Forget Fog

Spring Forest in Fog_2884

For Hospital Art, most authorities say forget it when it comes to fog; don't do it. But when I got up this morning and saw fog out the window I immediately grabbed my camera and headed out for the woods.

I like the moodiness of fog; the softness. It reduces contrast and reveals subtle colors. However, research suggests that clear blue skies are preferred; at least in patient rooms.

The shot above shows our bluffs overlooking Hiller's Creek. It was one of the pictures from this morning.

Comments

[Bill Knight]

Henry, as a fan, but not much of a customer, I have an interest in getting a better on-line glimpse of some of your images, such as today's. Do you feel it would be giving too much away if you were to occasionally publish a somewhat higher res version of an image to gratify your more "virtual" followers? Do you feel that a computer screen is has limitation such that it is no place you would ever consider it to be place where you could "realize" a work?

I wonder what I would pay to visit, or to subscribe to a virtual Domke wildlife and nature park? For every real sculpture park I have visited I have visited ten on-line. I myself tend to think of the Internet as a destination in itself. Do any photographers?

[hdomke]

Bill,
Yes, I wish I could put up bigger images.
The trouble has to do with download times. Aren't you on dial-up at your farm?

Any time you want to see a larger image, just tell me and I'll email it to you.

[Bill Knight]

Thanks for your offer Henry.

Yes I am on dial-up. Interesting. I didn't know that people with dial-up are a consideration for bloggers these days. I had the impression that we are a minority and of diminishing significance.

I am curious to see what one of your images looks like to you, as you make editing choices on your own monitor. The computer monitor is the central medium isn't it, after the camera, before the print ? It's where you do most of your work. The eventual print on paper is more akin to a recording than a live performance, isn't it? Yes, I'm sure you make decisions based on foreknowledge of how things will read in the print. Are they two separate endeavors, the print and the LCD? Do you consider the computer display vastly inferior to the print? If so, I see a conundrum, because printing has so little plasticity compared to Photoshop. At least that is what I imagine. I have wet my feet in rudimentary image adjusting, which I find to be absolutely wondrous and entrancing, but I have no experience with printing, other than viewing your work "in the flesh".

[hdomke]

"I didn't know that people with dial-up are a consideration...I had the impression that we are a minority"
I would guess that no more than 75% of people have high speed internet connections.

"The eventual print on paper is more akin to a recording than a live performance, isn't it? "
Yes! The real performance is the many hours I spend in Photoshop. It is there that I apply the ideas of painting and image construction.

"Are they two separate endeavors, the print and the LCD? Do you consider the computer display vastly inferior to the print?" They are two very similar ways of showing a static image in 2D. But at this point, a well prepared and printed image on paper is vastly superior to that on a computer display. There are subtleties of color and tone that just can't be shown on computer displays...yet. But this is changing, monitors are improving.

" I have wet my feet in rudimentary image adjusting, which I find to be absolutely wondrous and entrancing" Watch out! It can be addicting. You might want to try out printing sometime. It has gotten easier and better. You can buy an Epson Stylus Pro 3800 for only $1,200. The quality is astonishing.

[Bill Knight]

Thanks for the great answers Henry!

[Bill Knight]

There's a bit of a philosphical conundrum isn't there? How can the quality of a recording (print) surpass the perfomance (monitor) it records? It sounds as though you have to use a lot of acquired knowledge of what how the final result, though invisible on the monitor, will present itself. I suppose you must run trial prints and get feedback that way, much as theatrical scenery painter (if there still are such things!) has to continually walk to the back of the theater to see how his work reads.