Printing is a very large topic, but it doesn’t need to be a complicated one.  I keep my printing process simple because I’ve found that the fewer the steps, the fewer things there are to go wrong.  As I said in a previous blog entry: “Let me oversimplify and summarize it this way; I produce my prints with a copy of Photoshop and an Epson printer, and that’s about it.  You don’t need complicated or expensive extras to create stunning black and white prints.”

Here are my guidelines for great B&W prints:

1.    Start visualizing the print the moment you look at the camera’s preview screen.

Have you noticed how great the image always looks on that little screen?  One of the reasons it looks so good is because it uses transmitted light, or in other words the image is back-lit, and that produces an image that is very bright and contrasty.  Unfortunately a print uses reflected light and that just cannot hold a candle to that little screen.  I have to work very hard to get my print to look that good and I use preview screen image as my goal; it will not look exactly the same, but it will have that same pop and sizzle.

2.     Make sure you have true blacks and true whites.

When people come to me with the complaint of flat and dull prints, I almost always find that it’s because they do not have true blacks or whites in their image.  To know if you have a true black and a true white, you must look at the histogram because your eyes cannot judge this accurately by looking at the monitor.  There are several ways to get a true black and white, such as using Levels, the contrast control (not recommended) and by dodging and burning.  Whatever method you use, have that histogram open and let it be your guide.

3.     Contrast is what makes the image pop.

Look at the image above, it has a great deal of contrast and that’s what makes my images pop.  To increase contrast many people instinctively go for that nasty contrast control, I say nasty because it generally has nasty unintended consequences like blocking shadows and blowing out highlights.  There are other ways to improve contrast such as Levels and my favorite; Dodging and Burning. 

4.     When you get the image to look good on screen, then you have to go further still.

An image that looks good on screen with transmitted light will look flat and dull when viewed as a print with reflected light.  So once it looks good on screen, you must go further and increase your blacks, increase your whites and increase your contrast.  While you’re pushing the image further, your instinct will be to stop because the image can start to look artificial, but with time and experience you’ll come to know how far you need to go and how far you should go.

5.    Don’t Search for the “Perfect Paper.”

There are thousands of paper choices these days and you shouldn’t get hung up on finding the “perfect” paper, there’s no such thing!  There are many great papers and you simply need to find one that is suited to your work.  I use either Hahnemuehle Photo Rag 308 which is a matte paper or Epson Exhibition Fiber which reminds many of an air-dried “F” surface, reminiscent of the darkroom days.  I find that these two papers work for 99% of my work.

Why choose a matte or a glossy?  A lot of it has to do with your personal preferences and the vision you have for the image.  The Hahnemuehle is a “fine art paper” that has a nice texture and works well with most of my images.  I use the Epson Exhibition Fiber for prints when I want a more “traditional” look and when I want a bit more pop from the blacks.  Glossy/semi-gloss papers will always give you better blacks than matte papers, but the differences between the two are minimized when they are put under glass.

6.    Spend good money and get a good printer.

Unfortunately this is an area where you must spend some good money to get a good print.  General purpose home or office printers just cannot produce a great black and white print.  I love the Epson printers and their K3 inks, but the other big names produce nice work too.

I am often asked about special inksets and profiles and RIP’s.  I don’t use them, I find the Epson ink and “Advanced Black and White Mode” gives me everything I need and it keeps my workflow simple.

7.     Avoid the extras.

I know that people swear by such things as profilers, calibrators, b&w converters, plug-ins and RIP’s, but from my experience they only add a little bit to the image and they really complicate the workflow.  Another danger of using these extras is that you can lose sight of your objective and get caught up in the process.  So my advice is; put those extras away until you can produce a great print using the basics, and then you might consider getting them out again (but I’m guessing you won’t!).

8.     Look at the print the next morning.

Sometimes you can stare at a print for so long that you get a distorted view of it, so leave it for the morning and look at it with fresh eyes.  You’ll often find that you’ll want to tweek it again.  Fresh eyes are always good.

Producing a great print doesn’t have to be complicated, in fact “complicated” just gets in the way of a great print.  Keep it simple, standardize your workflow and become very good at the basics and you’ll soon have a procedure that produces great prints and is reproducible.

Cole

I often receive requests to show some “before and after” images to help people understand how much of my work is done in camera and how much is done in Photoshop.  I’d say it’s generally about 50/50 but that can vary by image with some images almost ready right out of the camera and many requiring extensive processing in Photoshop.

Lone Man No. 20 is a good example of a 50/50 image.  As you can see, the image I started with and the final image are both quite similar and yet quite different.  The original shot has all of the important elements; the composition, the long exposure of the water, the clouds and the lone man, but it doesn’t have the dramatic effect of the final image.

Probably the first change you’ll notice in the final image is that the severe vignetting has been repaired.  I was shooting with an extremely wide angle lens and I had two stacked neutral density filters on my lens, as a result a great deal of the filter was included in the photograph.  To repair this I first cropped the image and then I used the clone tool to fill in the missing corners.

Next you’ll notice that the sky in the original image has very low contrast and is quite bland.  To bring out the sky detail I split the image into two halves, upper and lower, and converted them to b&w differently.  In each conversion I used Photoshop’s “Channel Mixer” but in the upper half I used some blue channel to improve the contrast and detail in of the sky.  Next I used some pretty aggressive dodging and burning to bring out the definition and detail in the clouds, this information was in the image but it was almost hidden to the eye.  As a rule you can generally recover image detail as long as you have not over-exposed the image to the point that you have blown out the highlights.

Note: one of the side-effects of using blue channel in the conversion and dodging and burning is that the image can get very grainy.  When using this technique you must carefully balance the good-effects with side-effects.

Next I converted the lower half of the image to b&w, darkened the image and greatly enhanced the contrast.  This dark and contrasty approach is the look that I like and it often has the effect of making daytime look like night time.  The March/April issue of Photo Technique Magazine featured an article on my work and they used the phrase “Darkness at Noon” to describe this look.

All of this produced a basic final image, but it still didn’t have the dramatic impact I was seeking and that I had pre-visualized before I captured the image.  So my final step was to dodge and burn to bring out the highlights and selectively darken blacks to locally enhance contrast.  As I did this I carefully monitored the histogram below:

This histogram shows that I have a good black and a good white, something your eye cannot always discern when looking at the image on the screen.  Monitors are often out of adjustment and our eyes can be fooled, but the histogram never lies.  People often complain to me that what looked good to them on screen, often prints flat and muddy.  Generally the problem is revealed in their histogram; they lack a “true” black and good contrast. 

As you can see from my final image, it does not represent reality.  Reality is not my goal but instead I strive create images that reflect how I see the scene through my vision.  That is why I advocate that photographers work just as hard on developing their vision, as they do on their technical skills and equipment.  The image begins and ends in your mind’s eye.

Have you heard about the many tools designed to give you great black and white images?  There are special b&w conversion programs, plugins to make your images look like an Ansel Adams, monochrome ink sets, custom print profiles, hi-tech monitor calibrators and more.

Are all of these necessary to produce a great print?  I don’t know, I don’t use them.  My philosophy is “keep it simple” and for me, these tools are just expensive distractions that might make a 2% difference in the look of my image, but it takes the focus off of the 98%, the things that really matter.

Here are the secret tools and techniques that I use to create a great b&w image:

1.     Start with the right shot.  Certain images tend to lend themselves to b&w more than others and I look for subjects with great blacks and contrast opportunities.

2.     Shoot in RAW and B&W mode.  This will allow you to see the image on the camera display in b&w (making visualization and exposure easier) but the RAW image will still be in color, allowing you to convert it how you like.

3.     Convert to b&w in Photoshop using either the Channel Mixer or B&W Conversion tool.  Play with the color sliders to see how each will change the image and produce better contrasts, they can make a dramatic difference.

4.     Don’t overuse the  Photoshop global controls.   I don’t use auto adjustments, I don’t use levels and curves and I really avoid global controls because they apply the changes to the entire image.

5.     Work slowly.  I initially tweek the brightness and contrast a very small amount and then work with the dodge and burn tool to affect brightness and contrast in each area, as it needs it.  I generally set my dodge and burn to 3% and build the effect slowly.

6.     Use a decent printer.  I love the Epson series with their wonderful K3 inks, and their included b&w print mode gives fantastic results.

7.     Use a good paper.  This is an area that really does deserve some of your time and attention, but be careful not to get caught up in the search for the “perfect paper.”  I have friends who have been searching for years and the truth is that there are many wonderful papers out there that will server you well.  I personally use Hahnemuhle Photo Rag 308 and Epson Exhibition Fiber.

~

Let me oversimplify and summarize it this way; I produce my prints with a copy of Photoshop and an Epson printer, and that’s about it.  You don’t need complicated or expensive extras to create stunning black and white prints.

Now I’m not saying those extras cannot improve your prints, I’m just suggesting that the time to experiment with the extras is after you’ve produced the best print you can with the basic tools and can go no further.  Until then, that 2% extra improvement will just be an expensive distraction.

This is just my opinion of course, and there are many who could disagree with this advice.  But I’ll put my money where my mouth is and offer you a free sample print so you can see how printing with the basics can look.  I have a number of small samples left over from a previous promotion and I’ll send those out until they are all used up.

Just email me your name and address, and when you receive the print please let me know what you think.

Cole@ColeThompsonPhotography.com

Cole

P.S.  While it’s not a requirement for the free print, if you’d like to sign up for my newsletter I’d love to send it to you.  Just go to my website at www.ColeThompsonPhotography.com and click on the newsletter link to view past newsletters or to sign up.

At 14 years of age, I knew that I was destined to be a fine art photographer.

Even at this early age I found myself drawn to a particular style of image, one that would literally cause a physical reaction in me. They were dark images created by Adams, Weston, Bullock and others. At age 14 I knew that I was destined to create such images.

An important early influence in my life and my art was the poem “Invictus” by William Ernest Henley.

Out of the night that covers me,

Black as the Pit from pole to pole,

I thank whatever gods may be

for my unconquerable soul.

~

In the fell clutch of Circumstance,

I have not winced nor cried aloud.

Under the bludgeonings of Chance,

my head is bloody, but unbowed.

~

Beyond this place of wrath and tears,

looms but the Horror of the shade,

and yet the menace of the years,

finds, and shall find me, unafraid.

~

It matters not how strait the gate,

how charged with punishments the scroll,

I am the master of my fate:

I am the captain of my soul.

~

For me, this poem evokes dark images which form the inspiration for my photographs. Darkness in my images represents the trials of our human existence while the light represents the strength that comes from the realization that we are the captains of our souls.

Are you a photographic grazer?  You know, someone who shoots here a little and there a little, and has an album of “greatest hit” images but doesn’t have a cohesive group of images?

I understand, I used to be a “grazer” too.  I hated focusing on one subject and enjoyed looking around for something that would catch my attention. The image above, “Skeleton,” was created during my grazing period.  It’s a nice image (one of my favorites) but it has no companion pieces and it’s not a part of a collection.  It’s a stand alone image.

I grazed for several years until something happened.

I proudly assembled my “greatest hits” and sent them off to Lenswork.  While polite, Brooks Jensen’s response was basically: “Hey!  Didn’t you read the submissions guidelines?  Pick ONE image and send me 15-25 on that subject.”

Ouch.

That kick in the butt was what I needed, and I think I was ready.  I then picked “Grain Silos” to focus on, and worked on that project for several months.  Instead of getting bored like I thought I would, I became obsessed and really enjoyed myself.  This resulted in my first “portfolio” that I purposely set out to create.

I enjoyed that process so much that I went on to create other portfolios:

• Ceiling Lamps
• The Ghosts of Auschwitz and Birkenau
• Ukrainians, With Eyes Shut
• Linnie: A Portrait of Breast Cancer
• The Oregon Coast
• The Lone Man (in progress)
• Harbinger (in progress)

I’m currently starting a new project that I’m very excited about entitled “Surprise!” (don’t ask me what it’s about, I won’t tell!)

Now for those of you who also resist picking a subject and focusing on it, again I do understand.  It may be that you’re not ready yet, I think you have to satisfy that “grazing” desire by indulging in it for a while.

But it might be that you are ready, but haven’t found the right subject that really excites you.  I believe you must be completely passionate about a subject before you can have have fun with it and do a great job.  If you don’t feel that way, I’d suggest you choose another subject.

It’s very satisfying to create a “cohesive body of work,” it’s also addicting!

Cole

A friend recently wrote me and said that I had come a long way, and asked “What in retrospect could you share with me about your journey?”

My answer was:

1.  I stopped thinking like a photographer and started thinking like an artist.

2.  I quit looking at other photographer’s work; it lead to imitation and limited my imagination.

3.  I stopped listening to other’s advice on my work; it was sincere advice but it came from the perspective of their vision, not mine.

4.  I strove and am striving, to find my own style.

I am certain there will be those who disagree with these points,  but remember I do not offer them as advice, but only share what worked for me.

Cole

“Rocks and Mist” is another one of my long exposure shots.  The image was captured late one night on the rocky shore of La Jolla Cove in San Diego.  I was standing on the eroded lava rock about 10 feet from a precipice that fell off to the ocean.  The waves would come up and go over my feet as I stood there for the 30 second exposure.

The effect of the waves going in an out over the 30 seconds gives the misty, foggy effect.  The only illumination were the distant lights and stars.  I was using a 16mm lens and so there is a distorted almost fish-eye effect, which is not really noticeable since the viewer does not know what the scene really looks like.

This was shot in 2005 and I recently returned to the same spot and was very surprised at how small this rocky area really is.  The wide angle lens added much to the look and feel of the image.

Water and long exposures are a great combination.  A very long exposure can smooth out water for a very simple and clean look.  Sometimes a shorter exposure can give form and shape to the water and then there is the misty look as in the above image.  Using a digital camera allows you to experiment and get right before you leave.  I love digital!

Cole

Why is there so much cancer around us?  Is there really an increase in cancer rates or is it just talked about more?  Is it safe to microwave plastic ware?  Does organic food really help to prevent cancer?

I have so many friends, family members and associates with cancer that I ask myself these and many other questions.  Yes, we’ve improved the treatments for cancer, but it so often seems to come back.  Our treatments don’t seem to be addressing the root causes of the disease.

When I was a teen in 1971 we declared war on cancer, I think 20 years was the goal.  It’s been almost 40 years now and the cure still seems to elude us.

I had the chance to photograph a friend who has cancer, had a masectomy and is undergoing treatment.  These photographs are about the human side of the disease.

This portfolio is entitled “Linnie, a Portrait of Cancer.”

View the Portfolio

I just returned from a trip to Southern California and Death Valley.  I created a few images and had the best luck in Death Valley.  I hadn’t been for years and what a treat to travel there in the low season, there were extremely few people and mild 70 degree days.  It was a treat!

The image above was taken at Zabrinski Point, perhaps the most photographed location in Death Valley.  I’ve seen photographs of the photographers at Zabrinski point and they are packed in like sardines waiting for the sunrise.  When I was there, there wasn’t a single soul there, photographer or otherwise.

What impressed me most about Death Valley is how time stands still there.  The tentative title of the image above is “Time No. 1″

More images are coming from this great trip, so watch for the newsletter.  If you’re not receiving it, you can read past issues or sign up HERE.

Merry Christmas everyone!

Cole

Primordial Soup – Bullard’s Beach, OR – 2008

I consider this my best image from the Bandon, Oregon trip.  It’s a 30 second exposure of the ocean and a swirling pool caught on the beach.  When using long exposures, you have to try a variety to get that exact right look.

This was taken using my Canon 1Ds Mark III and using my Vari-ND 8 stop filter along with a stacked Mor-Slow 5 stop ND filter.  These 13 stops of Neutral Density (ND) allow me to shoot at 30 seconds under the brightest conditions.  There are many challenges however, including holding the camera still for that long and people walking into your image.

View the other Oregon images