D30 vs the Dinosaurs

Today, I attended a very interesting seminar at the Fernbank Museum of Natural History in Atlanta, in which Jean Miele, who currently has an exhibit of landscape photography at the museum, discussed his use of Photoshop and digital printing. His style of landscape fine art photography evokes Ansel Adams and other "zone" photographers, but his approach to process in PS and print digitally (using Fuji Crystal Archive lightjets) is more unique to the genre. Anyway, I was somewhat "zoning" myself by the time the seminar was over and came home to process the images I had taken in BW.

Fernbank is the permanent home of the world's largest dinosaurs. Giganotosaurus is the largest carnivorous dinosaur discovered (larger than T-Rex), as well as the largest two-legged animal known, and Argentinosaurus, at 120 feet long, is the largest known land dinosaur. Both were discovered in South America within the past ten years, and it has taken several years for Fernbank to become their permanent home.

All 5 images were shot with the Canon D30 using the 28-135 IS, ISO 100 in CRW raw format. Converted with Canon software and processed in PS with all custom methods. To test the IS lens, which I am fairly new to, thoroughly, I shot with the low ISO and hand held. Exposures ranged from 1/30 to 1/4 second. Not one shot exhibited blur, even zooming to 400% in PS for examination. Each of the 5 shots displayed here were processed in under 10 minutes each. (Very little dodge/burn, since this isn't really fine art.)

Anyway, an interesting siminar and the dinosaurs are incredible.

http://michaelphoto.net/10-20-01/

Michael

Very nice shots! It's amazing you could shoot as slow as 1/4 sec with that sharpness.

David

Michael,

fabulous! You inspire me. I was wondering if the new 1D is going to be good enough. I've heard it's better than the d30, so I now know, by looking at your d30 work, the "better" 1D should be "enough" camera for me when it ships. I hope I am enough photographer! Thanks for posting your url.

Would you please say how you put the frames around your work. I like them a lot.

Bob

Hi Michael,

Fine shots, especially #3.
I'm interested in your B&W conversion process. Did you use the channel
mixer, somebodiy's plugin...?

Regards,
Chris
http://www.fototime.com/inv/CF8A7A18A13A00E
http://pbase.com/c_kuiphoff

Michael Thomas Mitchell said:

Today, I attended a very interesting seminar at the Fernbank Museum
of Natural History in Atlanta, in which Jean Miele, who currently
has an exhibit of landscape photography at the museum, discussed
his use of Photoshop and digital printing. His style of landscape
fine art photography evokes Ansel Adams and other "zone"
photographers, but his approach to process in PS and print
digitally (using Fuji Crystal Archive lightjets) is more unique to
the genre. Anyway, I was somewhat "zoning" myself by the time the
seminar was over and came home to process the images I had taken in
BW.

Fernbank is the permanent home of the world's largest dinosaurs.
Giganotosaurus is the largest carnivorous dinosaur discovered
(larger than T-Rex), as well as the largest two-legged animal
known, and Argentinosaurus, at 120 feet long, is the largest known
land dinosaur. Both were discovered in South America within the
past ten years, and it has taken several years for Fernbank to
become their permanent home.

All 5 images were shot with the Canon D30 using the 28-135 IS, ISO
100 in CRW raw format. Converted with Canon software and processed
in PS with all custom methods. To test the IS lens, which I am
fairly new to, thoroughly, I shot with the low ISO and hand held.
Exposures ranged from 1/30 to 1/4 second. Not one shot exhibited
blur, even zooming to 400% in PS for examination. Each of the 5
shots displayed here were processed in under 10 minutes each. (Very
little dodge/burn, since this isn't really fine art.)

Anyway, an interesting siminar and the dinosaurs are incredible.

http://michaelphoto.net/10-20-01/

Michael

Click to expand...

Thank you for the nice comments. My daughter and I are actually museum members, but since I was attending the seminar today, she did not go with me. It was the first chance I had to really try and figure out how to shoot those guys. Number 3 is my favorite as well. I think you can tell I shot somewhat at an angle to sort of get a "smile" out of the big guy. The stabilzation on the 28-135 is really incredible. It's going to spoil me, I know it. I like using a 50mm lens with the Canon (actually, I want a good 35mm), but I thought I might use some of the telephoto reach today. I have to admit, that is one really sharp lens, and the stabilization is worth a little less contrast, which can easily be picked up in PS. With the digital processing tools at our disposal, I'm just not sold on the shortcomings of this lens anymore. It's a little dark, that's all. To be expected.

The conversion to greyscale was actually rather simplistic. The "look" of the images really comes from my adjusting the levels and curves, followed by conventional chemical bw printmaking techniques like burning and dodging. Ultimately, in working in PS and doing this sort of thing, I've simply tried to remember my tradtional darkroom techniques and then duplicate the effort digitally. The big difference is that feedback is immediate. One of the things Jean emphasized today is to do EVERYTHING in adjustment layers -- curves, levels, cloning, etc. That's something I'm quite guilty of NOT doing, but know that I really need to get in the habit of. All of these shots were processed in just the single background layer. As long as I'm satisfied with them, that's okay, but if I ever want to change something, I'm out of luck without simply going to the original file.

The frame/border is a custom action I designed myself last year when I first started using PS. I was looking for something that resembled hanging wall prints (in fact, the action is named "Michael's Fine Art Print Frame"). It's probably been done alot by now, but it was a devil figuring out when I was so new to PS. When I went to version 6, it had to be reprogrammed, and 6 is FAR easier to do something like this. Essentially, it simply involves enlarging the canvas in increments and adding drop shadows and inner shadows to the layers. The weddings I shoot are featured in online galleries for my clients, and I use these frames for the "Photographer's Favorites" gallery, which feature about 5-10 of my favorite images from any given job. They are designed especially for full-res D30 images (I also use Nikon digital SLRs, and they have their own actions), and two are required -- one for vertical shots and one for horizontal. (Because of the shadows, it doesn't really work to rotate, apply, and then rotate back.) I also programmed two additional actions (again, for both horiz and vert) for downsizing to websize.

Again, thanks. I havn't shot much CRW stuff since getting the D30 a couple of months ago (raw format is a pain with the Nikons, plus the original D1 doesn't handle the Microdrives very well, so there's a storage capacity issue), but I really like the quality. So, for all but the quick and dirty snapshots, I'll make CRW my format of choice. I especially like the way they can take alot of sharpening without artifacts.

Michael

Chris K. said:

Fine shots, especially #3.
I'm interested in your B&W conversion process. Did you use the
channel
mixer, somebodiy's plugin...?

Regards,
Chris
http://www.fototime.com/inv/CF8A7A18A13A00E
http://pbase.com/c_kuiphoff

Michael Thomas Mitchell said:

Today, I attended a very interesting seminar at the Fernbank Museum
of Natural History in Atlanta, in which Jean Miele, who currently
has an exhibit of landscape photography at the museum, discussed
his use of Photoshop and digital printing. His style of landscape
fine art photography evokes Ansel Adams and other "zone"
photographers, but his approach to process in PS and print
digitally (using Fuji Crystal Archive lightjets) is more unique to
the genre. Anyway, I was somewhat "zoning" myself by the time the
seminar was over and came home to process the images I had taken in
BW.

Fernbank is the permanent home of the world's largest dinosaurs.
Giganotosaurus is the largest carnivorous dinosaur discovered
(larger than T-Rex), as well as the largest two-legged animal
known, and Argentinosaurus, at 120 feet long, is the largest known
land dinosaur. Both were discovered in South America within the
past ten years, and it has taken several years for Fernbank to
become their permanent home.

All 5 images were shot with the Canon D30 using the 28-135 IS, ISO
100 in CRW raw format. Converted with Canon software and processed
in PS with all custom methods. To test the IS lens, which I am
fairly new to, thoroughly, I shot with the low ISO and hand held.
Exposures ranged from 1/30 to 1/4 second. Not one shot exhibited
blur, even zooming to 400% in PS for examination. Each of the 5
shots displayed here were processed in under 10 minutes each. (Very
little dodge/burn, since this isn't really fine art.)

Anyway, an interesting siminar and the dinosaurs are incredible.

http://michaelphoto.net/10-20-01/

Michael

Click to expand...

Click to expand...

Michael,

Photo#1 is a splash and #3 is a stunner! Great work! Excellent compositions. I wish to see more ! Thanks for the work.

BTW, just a funny thought, looks like going b&w is a way to solve the color and contrast problem of EF28-135mm IS USM! Wish I had known this earlier.

Griffin.

Michael,

They are super shots especially in black and white, their is a free b/w action that does a good job of conversion supplied by DigiDaan the address link is shown below

http://www.DigiDaan.nl/bw

You are bound to be asked for more information on your action on framing, could you consider posting this please. I would be interested in using it.

Frederick.

Michael Thomas Mitchell said:

The conversion to greyscale was actually rather simplistic. The
"look" of the images really comes from my adjusting the levels and
curves, followed by conventional chemical bw printmaking techniques
like burning and dodging. Ultimately, in working in PS and doing
this sort of thing, I've simply tried to remember my tradtional
darkroom techniques and then duplicate the effort digitally. The
big difference is that feedback is immediate. One of the things
Jean emphasized today is to do EVERYTHING in adjustment layers --
curves, levels, cloning, etc. That's something I'm quite guilty of
NOT doing, but know that I really need to get in the habit of. All
of these shots were processed in just the single background layer.
As long as I'm satisfied with them, that's okay, but if I ever want
to change something, I'm out of luck without simply going to the
original file.

The frame/border is a custom action I designed myself last year
when I first started using PS. I was looking for something that
resembled hanging wall prints (in fact, the action is named
"Michael's Fine Art Print Frame"). It's probably been done alot by
now, but it was a devil figuring out when I was so new to PS. When
I went to version 6, it had to be reprogrammed, and 6 is FAR easier
to do something like this. Essentially, it simply involves
enlarging the canvas in increments and adding drop shadows and
inner shadows to the layers. The weddings I shoot are featured in
online galleries for my clients, and I use these frames for the
"Photographer's Favorites" gallery, which feature about 5-10 of my
favorite images from any given job. They are designed especially
for full-res D30 images (I also use Nikon digital SLRs, and they
have their own actions), and two are required -- one for vertical
shots and one for horizontal. (Because of the shadows, it doesn't
really work to rotate, apply, and then rotate back.) I also
programmed two additional actions (again, for both horiz and vert)
for downsizing to websize.

Again, thanks. I havn't shot much CRW stuff since getting the D30 a
couple of months ago (raw format is a pain with the Nikons, plus
the original D1 doesn't handle the Microdrives very well, so
there's a storage capacity issue), but I really like the quality.
So, for all but the quick and dirty snapshots, I'll make CRW my
format of choice. I especially like the way they can take alot of
sharpening without artifacts.

Michael

Chris K. said:

Fine shots, especially #3.
I'm interested in your B&W conversion process. Did you use the
channel
mixer, somebodiy's plugin...?

Regards,
Chris
http://www.fototime.com/inv/CF8A7A18A13A00E
http://pbase.com/c_kuiphoff

Michael Thomas Mitchell said:

Today, I attended a very interesting seminar at the Fernbank Museum
of Natural History in Atlanta, in which Jean Miele, who currently
has an exhibit of landscape photography at the museum, discussed
his use of Photoshop and digital printing. His style of landscape
fine art photography evokes Ansel Adams and other "zone"
photographers, but his approach to process in PS and print
digitally (using Fuji Crystal Archive lightjets) is more unique to
the genre. Anyway, I was somewhat "zoning" myself by the time the
seminar was over and came home to process the images I had taken in
BW.

Fernbank is the permanent home of the world's largest dinosaurs.
Giganotosaurus is the largest carnivorous dinosaur discovered
(larger than T-Rex), as well as the largest two-legged animal
known, and Argentinosaurus, at 120 feet long, is the largest known
land dinosaur. Both were discovered in South America within the
past ten years, and it has taken several years for Fernbank to
become their permanent home.

All 5 images were shot with the Canon D30 using the 28-135 IS, ISO
100 in CRW raw format. Converted with Canon software and processed
in PS with all custom methods. To test the IS lens, which I am
fairly new to, thoroughly, I shot with the low ISO and hand held.
Exposures ranged from 1/30 to 1/4 second. Not one shot exhibited
blur, even zooming to 400% in PS for examination. Each of the 5
shots displayed here were processed in under 10 minutes each. (Very
little dodge/burn, since this isn't really fine art.)

Anyway, an interesting siminar and the dinosaurs are incredible.

http://michaelphoto.net/10-20-01/

Michael

Click to expand...

Click to expand...

Click to expand...

Michael,

A correction to my previous posting the Digidaan download is not an action but correction to the channel mixture settings.

Regards.

Frederick.

Frederick said:

They are super shots especially in black and white, their is a free
b/w action that does a good job of conversion supplied by DigiDaan
the address link is shown below

http://www.DigiDaan.nl/bw

You are bound to be asked for more information on your action on
framing, could you consider posting this please. I would be
interested in using it.

Frederick.

Michael Thomas Mitchell said:

The conversion to greyscale was actually rather simplistic. The
"look" of the images really comes from my adjusting the levels and
curves, followed by conventional chemical bw printmaking techniques
like burning and dodging. Ultimately, in working in PS and doing
this sort of thing, I've simply tried to remember my tradtional
darkroom techniques and then duplicate the effort digitally. The
big difference is that feedback is immediate. One of the things
Jean emphasized today is to do EVERYTHING in adjustment layers --
curves, levels, cloning, etc. That's something I'm quite guilty of
NOT doing, but know that I really need to get in the habit of. All
of these shots were processed in just the single background layer.
As long as I'm satisfied with them, that's okay, but if I ever want
to change something, I'm out of luck without simply going to the
original file.

The frame/border is a custom action I designed myself last year
when I first started using PS. I was looking for something that
resembled hanging wall prints (in fact, the action is named
"Michael's Fine Art Print Frame"). It's probably been done alot by
now, but it was a devil figuring out when I was so new to PS. When
I went to version 6, it had to be reprogrammed, and 6 is FAR easier
to do something like this. Essentially, it simply involves
enlarging the canvas in increments and adding drop shadows and
inner shadows to the layers. The weddings I shoot are featured in
online galleries for my clients, and I use these frames for the
"Photographer's Favorites" gallery, which feature about 5-10 of my
favorite images from any given job. They are designed especially
for full-res D30 images (I also use Nikon digital SLRs, and they
have their own actions), and two are required -- one for vertical
shots and one for horizontal. (Because of the shadows, it doesn't
really work to rotate, apply, and then rotate back.) I also
programmed two additional actions (again, for both horiz and vert)
for downsizing to websize.

Again, thanks. I havn't shot much CRW stuff since getting the D30 a
couple of months ago (raw format is a pain with the Nikons, plus
the original D1 doesn't handle the Microdrives very well, so
there's a storage capacity issue), but I really like the quality.
So, for all but the quick and dirty snapshots, I'll make CRW my
format of choice. I especially like the way they can take alot of
sharpening without artifacts.

Michael

Chris K. said:

Fine shots, especially #3.
I'm interested in your B&W conversion process. Did you use the
channel
mixer, somebodiy's plugin...?

Regards,
Chris
http://www.fototime.com/inv/CF8A7A18A13A00E
http://pbase.com/c_kuiphoff

Michael Thomas Mitchell said:

Today, I attended a very interesting seminar at the Fernbank Museum
of Natural History in Atlanta, in which Jean Miele, who currently
has an exhibit of landscape photography at the museum, discussed
his use of Photoshop and digital printing. His style of landscape
fine art photography evokes Ansel Adams and other "zone"
photographers, but his approach to process in PS and print
digitally (using Fuji Crystal Archive lightjets) is more unique to
the genre. Anyway, I was somewhat "zoning" myself by the time the
seminar was over and came home to process the images I had taken in
BW.

Fernbank is the permanent home of the world's largest dinosaurs.
Giganotosaurus is the largest carnivorous dinosaur discovered
(larger than T-Rex), as well as the largest two-legged animal
known, and Argentinosaurus, at 120 feet long, is the largest known
land dinosaur. Both were discovered in South America within the
past ten years, and it has taken several years for Fernbank to
become their permanent home.

All 5 images were shot with the Canon D30 using the 28-135 IS, ISO
100 in CRW raw format. Converted with Canon software and processed
in PS with all custom methods. To test the IS lens, which I am
fairly new to, thoroughly, I shot with the low ISO and hand held.
Exposures ranged from 1/30 to 1/4 second. Not one shot exhibited
blur, even zooming to 400% in PS for examination. Each of the 5
shots displayed here were processed in under 10 minutes each. (Very
little dodge/burn, since this isn't really fine art.)

Anyway, an interesting siminar and the dinosaurs are incredible.

http://michaelphoto.net/10-20-01/

Michael

Click to expand...

Click to expand...

Click to expand...

Click to expand...

I find your photos superb. As a new D30 owner have not had the chance to really find the camera's full potential. I know basic B&W photography and darkroom work. I know probably less on PS6. I planning to get a couple of books ON PS but when I come accross shots like yours I truly find it intriguiing to the work involve. I'm really interested in your workflow and would like to know more. I understand that some people don't have the time and/or patience because there on a higher level. I'm definately interested in the frames and the actions involved. I have several shots that were scanned with a 35mm scanner that would definetely be suited for this. If It's not too much trouble can you share how exactly how you go on doing this. Thanks

Michael Thomas Mitchell said:

The conversion to greyscale was actually rather simplistic. The
"look" of the images really comes from my adjusting the levels and
curves, followed by conventional chemical bw printmaking techniques
like burning and dodging. Ultimately, in working in PS and doing
this sort of thing, I've simply tried to remember my tradtional
darkroom techniques and then duplicate the effort digitally. The
big difference is that feedback is immediate. One of the things
Jean emphasized today is to do EVERYTHING in adjustment layers --
curves, levels, cloning, etc. That's something I'm quite guilty of
NOT doing, but know that I really need to get in the habit of. All
of these shots were processed in just the single background layer.
As long as I'm satisfied with them, that's okay, but if I ever want
to change something, I'm out of luck without simply going to the
original file.

The frame/border is a custom action I designed myself last year
when I first started using PS. I was looking for something that
resembled hanging wall prints (in fact, the action is named
"Michael's Fine Art Print Frame"). It's probably been done alot by
now, but it was a devil figuring out when I was so new to PS. When
I went to version 6, it had to be reprogrammed, and 6 is FAR easier
to do something like this. Essentially, it simply involves
enlarging the canvas in increments and adding drop shadows and
inner shadows to the layers. The weddings I shoot are featured in
online galleries for my clients, and I use these frames for the
"Photographer's Favorites" gallery, which feature about 5-10 of my
favorite images from any given job. They are designed especially
for full-res D30 images (I also use Nikon digital SLRs, and they
have their own actions), and two are required -- one for vertical
shots and one for horizontal. (Because of the shadows, it doesn't
really work to rotate, apply, and then rotate back.) I also
programmed two additional actions (again, for both horiz and vert)
for downsizing to websize.

Again, thanks. I havn't shot much CRW stuff since getting the D30 a
couple of months ago (raw format is a pain with the Nikons, plus
the original D1 doesn't handle the Microdrives very well, so
there's a storage capacity issue), but I really like the quality.
So, for all but the quick and dirty snapshots, I'll make CRW my
format of choice. I especially like the way they can take alot of
sharpening without artifacts.

Michael

Chris K. said:

Fine shots, especially #3.
I'm interested in your B&W conversion process. Did you use the
channel
mixer, somebodiy's plugin...?

Regards,
Chris
http://www.fototime.com/inv/CF8A7A18A13A00E
http://pbase.com/c_kuiphoff

Michael Thomas Mitchell said:

Today, I attended a very interesting seminar at the Fernbank Museum
of Natural History in Atlanta, in which Jean Miele, who currently
has an exhibit of landscape photography at the museum, discussed
his use of Photoshop and digital printing. His style of landscape
fine art photography evokes Ansel Adams and other "zone"
photographers, but his approach to process in PS and print
digitally (using Fuji Crystal Archive lightjets) is more unique to
the genre. Anyway, I was somewhat "zoning" myself by the time the
seminar was over and came home to process the images I had taken in
BW.

Fernbank is the permanent home of the world's largest dinosaurs.
Giganotosaurus is the largest carnivorous dinosaur discovered
(larger than T-Rex), as well as the largest two-legged animal
known, and Argentinosaurus, at 120 feet long, is the largest known
land dinosaur. Both were discovered in South America within the
past ten years, and it has taken several years for Fernbank to
become their permanent home.

All 5 images were shot with the Canon D30 using the 28-135 IS, ISO
100 in CRW raw format. Converted with Canon software and processed
in PS with all custom methods. To test the IS lens, which I am
fairly new to, thoroughly, I shot with the low ISO and hand held.
Exposures ranged from 1/30 to 1/4 second. Not one shot exhibited
blur, even zooming to 400% in PS for examination. Each of the 5
shots displayed here were processed in under 10 minutes each. (Very
little dodge/burn, since this isn't really fine art.)

Anyway, an interesting siminar and the dinosaurs are incredible.

http://michaelphoto.net/10-20-01/

Michael

Click to expand...

Click to expand...

Click to expand...

Hi Michael

Execellent pictures !!

Hugo

Michael Thomas Mitchell said:

Today, I attended a very interesting seminar at the Fernbank Museum
of Natural History in Atlanta, in which Jean Miele, who currently
has an exhibit of landscape photography at the museum, discussed
his use of Photoshop and digital printing. His style of landscape
fine art photography evokes Ansel Adams and other "zone"
photographers, but his approach to process in PS and print
digitally (using Fuji Crystal Archive lightjets) is more unique to
the genre. Anyway, I was somewhat "zoning" myself by the time the
seminar was over and came home to process the images I had taken in
BW.

Fernbank is the permanent home of the world's largest dinosaurs.
Giganotosaurus is the largest carnivorous dinosaur discovered
(larger than T-Rex), as well as the largest two-legged animal
known, and Argentinosaurus, at 120 feet long, is the largest known
land dinosaur. Both were discovered in South America within the
past ten years, and it has taken several years for Fernbank to
become their permanent home.

All 5 images were shot with the Canon D30 using the 28-135 IS, ISO
100 in CRW raw format. Converted with Canon software and processed
in PS with all custom methods. To test the IS lens, which I am
fairly new to, thoroughly, I shot with the low ISO and hand held.
Exposures ranged from 1/30 to 1/4 second. Not one shot exhibited
blur, even zooming to 400% in PS for examination. Each of the 5
shots displayed here were processed in under 10 minutes each. (Very
little dodge/burn, since this isn't really fine art.)

Anyway, an interesting siminar and the dinosaurs are incredible.

http://michaelphoto.net/10-20-01/

Michael

Click to expand...

Hi Michael,

Great shots!

The people-for-scale makes #4 for me, ...can't believe the SIZE of that thing!

Does the little fellow in #3 have his real teeth? ...they look pretty strange to me - never saw teeth like that before. Maybe they're not finished mounting the teeth?

Larry

Michael Thomas Mitchell said:

Today, I attended a very interesting seminar at the Fernbank Museum
of Natural History in Atlanta, in which Jean Miele, who currently
has an exhibit of landscape photography at the museum, discussed
his use of Photoshop and digital printing. His style of landscape
fine art photography evokes Ansel Adams and other "zone"
photographers, but his approach to process in PS and print
digitally (using Fuji Crystal Archive lightjets) is more unique to
the genre. Anyway, I was somewhat "zoning" myself by the time the
seminar was over and came home to process the images I had taken in
BW.

Fernbank is the permanent home of the world's largest dinosaurs.
Giganotosaurus is the largest carnivorous dinosaur discovered
(larger than T-Rex), as well as the largest two-legged animal
known, and Argentinosaurus, at 120 feet long, is the largest known
land dinosaur. Both were discovered in South America within the
past ten years, and it has taken several years for Fernbank to
become their permanent home.

All 5 images were shot with the Canon D30 using the 28-135 IS, ISO
100 in CRW raw format. Converted with Canon software and processed
in PS with all custom methods. To test the IS lens, which I am
fairly new to, thoroughly, I shot with the low ISO and hand held.
Exposures ranged from 1/30 to 1/4 second. Not one shot exhibited
blur, even zooming to 400% in PS for examination. Each of the 5
shots displayed here were processed in under 10 minutes each. (Very
little dodge/burn, since this isn't really fine art.)

Anyway, an interesting siminar and the dinosaurs are incredible.

http://michaelphoto.net/10-20-01/

Michael

Click to expand...

Richard,

Thanks for your comments. The "workflow" for these types of images is rather simplistic. Convert to TIFF and then convert to grayscale. I'm familiar with Digidan's conversion curves, but they don't really apply here, since this is all about custom curves and levels that you tweak on your own. Because the colors were pretty much from the same hue, I didn't even need to do any channel mixing here. Just a straight desaturate was fine. Next comes the curves and levels. I ususually start with levels, boosting the contast on the top and bottom (the eyedroppers help alot), and then opening up the midtones. The key here is getting a good overall adjustment. Use the curves fine tune these levels and bring out more specific tones you might want for the image. Don't worry about certain areas you might want darker or ligher. That's what the dodge and burn tools or for.

If you've spent alot of time in a darkroom, then dodge and burn are familiar to you. These tools are essential, both in the chemical darkroom and the digital. For a thorough discussion, consider "Black and White Photographic Printing Workshop" by Larry Bartlett and Jon Tarrant (Silver Pixel Press).

As Jean pointed out in the seminar I attended that day, make all your changes in adjustment layers. Experiment and Un-do alot to see what affect your manipulations have.

As far as the frame, it was done using the canvas size tool multiple time and layer effects. For that reason, your choices need to be specific to the size of the image you are working with. Experiment.

Much of this type of image making has alot in common with the zone photographers' work. A working knowledge zone photography will be very helpful. If this work could be reduced to a single action, it would be nice. But black and white is a craft. Craft is all about the combination of both technique and art. I make no claim about my own capabilities, but I do have fun with it, and I think that these images in particular are stronger when presented in this way than simply the way they were originally captured.

M

Richard P. said:

Michael Thomas Mitchell said:

The conversion to greyscale was actually rather simplistic. The
"look" of the images really comes from my adjusting the levels and
curves, followed by conventional chemical bw printmaking techniques
like burning and dodging. Ultimately, in working in PS and doing
this sort of thing, I've simply tried to remember my tradtional
darkroom techniques and then duplicate the effort digitally. The
big difference is that feedback is immediate. One of the things
Jean emphasized today is to do EVERYTHING in adjustment layers --
curves, levels, cloning, etc. That's something I'm quite guilty of
NOT doing, but know that I really need to get in the habit of. All
of these shots were processed in just the single background layer.
As long as I'm satisfied with them, that's okay, but if I ever want
to change something, I'm out of luck without simply going to the
original file.

The frame/border is a custom action I designed myself last year
when I first started using PS. I was looking for something that
resembled hanging wall prints (in fact, the action is named
"Michael's Fine Art Print Frame"). It's probably been done alot by
now, but it was a devil figuring out when I was so new to PS. When
I went to version 6, it had to be reprogrammed, and 6 is FAR easier
to do something like this. Essentially, it simply involves
enlarging the canvas in increments and adding drop shadows and
inner shadows to the layers. The weddings I shoot are featured in
online galleries for my clients, and I use these frames for the
"Photographer's Favorites" gallery, which feature about 5-10 of my
favorite images from any given job. They are designed especially
for full-res D30 images (I also use Nikon digital SLRs, and they
have their own actions), and two are required -- one for vertical
shots and one for horizontal. (Because of the shadows, it doesn't
really work to rotate, apply, and then rotate back.) I also
programmed two additional actions (again, for both horiz and vert)
for downsizing to websize.

Again, thanks. I havn't shot much CRW stuff since getting the D30 a
couple of months ago (raw format is a pain with the Nikons, plus
the original D1 doesn't handle the Microdrives very well, so
there's a storage capacity issue), but I really like the quality.
So, for all but the quick and dirty snapshots, I'll make CRW my
format of choice. I especially like the way they can take alot of
sharpening without artifacts.

Michael

Chris K. said:

Fine shots, especially #3.
I'm interested in your B&W conversion process. Did you use the
channel
mixer, somebodiy's plugin...?

Regards,
Chris
http://www.fototime.com/inv/CF8A7A18A13A00E
http://pbase.com/c_kuiphoff

Michael Thomas Mitchell said:

Today, I attended a very interesting seminar at the Fernbank Museum
of Natural History in Atlanta, in which Jean Miele, who currently
has an exhibit of landscape photography at the museum, discussed
his use of Photoshop and digital printing. His style of landscape
fine art photography evokes Ansel Adams and other "zone"
photographers, but his approach to process in PS and print
digitally (using Fuji Crystal Archive lightjets) is more unique to
the genre. Anyway, I was somewhat "zoning" myself by the time the
seminar was over and came home to process the images I had taken in
BW.

Fernbank is the permanent home of the world's largest dinosaurs.
Giganotosaurus is the largest carnivorous dinosaur discovered
(larger than T-Rex), as well as the largest two-legged animal
known, and Argentinosaurus, at 120 feet long, is the largest known
land dinosaur. Both were discovered in South America within the
past ten years, and it has taken several years for Fernbank to
become their permanent home.

All 5 images were shot with the Canon D30 using the 28-135 IS, ISO
100 in CRW raw format. Converted with Canon software and processed
in PS with all custom methods. To test the IS lens, which I am
fairly new to, thoroughly, I shot with the low ISO and hand held.
Exposures ranged from 1/30 to 1/4 second. Not one shot exhibited
blur, even zooming to 400% in PS for examination. Each of the 5
shots displayed here were processed in under 10 minutes each. (Very
little dodge/burn, since this isn't really fine art.)

Anyway, an interesting siminar and the dinosaurs are incredible.

http://michaelphoto.net/10-20-01/

Michael

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When I saw this topic I was execting it to be another Digital versus film debate .

I will say that the use of B&W was very effective and reminded me that I should try it occasionally.

Karl

Michael Thomas Mitchell said:

Today, I attended a very interesting seminar at the Fernbank Museum
of Natural History in Atlanta, in which Jean Miele, who currently
has an exhibit of landscape photography at the museum, discussed
his use of Photoshop and digital printing. His style of landscape
fine art photography evokes Ansel Adams and other "zone"
photographers, but his approach to process in PS and print
digitally (using Fuji Crystal Archive lightjets) is more unique to
the genre. Anyway, I was somewhat "zoning" myself by the time the
seminar was over and came home to process the images I had taken in
BW.

Fernbank is the permanent home of the world's largest dinosaurs.
Giganotosaurus is the largest carnivorous dinosaur discovered
(larger than T-Rex), as well as the largest two-legged animal
known, and Argentinosaurus, at 120 feet long, is the largest known
land dinosaur. Both were discovered in South America within the
past ten years, and it has taken several years for Fernbank to
become their permanent home.

All 5 images were shot with the Canon D30 using the 28-135 IS, ISO
100 in CRW raw format. Converted with Canon software and processed
in PS with all custom methods. To test the IS lens, which I am
fairly new to, thoroughly, I shot with the low ISO and hand held.
Exposures ranged from 1/30 to 1/4 second. Not one shot exhibited
blur, even zooming to 400% in PS for examination. Each of the 5
shots displayed here were processed in under 10 minutes each. (Very
little dodge/burn, since this isn't really fine art.)

Anyway, an interesting siminar and the dinosaurs are incredible.

http://michaelphoto.net/10-20-01/

Michael

Click to expand...

Karl,

I had exactly the same expectation, ...what a pleasant surprise to discover what was really here !

Larry

Karlg said:

I will say that the use of B&W was very effective and reminded me
that I should try it occasionally.

Karl

Michael Thomas Mitchell said:

Today, I attended a very interesting seminar at the Fernbank Museum
of Natural History in Atlanta, in which Jean Miele, who currently
has an exhibit of landscape photography at the museum, discussed
his use of Photoshop and digital printing. His style of landscape
fine art photography evokes Ansel Adams and other "zone"
photographers, but his approach to process in PS and print
digitally (using Fuji Crystal Archive lightjets) is more unique to
the genre. Anyway, I was somewhat "zoning" myself by the time the
seminar was over and came home to process the images I had taken in
BW.

Fernbank is the permanent home of the world's largest dinosaurs.
Giganotosaurus is the largest carnivorous dinosaur discovered
(larger than T-Rex), as well as the largest two-legged animal
known, and Argentinosaurus, at 120 feet long, is the largest known
land dinosaur. Both were discovered in South America within the
past ten years, and it has taken several years for Fernbank to
become their permanent home.

All 5 images were shot with the Canon D30 using the 28-135 IS, ISO
100 in CRW raw format. Converted with Canon software and processed
in PS with all custom methods. To test the IS lens, which I am
fairly new to, thoroughly, I shot with the low ISO and hand held.
Exposures ranged from 1/30 to 1/4 second. Not one shot exhibited
blur, even zooming to 400% in PS for examination. Each of the 5
shots displayed here were processed in under 10 minutes each. (Very
little dodge/burn, since this isn't really fine art.)

Anyway, an interesting siminar and the dinosaurs are incredible.

http://michaelphoto.net/10-20-01/

Michael

Click to expand...

Click to expand...