I just want to say thanks for doing videos about actual photography TECHNIQUE and not just gear. As much as I do enjoy learning about gear (and I know gear videos do well for creators on RU-vid), there is definitely a need for more videos on how to actually use your gear (beyond just beginner level stuff). I also happen to be an aspiring landscape photographer so your content is especially useful for me. At times it feels like Photography RU-vid is just a perpetual buyers guide of gear to buy, and it is refreshing to get a break from that.
it was great to see you applying sound advice in areas I'm familiar with. I think its time go to back for a redo on some of my images. Thank you for your good work!
Enjoying the change of pace working on the coast in the last few videos Your thought process is super informative as always. Keep up the good work Todd ; )
When you talk about the atmosphere, the misty whitish sky is what the atmosphere is. I would love to embrace the scene as it is, although I may wish a constrast here.
Thanks, Todd. I wish I had seen this about three weeks ago. Two weeks ago I had four days in the area where you are shooting (based in Brookings, OR). I ran into all the challenges you mentioned and addressed. This is great content. I’ll be coming back to this video again!
I learned the Adams Zone System in 1971 from his 1968 edition books in the Basic Photo Series when there were TEN Zone, like the ten fingers he played piano with, Zone 0 to Zone 9. In the forward to The Negative he explained that a using the term “Zones” had been confusing because so many thought Zone = EV Value or f/stop when exposing and to mentally substitute the term “Print Value”. He later added an 11th Zone 10 to clarify the confusion of how to reproduce a Zone 9 SCENE value on the print. He made the change because many placed Zone 9 on the clear paper base, resulting in blowing out the specular reflections on white sunlit objects by over developing their negatives. Zone / Print Value 10 is a specular reflection on a Zone / Print Value sunlit smooth white object like a dinner plate or hood of a white car. What is interesting about Zone 10 specular highlights is that they are as important to the perception of 3D shape on Zone 1 black objects as they are on Zone 9 white ones in some situations like a black cat sitting on a black surface where you don’t see any shadows clues. The thing to wrap one’s head around is that a “white” object in the scene needs to be reproduced on screen or print as a light shade of gray because max 255 output on screen and white paper base on print MUST be reserved for the Zone 10 SPECULAR HIGHLIGHTS. The same is true in the shadows a Zone 1 black object needs to be rendered lighter than black to seen in front of a black Zone 0 void. Technically correct exposure of a negative is when Zone 0 is reproduced with the clear film base and Zone 1 is the first density visible on the negative in the shadows. We Adams acolytes would file our enlarger negative carriers larger than the frame so when printing an uncropped negative there would be a black Zone 0 max black border around it proving to the world “I NAILED MY EXPOSURE” when the Zone 1 scene detail printed just a shade darker. What B&W film can do that other color films and digital sensors can’t is capture detail everywhere from darkest Zone 0 to Zone 9 smooth sunlit white with “seen by eye” detail, and in outdoor scenes Adams was famous photographing MORE detail in the shadows than seen by eye because of the way the pupils of the eye constrict to correctly expose the brightest parts of the scene. We see detail in the shadows, but only when our eyes focus attention there and adjust. That was part of the WOW! factor of seeing an Adams print in person. I got hired by National Geographic in 1974 to work in its Photomechanical Lab where I make halftone, duotone, tri-tone CYM Sepia and CYMK color separations of photos and map relief created by the Cartographic artists. What we can now do to change the reproduction of a file with the three sliders in LEVELS I did with three different exposures on a copy camera with a contact screen and high contrast litho film. Ten years later in 80s I had the opportunity to work with a dozen original prints when one of the magazines we printed at the US Info Agency printing plant were I was production manager printed a story about him. I did the camera work myself using a long range double black duotone technique I developed at NGS to reproduce the Zone 0 - 2 shadow transitions. With digital in high contrast sunny cross lighting nailing the Zone 10 / Zone 9 separation of specular reflections from the sun on smooth white sun lit areas is easy. Just increase exposure until triggering the clipping warning in the Zone 9 white and back off 1/3 stop. That might underexpose the Zone 9 highlight a bit, it will ensure not losing the critical clues to 3D shape that Zone 10 (255) / Zone 9 (254-245) contrast creates perceptually. Some shadow detail will be lost in a single exposure on a sunny day in cross lighting and the workarounds are: compose the shot so shadow detail isn’t critically; put sun over the shoulders and flat light on subject; shoot with a tripod, bracket about 3 stops and combine with HDR, or; carry two speedlights to change range in foreground to match range of sensor. I started using Photoshop with V1 back in the early 90s went added layers and masks I would bracket exposures on a tripod, use the highlight exposure as the background, copy the shadow exposure into it and add a black mask, then open the mask selectively where I want to add the shadow detail missing from the first exposed to the right file. It’s like burning in with detail 😊 I now use Affinity Photo 2 and still prefer that method when bracketing and combining to reproduce detail everywhere. When I want a full range of detail in a B&W conversion which does not contain the sky I just shoot on cloudy / overcast day when scene contrast is equal to or less than sensor range then adjust contrast when editing.
During our summer time in Dubai the humidity causes the sky to blow out, you can't see a mile in front of you. You pack up and find a cool spot with AC cooling. 😰
