Friday, March 18, 2011

The Blacksmith and his Tools


PHOTOGRAPHER'S JOURNAL - It's not clear what Will is heating on his forge, but he's waiting a moment before grabbing it with the tongs. A few moments earlier he set the small tongs on the swage block, dropping a glove on the corner of the hearth. If you look closely beside the glove you will see some of the leaves he has been forging.

6 comments:

Ginnie said...

This looks very HDRish to me, Ted. As you may remember, I'm a big fan of HDR, even if from a single raw image. Once again, in this image you have nailed what 'smithing' is all about!

Trotter said...

Hi Ted! Amazing the veins on that arm... Wonderful shot!!

OK; I know that contemporary art doesn’t take unanimous approval... But some pieces are worth seeing. Check it at Blogtrotter Two, enjoy and have a superb weekend!!

Emery Roth said...

Ginnie - There's no HDR here, but there is considerable manipulation to balance tonalities and bring out elements that were in shadow. in the original, the brick is considerably more subdued.

Real HDR, as you know, takes multiple shots at different exposures. Results for moving subjects can be odd and sometimes interesting.

I know some photographers like to use the tools in HDR software to make HDR-like manipulations on a single image. However, if I'm not doing real HDR I prefer plug-ins that are designed to do the kinds of manipulations I want. I've found Topaz Adjust to be especially useful in this regard. It's more straight forward in its labeling of tools and far more flexible/extensive in what it can do than trying to get there through Photomatix and a single exposure. I've even used TopazAdjust on top of an HDR. Usually HDR processing only gets me part way.

If this or any looks too light or dark I need to hear that. Brightness is the hardest element of a monitor to tune accurately.

Emery Roth said...

Thank you, Trotter. I hope I didn't say anything to imply I don't like contemporary art. That's far from the case, and for a long time I was even trying to photograph in the style of Mark Rothko. For years a friend and I taught a "history of civilization through the arts" course for advanced high school seniors. The best fun of the year came in the spring when we reached the 20th century and got to introduce kids who loved Punk, Hip hop, Country, and Ska to Pierrot Lunaire. Nothing in such appreciations should keep me or anyone from also adoring Rembrandt and Bach.

Thanks for stopping by.

Trotter said...

I can imagine those kids struggling with Schönberg... ;)

Emery Roth said...

Fortunately, we had use of the school's planetarium where kids could relax and listen on the carpeted floor while we dimmed the lights to let the imagery of the music and poetry expand.