You can accomplish a believable feel (or any other feel) by inserting adjustment layers and layer masks, and then independently modifying the contrast and brightness of each of the two constituent images. Adjustment layers, including Levels and Curves, can be used to render the exterior capture in lower contrast high key, and use additional adjustment layers and layer masks to render the interior somewhat darker with lower contrast than you would use if you were printing the interior as a standalone image. Now you have an image that conveys a better sense of reality.
My observations are that too few people do this. Too many digital practitioners look upon these options the same way kids look at a giant toy box: “It’s there, so let’s go crazy!” I’ve seen images in which the exterior seems to be lit identically to that of the interior. This makes no realistic sense, and is almost cartoonish. Keep your goals in mind. If you really want to create an abstraction, go for it! But if you want a sense of reality, think about the logic of light. In the actual scene, there could hardly be anything outside the window that is darker than anything inside. Maybe you can get away with a little tonal overlap, but not much.
The reason I bring up this issue is that the history of photography clearly shows that images with realism are the most powerful of all. Photography is extraordinarily good at depicting reality. This is why Jacob Riis’s photographs of sweatshops in the late 1800s led to child labor laws, and W. Eugene Smith’s photographs of victims of mercury poisoning in Japan awakened the entire world to the perils of industrial pollution, and Ansel Adams’s photographs of the hidden interior Sierra Nevada Mountains led to the creation of Kings Canyon National Park. Photography is most powerful when it conveys a sense of reality and believability, not when it careens off into tonal or color illogic or utter silliness.
Since there are so many books written about digital editing and printing—books about Photoshop in particular—it seems unnecessary to double the size of this book while shedding no more light on the subject. Instead, let me recommend a few current books that seem to have the best advice on using Photoshop, which is still the industry standard.
For a comprehensive discussion of Photoshop, consider: Photoshop CS5 Photographer’s Handbook by Stephen Laskevitch, Rocky Nook, 2010; Real World Adobe Photoshop CS4 for Photographers by Conrad Chavez and David Blatner, Peachpit Press, 2009; and Adobe Photoshop CS4 for Photographers by Martin Evening, Focal Press, 2009. For a thorough treatment of image sharpening, see Real World Image Sharpening With Adobe Photoshop, Camera RAW and Lightroom, Second Edition, by Bruce Fraser and Jeff Schewe, Peachpit Press, 2010. For an exhaustive discussion of techniques for making selections, masking, and compositing images, see Practical HDRI–2nd Edition by Jack Howard, Rocky Nook, 2010; Photographic Multishot Techniques by Juergen and Rainer Gulbins, Rocky Nook, 2009; and Photoshop Masking & Compositing by Katrin Eismann, New Riders, 2005.
Let me close this chapter by suggesting an idea that can be of value to black-and-white digital printers. It’s the idea of making a 9-zone step tablet. I don’t use anything like this for my classical printing because I’ve refined my inspection and evaluation of prints in the darkroom (see Chapter 10), but you may find this to be of value at the computer to help correlate the image as it appears on the computer display with the tonalities of the black-and-white print.
To make the step tablet in Photoshop, open a new file (from the File Menu select New), size appropriately (say 4″ × 8″), use the Rectangular Marquee Tool (m) to draw the boundaries of the tablet, select the Gradient Tool (g or Shift+g), set the colors to default (d), and draw a gradient from black to white. Then posterize the image: from the Image Menu select Adjustments and choose Posterize with levels set at 9. You can augment the step tablet by typing the ink percentage on each step using the sampling tool to determine the ink density for each step.
Print the step tablet on the same paper you use for your prints and have it available for reference as you refine your images. You can also paste the tablet onto the edge of an image you are editing for ready reference as you work. Use the sampling tool to compare values in the image to a known density in the step tablet. Note that I have intentionally avoided making recommendations for the placement of values. Objects in grayscale imagery are amenable to an almost unlimited variety of tonal renderings. Regardless of whether the process is traditional or digital, you should feel free to place values as you deem appropriate. The step tablet simply gives the digital photographer tonal references to help visualize the final image.
In the town square, just north of Lake Titicaca, I saw the Mondrianesque geometry and colors of the buildings, with the boy on the vendor’s tricycle adding the extra touch to make the photograph sing. I quickly made the digital capture before anything changed.
Figure 11-25. Boy on Tricycle, Moho, Peru
Chapter 12. Presentation
A FINE PHOTOGRAPH deserves an appropriate presentation. The presentation should enhance the photograph without overwhelming or detracting from it. The frame or method of displaying the photograph should not draw attention to itself. The best presentation is understated, simple, and conservative. Showy presentations detract from the image and are needed only if the photograph is inherently weak. I feel that a fine photograph looks best when dry mounted. A dry mounted print has the structural support of the mount board, it lies perfectly flat, and it appears to have been given greater care than an unmounted print.
Corner mounted, overmatted prints have always enjoyed a degree of popularity, but I am somewhat ambivalent to them. Such prints can be made to lay reasonably flat with only a small bow or ripple; and if the mount board is damaged, the print can be easily removed and remounted on a new board. This has obvious advantages, yet I still prefer the look of a smooth, dry mounted print.
Research by the Center for Creative Photography at the University of Arizona shows that all dry mount tissue ever produced in the United States, and all dry mount tissue ever produced anywhere (with the exception of one produced for about 18 months in the 1920s in Czechoslovakia), has a neutral Ph, meaning that none of these can harm the life of the print. Furthermore, the research determined that dry mount tissue forms an impervious barrier between the mount board and the print, which means that dry mounting actually improves the life of any print mounted on a board that is not of archival quality. The hinge mounted or corner mounted print would be in direct contact with the inferior board, placing it in jeopardy of degeneration.
It may be difficult—perhaps impossible—to determine what you’re viewing in this image. That is intentional. Rather than thinking, “What am I looking at?” a more important question to ask yourself is, “Does the image interest or intrigue me?” If the subject is obvious, does it strike you as compelling, exciting, well-conceived? If it’s not obvious, is it sufficiently interesting to hold your attention long enough for you to figure it out, or to just enjoy its mystery without seeking an answer? For any image to attract the viewer, it must be well exposed, well composed, well printed, and well presented. Previous chapters dealt with the first three issues; this chapter discusses the fourth.