Large Format Landscapes

[r.e.]

I had to let my vehicle run continuously for five days straight to keep the vehicle alive, filling the pickup truck with gas every morning.

Those of us who have spent time in Manitoba/Saskatchewan/North Dakota/Minnesota have at least a passing familiarity with something called a block heater.

Guess the idea hasn't hit Alberta; must be those chinooks lulling people into complacency

[jim kitchen]

Dear r.e.,

I spent two long years in that neck of the woods, and every winter my block heater would crap out on me, once the temperature went south of minus 40 degrees Celsius.

The jaunt from the heated truck to the field office was very brisk during those intense cold spells...

Merci Richard, too.

jim k

[rdenney]

A Quiet Autumn Afternoon, Barrier Lake, Kananaskis Provincial Park, Alberta, Canada, 2009

Jim, I am assuming that you used (at the least) filtration to achieve such bright values for the aspens and such dark values for the conifers. I would love to know what techniques you use to achieve that separation. It is really striking in this photo. Surely it's more than waiting for a sunray to land just on those aspens.

Rick "curious" Denney

[Vaughn]

Rick, my guess would be an orange filter (it would have more affect on the greens than a yellow filter would). But a yellow filter is a favorite tool of mine right now. Under the redwoods, the maples (Vine and Big-leaf) are peaking and the yellow filter really make the yellow leaves snap. Soon the berries and cascara will start turning yellow also.

Vaughn

[jim kitchen]

Jim, I am assuming that you used (at the least) filtration to achieve such bright values for the aspens and such dark values for the conifers. I would love to know what techniques you use to achieve that separation. It is really striking in this photo. Surely it's more than waiting for a sunray to land just on those aspens.

Rick "curious" Denney

Dear Rick et al,

Again, thank you for your comments...

I do my "filtration" in the darkroom and I learned to transfer my darkroom filtration techniques into Photoshop, after recognizing a momentary darkroom tonal separation technique discussed by Bruce Barnbaum, Jay Dusard, and Ray McSavaney, while attending an Owens Valley Workshop or two, many years ago.

The image you discuss happened to be lighted by a thick haze covered sky, producing a softer more even light than I expected within the shadows and the background, but allowed the negative to produce a wonderfully soft image none the less. I knew that I had to apply a few darkroom techniques to raise the lighter tree's luminosity and control the pine tree's darker tonality within the foreground grouping, before I would consider printing an image. The negative's information controlled the original pine tree tonality, causing me to direct my attention to lightening the foreground trees properly, and effectively.

That said, the process happens to be a very, very tedious, and time-consuming exercise that could allow anyone to bring out specific features within their images, especially if the information you wish to display properly would normally remain dormant, or forever forgotten within the image. I process each image stage in a reiterative fashion, holding onto the original image I saw in my head prior to the negative's exposure, where each image stage is reassessed at the end of an iteration. The iterations depend upon the subject's complexity, my challenging patience, the shadow detail's luminosity I wish to display within the final image, and the tonal separation I wish to express.

Please feel free to contact me off list, where I should be able to point you in the right direction to start, and possibly supply you with a few good hints along the way. I know I could write a long winded exercise here, regarding this subject and the associated techniques that fulfill this subject, but my writing could occupy a book or two. It is however, an interesting exercise that an individual must practice to obtain consistent results.

Again, thank you for your interest...

jim k

[Rodney Polden]

............... I know I could write a long winded exercise here, regarding this subject and the associated techniques that fulfill this subject, but my writing could occupy a book or two. It is however, an interesting exercise that an individual must practice to obtain consistent results............

I would love to hear some more from you, Jim, regarding that technique, and if it needs a book or two to contain it, then here's your first buyer. Anything that you would be willing to share in the way of details would be most gratefully received. The landscapes you have given us a view of have convinced me that whatever you have to say regarding their execution would be very much worth reading. Particularly, the original technique for wet darkroom work, since I'm not that much of a Photoshop guy.

Thanks again for some luminous work.

[David Hedley]

One from yesterday - Evening clouds gather over Breithorn and Tschingelhorn;

Toyo metal field (4x5), Schneider 180mm, Ilford Delta 100 / PMK Pyro, orange filter
f/32 1/3, 1/4s

[Marko]

I would love to hear some more from you, Jim, regarding that technique, and if it needs a book or two to contain it, then here's your first buyer. Anything that you would be willing to share in the way of details would be most gratefully received. The landscapes you have given us a view of have convinced me that whatever you have to say regarding their execution would be very much worth reading. Particularly, the original technique for wet darkroom work, since I'm not that much of a Photoshop guy.

Thanks again for some luminous work.

I wholeheartedly second that. All of it.

[Rodney Polden]

One from yesterday - Evening clouds gather over Breithorn and Tschingelhorn;

Stunning mountainscape, David. The sense that is conveyed of the volume of space opening out before the viewer across to the range of peaks is so vivid that I could almost feel ice-wind in my nostrils. Well done indeed.

[jim kitchen]

Gentlemen,

Thank you for your encouragement about the book...

I would not wait for anything that I write, but I would like to direct you to an American Master Printer and image maker that taught me the method I use, and opened a door to my historical knowledge base, regarding my darkroom technique, and my eventual transfer of that technique to Photoshop.

I highly recommend this gentleman's images: http://www.barnbaum.com/Welcome.html

where Bruce certainly utilizes the method more effectively in a few of his images than I ever could,

and his text: http://www.barnbaum.com/Books_1.html

that touches upon and briefly illustrates the luminous method I used within in the darkroom, and more. This text is a valuable tool for any interested black and white printer, whether you are dedicated to a wet image in the darkroom, or interested in transferring the negative's information to the digital world.

I believe that darkroom printers might enjoy this method using Potassium Ferricyanide, and water. Once you witness the effect it could have upon a darkened image, where I must take a moment to reiterate how quickly it could damage a finished image too, you should be able to produce an effective image with a few hours of diligent practice. The method is not simple nor unique, but the method can be exquisite, when executed properly.

jim k