Tuesday, March 31, 2015

'Yucca Carousel' - a montage of 2 sandwiches.

(Two sandwiches you say? WTF?!..is this blog turning into a deli?)
Yes, a montage of 2 sandwiches  - one at the bottom, one at the top, definitely risky, who knows what it will really look like. I like biting something like this off, and seeing what will happen.
The photoshop 'sketch' that i did was deceptive, here's what the sandwich looks like in photoshop - i set the top layer 'view' options to 'screen' - which gives some approximation of what a sandwich will look like.


The sandwich at the bottom was some rocks in Valley of Fire at a spot called 'seven sisters' These rocks look like they are kissing, don't they?

 

 ...and a carousel at the 'Casa de Frutas' south of San Jose CA.

I keep using this one because it is just too good a symbol.
A symbol of when times were less complicated.

The top is a sandwich of a cactus in Nevada, and a stormy sky.


The prints i ended w/ with were a pleasant surprise. Take a risk, go out on a limb - it's only paper, chemistry, and a bit of time.
The 'dodging/burning' thing is really simple - the bottom was exposed about like this:


The top was done about the same way, each one a reciprocal of the other.
If I've said it once, I've said it a thousand times: it's not about tricks, it's about choice of negatives, and composition.

I did two prints each with a different treatment of the top, i moved the sky neg around a bit. Which is best? Viewers choice.


 

I've started carefully doing what i can only call 'hybrids' - a darkroom print that gets substantial photoshop work done on it. It started a few years ago, and there's only a few of them. I ain't dragging my Beseler 45MX2 to the trash anytime soon, no way.

So here's what the hybrids look like, there's only a few levels layers added, some w/ masks for specific areas.

Yeah, I know the differences are not earthshaking, and difficult to see on the web at 72ppi, especially the one at the bottom - I kinda like the one on the top more - it lightens the rocks more, adds more tension.

As always, larger images at a page on my website:

www.bobbennettphoto.net/BeachBlog_2015/YuccaCarousel/index.html

In the 'whatever catches my eye file this month?, just a few, but well worth your attention:

http://www.theatlantic.com/photo/

http://lens.blogs.nytimes.com/2015/03/23/sebastio-salgados-journey-from-brazil-to-the-world/?_r=0

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/03/22/business/at-kodak-clinging-to-a-future-beyond-film.html

This one may take a few moments to load - it's worth the wait:
http://abcnews.go.com/Lifestyle/photos/mountainous-waves-29926031

A good laugh, and then some:
http://blog.sfgate.com/morford/2015/03/23/the-10-best-things-about-ted-cruz-running-for-president/

Oh, I mentioned 'tricks' above?
Here's a great music link on that one, from the late great Warren Zevon:
"For my next trick i'll need a volunteer"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U7lOYCO2Xn8

Coming up next?
'Unbound'