Post-processing (even though I don't like doing it)

Mark, originally uploaded by jiihaa.

Bush and reeds, originally uploaded by jiihaa.

Reeds and blue sky, originally uploaded by jiihaa.

Walkway and forest, originally uploaded by jiihaa.

Today was another bright day, despite the clouds. I took some photographs at Elfvik, by the Laajalahti bay. It turned out that most of the images were flat and lifeless, so I had to resort to post-processing to restore some of the vibrancy and the quality of the light pouring through the thin clouds.

Here are four images, all post-processed differently. For the first image I adjusted the levels in LightZone, nothing fancy, trying to keep the branches dark and lighting up the snow a little bit.

For the second one I once again experimented with black and white, doing the conversion in LightZone. I'm starting to like the software more and more, there are endless ways of finetuning the result, but you don't need to do too much manual work. And I'm slowly starting to get some appreciation for black and white photography as well.

For the third image I increased the blueness and contrast of the sky, and brightened the foreground, once again in LightZone, and increased the overall brighteness a bit also.

And the last image? Here I did quite big and visible manipulation, much more than I'm usually interested in doing. I don't really like images of this type, but for some reason I like this particular image nevertheless.

Update: For some reason I started to think about the arrogance of photographers. Those (us) who take photographs and present them for others to see have a kind of arrogance, pointing out: "I saw this, this is important!" It is a kind of boasting about seeing and capturing - preserving a moment of time for eternity.

However, I don't really feel that I have the skill to see better than someone else. Why I take photographs is for myself: by capturing images I'm able to study what the camera saw, and that way understand reality a bit better. And there is of course the hope that by studying these images someone else might also benefit, not because of some special skill of mine for taking photographs, but because each human being finds value differently in different things, and as there as so many of us, some of my images might actually be valuable to someone.

Artistic vs. realistic photographs

Towards sunset, originally uploaded by jiihaa.

Shadow and light, originally uploaded by jiihaa.

Crescent moon, originally uploaded by jiihaa.

Andreas commented photographs from a visit to Elfvik, suggesting that my images are more artistic on some days than on others. I do have a pull towards both of these directions, artistic vs. realistic (if that division makes any sense).

I posted a short note on a related topic a few days ago, discussing the subject matter: '... the opposite ends of my current photography. The first (from today) has a "beautiful" landscape and a touch of color on the sky. The second (from yesterday) is coarse and ugly, depicting decay.'

I seem to be seeking a direction in multiple ways, artistic/realistic, beautiful/ugly. But I don't really know if there is any difference, perhaps it is just a question of good photographs and bad photographs. Because in the end, photography is about communication (although this is a bit simple way of putting it).

These photos are from today, again from a visit to Elvik. It is nice to have longer days now, and they are getting longer faster and faster. The snow on the ground of course makes the days even brighter. This is a good time of the year.

A visit to Elfvik

Orientations, originally uploaded by jiihaa.

Elfvik footpath, originally uploaded by jiihaa.

Thicket and a tree, originally uploaded by jiihaa.

Elfvik entrance, originally uploaded by jiihaa.

Today after work I had a short walk in the Elfvik park by the sea. I was thinking that there would be a nice colorful sunset, but nothing such happened. Instead, there was mostly earth colors, with a big contrast between the snow, the sky and the black bark of the trees.

I aimed for a light feeling in the photos, not avoiding overexposure but instead using +2/3 EV to +1 1/3 EV compensation. The sky had some subtle colors, but mostly I didn't catch them, or even try to. Also, I didn't do post-processing to the photos, preserving them as they were shot.

Because of the cold weather the ground had frozen, and it was possible to walk in areas where a couple of weeks ago there was mud and muddy water. (I have a posting about an earlier visit to Elfvik, then it was very wet.)

When I was leaving, another visitor pointed to my camera and said: "Making cards for the next Christmas?" Well, perhaps the landscape had a bit of a Christmas feeling.