright © 2010 by Michael Frye

Editor & Publisher, David duChemin

Production Editor & Manager, Corwin Hi

Copy Editor, Susannah RohloffDesign & Layout, Justin Keitch

Notice of Rights

All rights reserved. No part of this book

may be reproduced or transmitted in anyform by any means without the prior writ

permission of the publisher.

SPEND $5IMPROVE YOUR CRAFT

Craft & Vision aims to do one thing: create the best value in photographiceducation through ridiculously low-priced eBooks, available as both PDFformat or as apps for the Apple iPad. With titles by David duChemin, thebest-selling author of Within Te Frame, and photographers like DaveDelnea and Andrew S. Gibson. Always $5. Or less.

*Gear Is Good. Vision is Better. But hey, who are we kidding, y’all are still going to lust after the latest lens, so at only $5 each these bookswill allow you to have the best of both worlds. So if you like, feel free to change that to Improve Your Craft, Buy MORE Gear. Whatever.

Get the whole collection at www.CraftAndVision.com

CRAFT& VISIOGREAT PHOTOGRAPHY HAPPENS WHERE CRAFT AND VISION CON

(BUY LESS GEAR)*

LIGHT& LANDLANDSCAPES IN THE DIGITAL DARKROOM

MICHAEL FRYE