A Few Thoughts On Color
Color from capture to output
Sometimes being lazy is a good thing. That sounds strange but realize I do not mean being lazy in every single area of an endeavor or life such as being slothful. What I mean is being lazy in a particular aspect of something can make you more attentive and industrious in another. Let's take digital post-processing as an example. I tend to be extremely lazy when it comes to sitting in front of a computer dialing with images.
All the new innovations foisted off on us as time-saving tools are anything but what they are advertised as. Why do we need to “save time” on activities we probably should avoid doing at all? Here’s an innovation, don’t make frames that require replacing backgrounds, radical changes in color relationships (or any), diddling about with what is in the frame, etc, etc. Sure, there are commercial endeavors where a carefully planned composite or the ability to remove a background completely for graphic design purposes in advertising content can be a big time saver. In most cases that’s not where photographers waste all sorts of time in post.
The use of all the innovative time-saving technology makes many of us visually lazy which is far worse for creativity and visual awareness than any lack of post-processing capabilities.
A Simple Case Study
Over the last couple of years since publishing our Fine Art Printing eBook, there have been a few occasions where other photographers have asked me; ”How did you make those fruit and vegetable pictures?”
Surprisingly, every single one of them really wasn’t asking how the picture was made, instead, they were asking how I post-processed it to get that background. Yep, they made the assumption I made it in Photoshop. I spent a grand total of zero time in any software for those illustrations. Well, not really zero as I did import them into Capture One, exported them to small JPEG files, and then opened them up on my iPhone so I could run them on Pantone’s app that generates the little color palette automatically which I thought was cool for the discussion in that eBook.
So, how was the picture made? I made all of those illustrations in about 15 minutes. That doesn’t count the setup and breakdown time because I’m lazy. I had the lighting gear and grip already sitting there set up from some other thing I did. I also am lazy in that I didn’t put any of it away. I hate putting things away that I am just going to need to set up again. If I had to do that, I’d not even bother most of the time (lazy). Then again being lazy about that paves the way to make more stuff.
Here’s the recipe:
Grabbed the first thing of appropriate height where I could shoot straight on.
I needed a stand for the round fruits/vegetables so I took the knife out of my pocket and stood it straight up with one of those crappy spring clamps as a base.
I stuck each piece of round fruit on it in turn and clicked the shutter button.
That’s it, really, nothing else. Oh, what about that background?
I grabbed the first piece of thick paper-like substance that would fill the frame as a background and was kinda white. Turned out there was a brown piece of old matte board lying conveniently in reach (a little larger than 12” x 12”). Too bad it was more cream than white on the back.
I cut a 1.5in hole in the back of it slightly above where my fruit/veg knife stand was.
I stuck a Profoto D1 behind that board.
I stuck the fruit/veg on the knife.
I twisted a Profoto 1ft x 3ft softbox with grid also powered by a D1 around until I got the light on the fruit/veg and knife the way I thought would be okay and off the background.
That’s it. It took me more time to find fruits and veg in the kitchen that were remotely photographable than anything else.
What about that gradient, how does that work, etc.? Think about it for a moment and even those who never used a strobe will “get it”. I think of strobes as little repositioned suns. That’s sort of what they are except for the falloff due to how much closer they are but the same stuff happens out there in the wild. That bit of sun comes through the hole and blasts into the colored piece of fruit (or anything else). The light is now colored the same and bounces off it onto the white (sorta) background. You can control that radial gradient by moving the fruit closer or farther away from the background.
In this case, I wanted the falloff/gradient/vignette to be extreme so I moved the fruit closer. I could make it softer by moving it farther away from the background. I can also control its brightness via the power on the strobe (hard to do with the sun but... can be done with your shutter speed and bringing light into the front of the subject).
Take Aways
What is the point? why would non-strobe-wielding photographers care? Why bother at all? Well, I am generally confused by color, specifically when there are more than two colors in the frame. It becomes unintelligible visually for me and my limited ability to make sense of subjects compositionally. I have two modes when it comes to color. Monochromatic or close to it is the first mode as illustrated here. I don’t mean black and white but more all of the colors are the same or very close and the differentiation is light and shadow. The other mode is color contrast where I have two colors and they contrast sharply with each other. I am a sucker for a saturated pure color on a white or neutral background. Gets me every time.
This kind of thing happens all the time in nature and out and about if you bother looking. The sun goes through things bounces off of things and projects color. All you have to do is look for this and find the right juxtapositions. I’m lazy, I don’t want to “fix” or construct these things in post. I’d rather spend my time looking harder. I’m lazy and impatient in that I don’t want to wait for appropriate conditions (like daytime, or overcast, or sunny) so I simulate them with strobes.
What could you be lazy at so that your attention span and energy be focused somewhere else productively?
The origin of my previous comment was my spending so much time editing a shoot I did. I use Photoshop every single day. Maybe I’m addicted to it. I love postprocessing, but in certain circumstances like event photography, I think it’s better to try shooting it well lit and color balanced the first time. I’m a digital collage artist and I love everything post processing affords me.
ouch. My photographs (in my library, assembled over years, via many cameras, & scanned from older camera images) are building blocks. I shoot an object, an angle, a color, ad infinitum. I use parts of them, build on them, change them. I composite. Photoshop is my main digital tool, before I print, cut, form. "Post processing" is how I make art. I spent years doing production for customers, before retirement. It was never a waste of time. I learned a lot. Now I can take that experience and those tools, and I can finally make whatever I dream up. Definitely not commercial - waaay too slow. I can be as picky as I choose, until I'm satisfied that I've communicated how and what I want to say. Someone will respond to it, sometime. To each their own joy and calling - with no disrespect towards other forms.