Seeing the True Light (and Color) - Conference Presentation

Katie 110809 - 1
A fine print or an out-of-date style

On the first morning of the conference, Stephen Johnson, a bay area digital landscape photographer gave a presentation called, The New Photograph. As a pioneer of the digital medium, he has been in the front seat of the digital-over-film revolution. One of his core beliefs on digital photography centers on the new definitions of color, saturation, and tonality. Many of these views will challenge how we define the fine print. Through this new "silicon" view(his term for digital), we will create photos that truly represent what we see, not the limitations of "silver" (his term for film).

Johnson's main premise was that we have deeply ingrained definitions of art and photography because of the characteristics, and flaws, of film. Film has been around for over 150 years. It defined how we created photography. Over the decades, a common vision known as the fine print has become the standard. We see the rich colors, the deep tonalities, and the true blacks as part of the recipe for a fine print (especially in black and white photography).

Back in the early 90's an engineer (sadly, I forgot his name) created a special digital scanning back for a 4X5 camera. Instead of being the photo sensors we are familiar with in our digital cameras, this device scanned the image focused on it from side to side, like a photocopier. These images could take minutes to create. In the end, the image was about 140+ megapixels in size. This engineer went to Johnson and wanted him to photograph different things with film and the digital back. They were both astounded by the experiment.

The first discovery was how sharp and detailed the images were. All grain was gone. Every possible detail was visible and only limited to the resolution of the monitor. This is much like how we see through our eyes. If our vision is good, we can see great detail and clarity. We don't see grain. On the other hand, many feel that film images are "truer" and "correct" when the images have grain and distortion. What we have seen as detail in "silver" photos is seen as real while the extra-fine "silicon" detail seems unreal. This is part of our historic photographic vision as defined by "silver."

They also discovered the greatly expanded range of hue and tonality. Film can only capture so many variations of hue. Digital can capture shades of hues so much subtler than film that when viewed, many feel they are not real. This disbelief, once again, goes against what our actual eyes see. Our eyes can tell shades, hues and tonality so much better than film. We can see the slow evolution of hues shifting in the scene. Even though we see that way, the ongoing definition of the fine print shapes our view.

I listened to all this and saw his images that were examples of his points. The point that resonated deeply in me though came to contrast and tonality. There are no true black tones as we view things with our eyes.

This point deals a blow to Ansel Adam's zone system. If you look at his work, there is always a deep black somewhere. Hell, if you look at my black and white prints, you will find that too. Now, look out your window during the day, or even night, do you see anything that is truly black? I mean a black that has no reflectivity and is truly the absence of light, do you see it? I don't. While this is true, we are conditioned to create a true black in our prints due to the definitions created from the limitations of film. Film will lose detail as the scene approaches black. If you try increasing exposure to increase details in the shadows, you will blow out your highlights. With the new digital technology, we can capture great detail in shadows that shows what we truly see with our own eyes.

Lines to Her Heart
(Morose??? Too much black???)

So, I have a great digital Nikon SLR, how is the definition of the fine print affecting my work. The first thing I do is increase saturation and contrast. I want strong colors, deep dark tones and rich highlights. I am trying to make the image match the old definition. If you take a moment to look at Stephen Johnson's photos. You will see true tonal range and hues that are so beautiful and subtle they feel like they were painted.

Kenai Glacier
Stephen Johnson
Note: look at all the different hues of blue in this photo.

Some of the photographic educators there mentioned after the lecture that the 2000-2010 photos will be defined by rich, saturated colors and contrast. They also think that in the next 10 years, we will have a saturation and contrast revolution that will rein in both. Johnson commented that if art, psychology, sociology, and other scholars in the distant future looked at the great photos of the 20th century, they would think we lived in a depressed and morose time due to all of the darkness in our images. We did not capture true visual reality, only the realities that film would let us photograph.

Moonrise
Photo by Ansel Adams
Way too morose and dark?

It has been a few weeks since I experienced Johnson's presentation. I am still trying to figure out what I believe in it and how it will affect my art, if at all. If you look at the before and after images of Candace below, you can tell I punched them up. In the first two, I am starting to feel that the original image is better, before I doctored it. The second set though, I feel the hyper-saturation adds to the narrative of surreal dreams. It is interesting that by making colors "unreal", I feel I am capturing a bit of my dream world.

Johnson believes photographers should use what makes their art best for them. His message though is that it is time to accept and use the true gifts that digital has to offer us and it is fine to have photos that are true to what we see, not what has been defined as art.


Please take a moment to look at his website and see his amazing images. Also look at his book about his new photographs of US National Parks using super high-resolution digital imaging.

Toward the Light - Original

Toward the Light - Heavy Saturation and Contrast

Dali and Nirvana 2 - Original

Dali and Nirvana - version B