Wow Wow Wow! (large images)

[SeanEsopenko]

Reminds me a little of Cindy Sherman.

She was first producing work at around the same time as the new topographic show was first shown, wasn't she? I think the new topographers were trying to deny the photograph it's subject by photographing deadpan/boring subjects, which turned out to be american suburbia mostly (a stark shift from the NY street photography that was popular previously). Cindy Sherman tackles gender-politics with her work and also she questions "The American Ideal." I don't know, there's so much that can be said about deadpan/new-topographic photography and art from the 60's/70's in general.

I have a sort of uneasiness with "the american dream" and how the entire idea's been "sold" through propaganda/media-control for economic interests. White picket fence, 2.5 kids, big gas guzzler. Some people say that Calgarians (where I'm from) could be said to be living The American Dream better than Americans are, too, and I try to bring a little bit of personal identity in my work.

I also like to talk about how technology makes voyeurism easy. It was pretty easy to point the camera into these personal spaces where people leave their yards messy or organize/landscape it to their heart's content.

sorry bout the rant/free association

[bob carnie]

Sean

sorry I do not want to be a party pooper here
but the nuetral low tones are definately magenta biased to the point that the images
look like they have a green highlight magenta shadow cross curve.

reading the whites of the sky the tones seem nuetral but when you go into the greys and the blacks there is a big magenta blue cast.

is this intentional??

Bob

[Nick4u1]

I think a really good use of texture there, and I like the depth where there is use of vivid vs neutral colours.
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[SeanEsopenko]

No its not intentional. I'm working out issues with my lack of color balancing knowledge. I recognized some issues in these negatives and there is a thread on the go where I asked for advice. I've been having difficulties color balancing shadow regions and basically I've been eyeballing my balancing after the image is shot, using the color balance adjustment later.

It seems that I think I have the color balance nailed in photoshop then I come back an hour or two later and it looks off. Especially in the shadow regions.

[bob carnie]

Hi Sean

Dan Margulis Professional Photoshop has a great section on neutralizing areas of a image.
Basically by using the L info palette and setting points in areas that should be neutral, like white clouds,black areas and lets say grey concrete, using curves it is a matter of practice and you will bring the file into balance.

I would do this first before adjusting your process as there may be nothing wrong with the negs . Just a matter of curve shaping in PS to fix the balance.
This step of neutralizing colour is critial IMO before you start working on a file.


Bob

Bob

No its not intentional. I'm working out issues with my lack of color balancing knowledge. I recognized some issues in these negatives and there is a thread on the go where I asked for advice. I've been having difficulties color balancing shadow regions and basically I've been eyeballing my balancing after the image is shot, using the color balance adjustment later.

It seems that I think I have the color balance nailed in photoshop then I come back an hour or two later and it looks off. Especially in the shadow regions.

[SeanEsopenko]

Hi Sean

Dan Margulis Professional Photoshop has a great section on neutralizing areas of a image.
Basically by using the L info palette and setting points in areas that should be neutral, like white clouds,black areas and lets say grey concrete, using curves it is a matter of practice and you will bring the file into balance.

I would do this first before adjusting your process as there may be nothing wrong with the negs . Just a matter of curve shaping in PS to fix the balance.
This step of neutralizing colour is critial IMO before you start working on a file.


Bob

Bob

Hey Bob,

I just ran a calibration of my monitor. I was getting lazy and havn't run a calibration for over 2 weeks on this cheap TFT panel. I see the magenta cast you're talking about now. I really see it. Very strong. Dang.

If I go 3 days without calibrating this monitor the before & after toggle shows a very large difference in the tonal ranges. I didn't notice the colour cast change much because I haven't done much colour work. Now I know to run a calibration each time I sit down to get some work done.

I do rough colour adjustments with the colour balance layer then final tweaks with the curves on various channels. I had the colour tweaked just perfectly and it looked great on my monitor. Ran the calibration tonight and noticed the deep magenta cast you were talking about in the shadow regions. I'm going to see if I have time in the next day or two to rework the colour & I'll repost. The colour balancing issues I mentioned were brownish, muddy shadow regions when scanning Ektar 100 and Portra 400NC. Very different shadow colours compared to the now discontinued Fuji 160S (which I liked a lot, unfortunately).