Fringe of White

The expansion of my experimentation has grown considerably since going digital. I've always liked to play around, tinker and push the creative edge but when I shot film, usually the experimenting was kept in check because of the cost. Also, who wanted to blow through a couple rolls of film only to have a bunch of junk lining the bottom of a waste basket. So often times what would happen is that I would experiment a little, develop the film, make notes on what worked and what didn't and then return to the evolution of the experiment later.

With digital, there is no waiting to see how things turn out. Between my histogram and playback, I can determine what I want to do right on the spot. This makes experimenting and pushing the creative juices more viable. I can work on really accessing ideas and seeing them through in one session without worry that I may have blown a bunch of money on something that didn't pan out.

I had one of these sessions just a short time ago when I visited one of my favorite photographing haunts - Sandy Hook.

The weather was supposed to be partly cloudy throughout the morning. Instead, a heavy bank of clouds settled over the region engulfing the area in a fog for most of the morning. Even though there was to be no sunrise per se', it didn't mean that images couldn't be made. I turned my attention to the idea of seeing how I could play with exposing white. I wanted to see where I could push my limits in exposing for this trickiest of colors.

Anyone who has been shooting long enough knows that white is the most easily manipulated color in the spectrum. You can make it grey, dark grey, bluish, white and lots of shades of off white. As I looked over the shoreline I saw the possibilities of really hugging the line of acceptable highlights in exposing the fog. For the shot above and below, I overexposed them by more than two stops. When I touched at 3 stops over, I incurred some clipping. Though clipping is usually looked at as unacceptable, it really depends on how it plays out in conjunction with the rest of the elements in the scene. When dealing with shades of white, it is easier to accept areas of an image that go off the Histogram chart.

I took the same approach with a fisherman. Exposing for the sky, I overexposed two stops. In post, I over exposed it even more to get my desired effect. The one thing about RAW at 16 bit is its flexibility to really work the digital negative over without sacrificing much. I shot several of these types but after about 6 images I stopped because I remembered that I have files of these types of images at home.

The opportunities to experiment on this particular morning were tremendous. Since I was in the mood for over exposing, I looked to expose for detail in some of the rocks that I was by. Generally, I expose for the highlights and work back. This time I exposed for the dark rocks and the highlights go where they may..., The results were interesting. The shot below is a 15 second shot. The waves clipped but not enough to ruin the effect I was looking to achieve.

I included a vertical in this essay because I find that a lot of photographers camera's are glued to the horizontal position. I too shoot a lot of horizontal but I always make an effort to look at the world with a vertical eye. Not only is it good practice, it also opens images up to another realm of possibilities and ideas.

The other reason to shoot vertical - Magazine covers. It is on rare occasion that an art director will crop a horizontal image for a cover. Otherwise, your best chance at ever gracing the cover of a magazine is to shoot vertical.

As the morning continued, I noticed a fisherman out on the bay. This one was in a small boat. I thought it brave of him to be out there in such poor visibility. But, to each their own. Again, I kept the theme of the day going by really working over the white aspect of the shot. I had to constantly change my composition as the boat moved quite a lot in the bay current.

The two shots are of the same image. The one where it appears to be more of a close up is actually a crop of the original.

Working on the fringes of White proved to be an exciting day of expanding my skills and vision as a photographer. I always like the challenge of seeing how I can adapt to adverse conditions. Whether one fails or succeeds on a particular shoot is immaterial if you meet the challenge head on and give it your best shot. When I come across awkward conditions, all that I can ask of myself is to not shirk away from the challenge. I hope that the next time you come across adverse conditions, you'll remember to take a moment, think about what you could do to make the most of the situation, then capitalize on it as best you can.