Daan L / 陸達恩
666 (The City)
Amsterdam
June 2012
The Netherlands
On processing:
I've been getting a lot of nice feedback on my processing, but i had never really thought about the process and why i do these things the way that i do them. I wrote a little reflective piece on my workflow, in a way just for myself, but since i have it in writing i'm going to share it with you all. Perhaps it illuminates some aspects of postprocessing or photography in general as i see it.
In shooting color, as a photograper, you have an extra factor that can help you communicate your focus. So where composition and light are all you have in B&W. In color you have an extra dimension (color) to communicate with. Some colors stand out more, are more intense or clash, those contraditions even out in black white and grey.
So what i consciously or unconsciously try to do is remedy that, first off by lighting, just looking for that spot of light amongst the darkess or vice versa and by being very clear (at least i hope) in my composotions.
Secondly in processing, i try to make sure that my main focus is also what draws in the viewer. I do this by vignetting, burning and sometimes (try to limit this as much) local exposure compensation.
I get that some photographers argue that this is artifical, and i agree, but i think that photography is a very subjective and selective process anyway. You are never going to get the truth, or reality in pictures. You are getting what a photographer wants you to see, what he or she selected in shooting, developing and then re-selecting to display it to a certain audience .
I feel free to process and adapt my image untill it fits with what i envisioned when i took the shot. I try to embrace the tools that are available to reach that goal, tools that allow me to be as creative as i want to be. Limiting myself only by my sense of taste and my intuition rather than what is considered to be "the right way" to take a picture, or "the right way" to present a picture.
Furthermore, I don't like the ''soft'' somewhat bland look of a lot of b&w shots. I want contrast and structure, i want the viewer to see every gritty detail, to be in a way, uncompromising."
Urban life in the Netherlands
Ricoh GRD IV
Please do not reproduce or use this picture without my explicit permission.
If you ask nicely I will probably say yes, just ask me first!
If you happen to be in one of my frames and have any objections to this.
Please contact me!
Please no glossy awards, scripted comments and big thumbnails back to your own work.
I will remove them...
666 (The City)
Amsterdam
June 2012
The Netherlands
On processing:
I've been getting a lot of nice feedback on my processing, but i had never really thought about the process and why i do these things the way that i do them. I wrote a little reflective piece on my workflow, in a way just for myself, but since i have it in writing i'm going to share it with you all. Perhaps it illuminates some aspects of postprocessing or photography in general as i see it.
In shooting color, as a photograper, you have an extra factor that can help you communicate your focus. So where composition and light are all you have in B&W. In color you have an extra dimension (color) to communicate with. Some colors stand out more, are more intense or clash, those contraditions even out in black white and grey.
So what i consciously or unconsciously try to do is remedy that, first off by lighting, just looking for that spot of light amongst the darkess or vice versa and by being very clear (at least i hope) in my composotions.
Secondly in processing, i try to make sure that my main focus is also what draws in the viewer. I do this by vignetting, burning and sometimes (try to limit this as much) local exposure compensation.
I get that some photographers argue that this is artifical, and i agree, but i think that photography is a very subjective and selective process anyway. You are never going to get the truth, or reality in pictures. You are getting what a photographer wants you to see, what he or she selected in shooting, developing and then re-selecting to display it to a certain audience .
I feel free to process and adapt my image untill it fits with what i envisioned when i took the shot. I try to embrace the tools that are available to reach that goal, tools that allow me to be as creative as i want to be. Limiting myself only by my sense of taste and my intuition rather than what is considered to be "the right way" to take a picture, or "the right way" to present a picture.
Furthermore, I don't like the ''soft'' somewhat bland look of a lot of b&w shots. I want contrast and structure, i want the viewer to see every gritty detail, to be in a way, uncompromising."
Urban life in the Netherlands
Ricoh GRD IV
Please do not reproduce or use this picture without my explicit permission.
If you ask nicely I will probably say yes, just ask me first!
If you happen to be in one of my frames and have any objections to this.
Please contact me!
Please no glossy awards, scripted comments and big thumbnails back to your own work.
I will remove them...