{"id":1746,"date":"2013-04-06T20:40:34","date_gmt":"2013-04-07T03:40:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.organiclightphoto.com\/blog\/?p=1746"},"modified":"2013-04-06T20:40:34","modified_gmt":"2013-04-07T03:40:34","slug":"this-side-of-reality","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.organiclightphoto.com\/blog\/index.php\/2013\/04\/this-side-of-reality\/","title":{"rendered":"This Side Of Reality"},"content":{"rendered":"

I recently lead a private photography workshop. \u00a0During that workshop my client and I\u00a0discussed\u00a0many things photographic. \u00a0We touched briefly on the topic of creating HDR (high\u00a0dynamic\u00a0range) photographs and how they leaned, for the most part, towards not looking real. \u00a0A simple\u00a0Google\u00a0search on the terms “HDR Photos” will bring up excellent examples of unrealistic photos resulting from HDR techniques. \u00a0However I did mention to him that simply extending the limits of the camera itself does not have to take the resulting photos outside the realm of reality. \u00a0If you would like to see HDR photos done “right”, then just take a look HERE<\/a> and HERE<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The work involved in extending the dynamic range of a digital camera or even that of film photos is extensive and requires special techniques and\/or software to do the job. \u00a0However that is not the topic of this post today. \u00a0What I have been chewing on is, in today’s photographic world, where do we draw the line that delineates what is real and what is not? \u00a0I do my best to produce photographs that look as close to how I remember experiencing the scene that was before me.<\/p>\n

Most of the photos I exhibit look, to my eye, even years later after I have made them, real. \u00a0However, there are times when I have crossed over into what could only be described as surreal. \u00a0The subject matter is real, the light is real, the colors are real, the colors were really there in the image captured by the camera, but the essence of the scene captured by the camera was not, and my cajoling of that base image produced what I was seeking to express. \u00a0In most cases what these photos elucidate are the subtleties that are almost always glossed over or never noticed at all.<\/p>\n

For years I have been struggling in capturing photos from a particular beach along the San Mateo coastline in California. \u00a0This one little place still holds my imagination hostage with the possibilities that it provides.<\/p>\n

\"Bean<\/a>

One Little Place<\/p><\/div>\n

On the afternoon of that workshop we found ourselves there and we worked on composition and creativity. \u00a0The light was changing quickly as the sun moved\u00a0in between\u00a0the remnant clouds of a passing storm and the way it played among the stone there was fascinating. \u00a0I made several photos that afternoon that portray the uniqueness of the stone on that small beach. \u00a0All of them are just on this side of reality.<\/p>\n

As I wandered these little belly buttons just appeared. \u00a0The soft directional light added to accentuate the swollen nature of the stone, which I used to my advantage to bring out their three-dimensional nature.<\/p>\n

\"Stone<\/a>

Stone Bellies<\/p><\/div>\n

‘Stone Bellies’ opened up a rush of seeking more of the hidden subtleties in the stone. \u00a0I started to look for more forms and colors in the rock and saw this curving line and how it played with the texture and color to finally produce ‘Stone Wave’.<\/p>\n

\"Stone<\/a>

Stone Wave<\/p><\/div>\n

Things started getting strange after that. \u00a0Shape, texture and color (subtle color) that was barely evident took hold of my imagination and ‘This Side of Reality’ was captured. \u00a0Processed a little heavier than I normally would, brought out great texture and subtle colors that really make the stone attractively alluring.<\/p>\n

\"This<\/a>

This Side Of Reality<\/p><\/div>\n

Locked within the stone were colors, hues and\u00a0striations that begged to come out and impress the onlooker. \u00a0They were washed out, pale and bleached from the salt and sun, but looking closely their gorgeousness was clearly evident.<\/p>\n

\"Folds<\/a>

Folds In Stone<\/p><\/div>\n

The striations in the stones continued to capture my imagination, especially how uniform the stone could be and how violently and abruptly it changes as exhibited here in ‘Stone Rift’.<\/p>\n

\"Stone<\/a>

Stone Rift<\/p><\/div>\n

What drives us to make the images that we do? \u00a0As I have stated before, art is an expression of what is contained in the heart of the artist. \u00a0Art is the resulting outward manifestation of the environment and circumstances that we experience in our day to day lives. \u00a0Some of us have the ability to express these experiences more vividly than others, but deep down we all have the means to express.<\/p>\n

What makes a photograph real or not is very subjective. \u00a0Photographs can be made to look cartoonish, as some HDR photos are, taking them out of the realm of reality, but so can conscience composition and processing that takes an image in the other direction and into surrealism. \u00a0Where do we draw the line?<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"Pigeon<\/a>

Pigeon Point<\/p><\/div>\n

We finished out the day hoping for a vivid sunset sky, one that would be a fitting backdrop to an iconic lighthouse along this stretch of the California coast. \u00a0My workshop client can argue, and rightly so, that we did not see such a vivid sky that evening. \u00a0It was most definitely quiet in terms of color, but as the last vestiges of light filled the sky, the water took on an eerie\u00a0metallic\u00a0blue and hints of yellow and orange tickled the sky. \u00a0I composed several vertical images in the camera as I panned across this scene hoping to make a panoramic image of this place. \u00a0Each exposure was in the area of 10 seconds long, blurring the water and giving it a surreal look. \u00a0The processing was simple, Photoshop did most of the hard work blending the frames together. \u00a0I made one sly adjustment by darkening the tones in\u00a0the\u00a0sky, the faint yellow and orange suddenly came out vividly to play and complemented the icy blue water perfectly.<\/p>\n

Is it real? \u00a0Is it surreal? \u00a0Is it cartoon?<\/p>\n

It is photography and its my expression of how I felt at the end of that day. \u00a0Lucid, vivid and very eager to share what our world has to offer. \u00a0Go out and experience it for yourselves. \u00a0Capture it with a camera if you can and share the experience with the rest of us and if you can’t, then learn how. \u00a0Experience can only be multiplied when it is expressed to others artfully.<\/p>\n

Till next time, Peace.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

What makes a photograph real or not is very subjective. Photographs can be made to look cartoonish, as some HDR photos are, taking them out of the realm of reality, but so can conscience composition and processing that takes an image in the other direction and into surrealism. Where do we draw the line?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0},"categories":[4,10],"tags":[261,453,57,182,454],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.organiclightphoto.com\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1746"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.organiclightphoto.com\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.organiclightphoto.com\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.organiclightphoto.com\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.organiclightphoto.com\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1746"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/www.organiclightphoto.com\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1746\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1754,"href":"https:\/\/www.organiclightphoto.com\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1746\/revisions\/1754"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.organiclightphoto.com\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1746"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.organiclightphoto.com\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1746"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.organiclightphoto.com\/blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1746"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}