Here is an example from today of something I am trying to practice more and more in my photography – the idea of visualization as defined by Ansel Adams. The image above on the left is my attempt at editing a photo to complete my “vision” that I had before I touched my camera to take this photo, the image on the right is the .jpg that my camera produced after I fiddled with all of my settings and took the photo. (if you click on them you can view them full screen.)
Here is a quote from Ansel Adams himself on the topic:
“The term visualization refers to the entire emotional-mental process of creating a photograph, and as such is one of the most important concepts in photography. It includes the ability to anticipate a final image before making the exposure, so that the procedures employed will contribute to achieving the desired result. This much of the creative process can be practiced and learned, beyond lies the domain of personal vision and insight, the creative “eye” of the individual, which cannot be taught only recognized and encouraged.” (Ansel Adams, The Camera, page 1)
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The Camera, The Negative, and The Print, are a trilogy of books that Adams originally published in the early 1980s and they are all about the photographic process. Each one begins with the discussion of visualization and how the instructions and skills discussed in the books about using/making the camera, the negative, and the print come back to this idea that you should be thinking about your photos before you take them. Even though Adams was working exclusively with film, all of these books are still well worth the read if you are interested in photography. These days, if you’re a digital photographer – the tools would be the camera, editing software, and the print.
I feel that the editing process is something I largely avoid, I prefer to make the magic happen “in camera” as much as possible. But I do know that editing can come in useful from time to time. I am determined to learn new things about this hobby so this post is an attempt at the whole photographic process for me – visualization, taking the picture, and the edit. The only missing component is printing, which is a whole other rodeo I’ll figure out another day. With the image above before I touched my camera, I “saw” the final image in black and white with a darker/moody background. I think the edit reflects that. I blew out the highlights on accident, but hey, it’s a learning process right?
Do you do this? What do you think?
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