First one out. Well not exactly, Martins print actually showed up in the mail today. Mine went to the mailbox today.
This is a print I’m working these days. I find it challenging to pinpoint the right mood. Keeping the dim atmosphere without making the print dark and muddy. The prints I have made now is maybe more on the lighter side. Anyway, please feel free to comment on other stuff as well once it arrives in the mail.
Time to kick-off some comments. had your print up for about a week now, so have got to know it, so to speak.
First up, the print is very dark. I’m having to view it under the brightest lights I have to see it properly, or on a bright day. This also means that it turns into nothing more than a streak of light on a dark background at a few paces. I’ll come back to this in a bit.
the actual image is excellent. With the subject and the title I think you’ve really captured the spirit of the place. The light ahead hints at an inviting path, but might well lead us nowhere but deep into the woods. The whole thing speaks of turning weather, cool conditions and a sense of discovery. hints at animal tracks and few human beings.
This is why the darkness overall is something of a disappointment – the great detail that brings all that together is somewhat lost. The web version here is maybe a bit bright (on my screen) but I’d love to see more of the details coming out of the shadows. It would be great to look at this from across the room and be mentally whisked away to the woods, which doesn’t quite happen at present.
Thanks for kicking off Martin. I’m in Denmark with my wife right now, but once In back I will start commenting as well. This comment is written on my mobile phone, and this is about as long as it is practical to write.
I’m back Martin, and I totally understand your comment.
What you say is in fact one of the difficulties I have with printing, and how to get the tonality right. I have been printing this photo quite many times, trying to get the dark mood, and still be able to see it under normal light. The problem is to define “normal light”. Low key prints are maybe the prints I performs worst on.
I guess what you ask for in this image is more separation in the shadows, and pulling the mid tones slightly up. As it is, this print do require strong spotlight to show off.
I’ve had this print sitting on my print stand since I received it, looking at it and comparing to what I see on screen.
The screen version really works well because of that inner glow that a monitor can give a picture. The print version at first was a disappointment, the glow was missing.
But after reading these comments again I decided to flick on my viewing lights (which for reason I had not done for viewing this) and the print came back to life for me. The strong light lifted the lighter areas into a glow and helped seperate the shadow details although the top left and right are still a little blocked up.
Definitley one for a strong light and a reminder for me to turn these lights on more often when viewing pictures as singular prints or in books.
I have made a new version of this now that are a bit lighter, and it actually works much better on screen as well.
For me, this was a reminder to pick the print out of the stand and walk around the apartment with it, seeing how it looks under different light.