Tonight I feel a bit like a mad scientist.  For some unknown reason I got an itch to try something totally new in Lightroom and Photoshop.  I made this image of bison grazing in the meadow at Mormon Row in the Tetons while there a couple weeks ago.  Straight out of the camera the image wasn’t terribly exciting but I felt it had potential.  Those of you who are familiar with my work know that my images are generally pretty straightforward.  I don’t apply creative effects and I process the images to look more or less like the scene did when I photographed it.  A little tweak of contrast here, add some saturation there, darken a sky now and again and do a little dodge and burning – voila, the final image appears.  I have nothing at all against images that have been heavily manipulated.  Photography is an art and we should feel free to create our art on our own terms.

Now, I have obviously taken some serious creative liberties with this image.  For starters, my camera doesn’t make square photos.  I used a fairly heavy digital grad filter to darken the sky with a heavy dose of clarity to give more separation in the clouds, added some global negative vibrance to mute the colors, made a curves adjustment to increase contrast, dodged the bison to make them stand out a bit more from the meadow, added a vignette and some “grain” – all in Lightroom 3.  I exported the image to Photoshop CS4 and experimented with different blurs using the gradient tool to keep the bison sharp-ish while blurring out the background.  I didn’t like the results of any of those efforts.  What to do?  Hmmm…

I decided to see what Nik Color Efex Pro 3.0 could do for the image.  I used their “Classic Soft Focus” filter first, painting on the effects only where I wanted them.  I was getting closer but something was still missing.  I tried a few other filters that didn’t work out before discovering the “Glamour Glow” filter.  A very subtle application gave me the results I was looking for, again brushed on sparingly.  I used Nik Viveza 2 to add some additional global contrast and whiten the whites.  The final step was to use Nik Sharpener Pro to sharpen only the bison.  What you see here is the final result of all that wackiness.  Total processing time: about 35 minutes.

I think one of the greatest attributes of digital photography is that it has opened up a whole new world of creativity, both in the field and in post-production.  When it doesn’t cost a penny to click the shutter most photographers are more willing to try new things, experiment with composition and stretch the boundaries of what they’re comfortable with.  Things get even more exciting in the digital darkroom with panoramic image stitching, HDR, blended exposures, an endless variety of filters and plug-ins, not to mention what is possible with nothing more than Lightroom and Photoshop.  And, if you don’t like the results of your weird science, it’s real easy to go back to square one and start all over!

What do you think?  Some have said this image is “too flat”.  Some simply don’t get it.  That’s cool.  Certainly, this is not the kind of processing that is going to appeal to everyone.  I’m just really curious to hear your comments as I really stepped out of my comfort zone with this one.  Be as harsh and critical as you dare.  I’m a big boy and I can take it.  What have you done to experiment and broaden your creative vision?  Let’s hear some ideas!

Hey folks,

In a few hours I’m headed out to Jackson Hole for two weeks of photography, hiking, camping and fun at our workshop June 10 – 13.  I won’t be active on the ol’ blog while away but I do have a post scheduled to go live next week.  Be sure to check back as it’s a good one.  Well, I think it’s a good one.  Guess I should leave it to you, my readers, to ultimately make that decision.

I’ll most likely post a short trip report here when I get home and have a chance to dig through all my images.

Until I return, may the sweet light be with you!

I don’t expect anyone to feel sorry for me.  I live in Moab.  I can be in Arches National Park in 15 minutes, Canyonlands in 45 minutes.  Indeed, life is good.  And yet, I often find myself off in LaLa Land daydreaming about places that aren’t, well…Moab.  It’s my Mom’s fault.  I inherited her wanderlust.

It leads me to wonder if all photographers have wanderlust in their hearts.  No matter how photographically awesome our hometown, are we always dreaming of life somewhere else?  Jackson, Bend, Missoula, Bishop, Taos, Bellingham…the list goes on.

In the middle of a Moab summer, with the temperature soaring, I find myself wishing we lived in Jackson or Missoula.  I’d be at the Tetons or Glacier, frolicking in wildflowers and hiking to alpine lakes.

When fall rolls around my mind wanders off to Durango, or maybe Ouray.  Yellow aspens stretch as far as the eye can see with jagged mountains towering overhead dusted in the first snow of the season.  Oh yes, I would fill memory cards daily.

If only we lived in Bishop, I’d be out photographing the Sierra’s and bouldering in the Alabama Hills.  No wait, I’d rather be in Bend.  I’d snowshoe into the Cascades every winter and photograph waterfalls in the spring.  Oh, oh, oh…Bellingham!  I could escape to the North Cascades or Mt. Rainier, where I’d backpack the Wonderland Trail and photograph The Mountain from every angle.

I lived in Phoenix for 18 years.  I moved away from the Sonoran Desert in 2002 – three years after developing a passion for photography.  How many images do you think I made of stately saguaros and rugged desert peaks during that 3 years?  Probably about a dozen.  I was too busy wandering off to the Rockies or the Cascades, or taking road trips to anywhere else.  I didn’t realize just how good I had it there in Phoenix.  The Superstitions and Picacho Peak were so close I could shoot sunset and be back home in time for dinner.  But no, I’d spend all my time at home dreaming of fabulous trips to non-Phoenix locations instead of taking advantage of all the amazing-ness that surrounded me. 

And now, I’m here in Moab.  Canyon Country.  Two national parks, a state park and over 2 million acres of wild and rugged BLM land all waiting to be explored literally right outside my door.  World class?  You bet.  I do still daydream and I do road trip elsewhere at every given opportunity.  However, I don’t take for granted that I live in Moab.  I get out regularly and when I detect that I’m getting bored, I start seeking out local places you don’t find in the tourist brochures.

What’s the moral here?  I’m really not certain.  I guess if there is one, it’s that no matter where you live, there will always be some place cooler.  And, if we keep our minds open we can always find and photograph the beauty that surrounds us.  We just need to look for it.