Develop Your Creative Vision

Taking the Ordinary and Bringing Out the Extraordinary

By:Glenn E. Mitchell II

Ansel Adams, by nearly all accounts, was a great photographer. His portraitscaptured the soul of his subjects. His landscapes inspired countless photographers.He paid careful attention to exposure. But what set him apart was his creativevision, his ability to visualize an image (which he called previsualization) before he tripped the shutter button.

Not every Ansel Adams image was a great image. The curators of the AnselAdams Gallery can show you boxes full of negatives that were not deemed worthwhileto work in the darkroom. That’s the way of photography for many of us. WhenI go out to do outdoor photography, I consider it a good day if I return fromthe field with a literal handful of images that are worth even loading intoAdobe Photoshop^®.

What always impressed me about Ansel Adams was his deliberative approachto photography. He would come to know a place. Really know it, so he couldbe there at the right time.

Timing is absolutely critical. Sometimes serendipity smiles, and you’re luckyenough to be at the right place at the right time. In photography, as withmany other human endeavors, fortune favors the prepared. No one knew thatbetter than Ansel Adams.

I happened to see a two-track one day leading off the road near Lamont, Florida.I was driving from Tallahassee to my office in Tampa, and I was driving alonga less-traveled route. It was early morning in late summer. As I drove pastthe two-track, something told me that canopy of trees I just passed wouldmake for a nice shot. So I reversed the car, stopped, and explored. I do thissort of thing. Something will catch my eye. I will stop and study the possibilitiesfor a few minutes and then make a mental note to return at a more fittingtime. The two-track, the forest canopy, and lifting ground fog excited mycreative imagination. What was missing was fall foliage, and that was justa few weeks away.

I waited those several weeks for fall to arrive. Fall foliage in Floridais often rather somber. Every few years, we get some bright yellows and reds.Fortune favored me last autumn. I got out of bed early one Saturday A.M. AsI made the forty mile drive to the site, I noticed that the ground fog wasbeginning to lift. I quickened my pace. If I arrived too late, the fog wouldbe gone, and I would have to try another day. When I arrived, I was rewardedwith beams of sunlight dappling the rutted two-track path. Faint wisps ofground fog were still evident. The fall foliage was just the right touch.Nice yellows and golds. I had to work quickly. Because I had gone over theshot in my mind, I was prepared.

“Sun Dappled Path,” a lonely two-track path angling off thehighway near Lamont, Florida.

Serendipity played her part in this image. My drive past the rutted two-trackone late summer morning started the creative process. This image owes a lotto creative vision: I was able to imagine the photographic possibilities andreturn when autumn changed the leaves and the warm shafts of early morningsunlight were wreathed in lifting ground fog.

The very best photojournalists have the ability to take rather bleak, mundanesubjects and through a combination of composition, exposure, and lightingcraft an image that excites us. Michael Reichmann’s images on The LuminousLandscape can capture the dramatic in something like salvaging a supertankerin Bangladesh. The squalid working conditions and lack of concern for workersafety is palpable in his images. The best photographers can do that. Theycan evoke strong emotions with their images.

Some might argue that creative vision is an innate skill: some people areborn with the ability to see something ordinary and turn their vision intoa profound work of art. In my own case, I believe it is more learned thaninnate. I have read widely and studied the images of a great many photographers,and I continue to discover photographers whose work excites me. I learn fromtheir work.

I believe we are surrounded by many photographic possibilities. Somethingas ordinary as a rusted bolt head can result in an exciting image, when acraftsman like John Shaw marries his creative vision to his considerable experiencewith a macro lens. We need an experienced eye and mastery of technique toinspire people when the same subject would otherwise go unnoticed.

My outdoor photography is a very deliberative process. I have a final printin my mind before I press the button on my shutter cable. The question I askmyself is this: “What do I need to do to help me make that print?” I am forevertelling myself to slow down, sweep my eye all around the viewfinder, stepback and consider all of the creative possibilities. I like working with aphotographic gray card and a mini Macbeth color checker card when I shootbotanical images. Yes, I know I can use the Auto White Balance setting onmy Canon 1Ds MkII and then later twiddle with the white balance and othersettings in Adobe Camera Raw and get the same result. Performing a customwhite balance and taking the pains to try and get the exposure and color “deadon” in the field means I have to slow down. This gives me time to think aboutthe final image I want to craft.

You need to be sensitive to colors, shapes, textures, and how they can combineor contrast, if you want to make an exciting image. I believe that Ansel Adamswould have embraced digital photography. It is so empowering. We can bracketour shots not just from one perspective but from multiple points of view.Where the cost of film and its processing was an important consideration,with a fist full of memory cards we can be more daring and entertain morecreative opportunities.

Digital photography offers us so many more creative possibilities after wepress the shutter release than the days of photographic film. I don’tmiss the days of shooting Fuji Velvia and wondering if I nailed the shot orall those noxious smelling chemicals in the color darkroom. Consider my image,“Sun Dappled Path.” I used my Photoshop skills to enhance thoseyellows and golds in the autumn foliage and even the shaded greens. I hada creative vision from the start, but the RAW file, my digital negative, wasjust the first step to a beautiful print.

“Sunset at Lanark, Florida”

Digital negative for “Sunsetat Lanark, Florida”

This was true also with my image, “Sunset at Lanark, Florida.” The digitalnegative was just the first step in crafting the image I had in mind.

I saw this lone palm tree following an afternoon of photographing birds atSt. George Island, a barrier island near Apalachicola, Florida. On my returnto Tallahassee, I was looking for palm trees that I could use another dayfor a sunset image. Yes, silhouetted palm tree images tend to be trite. SoI knew from the start that I was going to need a healthy supply of creativevision to infuse some excitement into the image. While I stood there in thelate afternoon, I knew I would need a really interesting combination of colors.

A week or two later, I decided to try for the image. I drove well past thespeed limit as twilight approached in order to get to my spot and get my tripodand camera set. I knew the location for the shot. I knew the sky was clear.I saw the creative possibilities in my mind as I raced along the Florida Panhandlecoast. I knew I would have to work fast, and I went over that workflow inmy mind. I was determined to give fortune an even chance of favoring me thatevening while I stood there swatting mosquitoes and noseeums at sunset.

The original image is okay. It is truer to the actual sunset I saw that dayat the back of the Lanark Yacht Club. But I didn’t race 80 or 90 odd milesonly to faithfully reproduce the sunset on that particular day. Photographicfidelity is a preoccupation for something like crime scene photography, notlandscape photography. I had a creative vision of a silhouetted palm againsta colorful sunset. When I reviewed the shots on the camera’s LCD, I was confidentthat my creative vision was there in that digital negative. Like a sculptor,I just needed to chip away what did not belong.

Layers palette for “Sunset at Lanark,Florida”

When you couple your creative vision with mastery of both photographic anddigital darkroom technique, you can expect repeatable results. Successfulphotographs become less the result of luck and more the result of craftsmanship.

You will notice that much of the color and contrast in “Sunset at Lanark,Florida” comes from three duplicate layers, each applying different blendswith varying opacities. A final contrast adjustment was done with Levels.The blues and yellows were tweaked with Selective color. A bright edge ofbacklit clouds needed a bit of protection: a couple of quick brush strokeskept them from posterizing. A few strokes of dodging and burning on a gray-filledoverlay layer were the final touch. It took more than a little experienceto extract the image I had in mind from the Canon RAW file.

Don’t be deterred, if your painting skills are those of the average preschooler.I’m a photographer, not a sketch artist or a painter. I try to use the brushas little as possible, preferring instead to “paint with light” using layerblends, adjustment layers, and simple masks.

Veterans of the digital darkroom will be familiar with layer blend modes,working with adjustment layers and channels, generating masks, and techniqueslike using an overlay layer filled with gray to apply dodge and burn. Noviceswill be bewildered with this part of the discussion. It takes a while to getfamiliar with all of the creative possibilities in Adobe Photoshop^®.

You might find that your creative vision develops faster than your masteryof photographic and darkroom technique. That’s OK. I have gone back and reworkedmany of my images as my digital darkroom skills have improved. Truth be told,“Sunset at Lanark,” was one of my earliest digital images. It was shot witha Canon D30. My early attempts at developing this digital negative were notall that impressive. Only in the last couple of years have my skills increasedto the point where I could craft a print from that digital negative that fullycaptured my creative vision.

How do you develop your own creative vision?

I suggest you start with images that inspire you. Consider why the photographerchose that particular combination of composition, exposure, and lighting.How might the image look different if one of more of those elements were different?You cannot go wrong by examining the photography of truly fine photographerslike Art Wolfe, Michael Reichmann, and William Neill with a critical eye.Buy some coffee table art print books. Visit Web sites where prominent photographersdisplay their talent.

Web sites with contests are another way to develop your creativity. Evenif you do not enter, you can see how different photographers interpret thesame theme. You get exposed to many different creative viewpoints.

Always be mindful of additional creative opportunities while you work. Ivisited Desoto Falls State Park in Alabama late one afternoon. The waterfallthere is a popular attraction. I tried to find a perspective I liked. Nothingworked. Each time I looked through the viewfinder, what I saw was trite. UnlessI climbed in the sort of contraption that Sean Connery used in the movie MedicineMan, there was no way I could come upwith a fresh composition.

It was near sunset when I decided to pack up. Heading back to the car, Inoticed a small red boat house in the backwater behind the falls. It was completelyunexpected. The reflection with the fall foliage was special. Serendipityfavored me once again. I just had to be alert to it. The light was fading.To get to the right position, I had to run at breakneck speed through thornsand brush and stand in the middle of a bog along the edge of the water. Mytripod was sinking into the bog from the weight of it, the camera, and thelens. I was sinking into the muck up to my ankles. I knew I had a few magicalmoments to get that image. After that, the sun would set completely and thewonderful light that comes with the last few rays of light at sunset wouldbe lost.

“Boat House at Desoto Falls, S.P.”

This sort of experience has happened over and over in my years behind theviewfinder. I go out in the field to photograph one subject and luck presentssomething else for me to consider.

Extraordinary photographs are one part vision, one part technique, and twoparts serendipity. With regard to serendipity, we have no control over whenfortune will favor us. What we can do is develop our creative vision and perfectour technique, and then when serendipity presents us with creative possibilities,fortune will indeed favor the prepared!

© 2005, GlennE. Mitchell II, Ph.D. of The Light’s Right Studio
http://www.thelightsrightstudio.com