Bring out the light!

When will you experience a print or a reproduction of a photo as convincing?

In a previous blog (Toning images) I focussed on the importance of density and contrast in an image.

Those are means to an end, tools to achieve a desired effect.

The thing to work on, for me, is to bring out the light in the image.

And I mean literally make you experience that light.

The other day I sat with Dana Lixenberg working on scans of negatives she made over some years.

The goal was to approach the feel of the most beautifully analog black and white prints.

Could we make the RGB images look as captivating?

Yes, we could, by daring to darken the images (raising density) and applying solid but subtle contrast.

Resulting in images that make you understand in one glance how the light spreads through the image.

Or a recent book I worked on for Dutch photographer Marlies Swinkels.

All images shot using existing light in a house where her four aunts live together since the 1950s.

The ladies will only turn on the lights once it gets really dark, so light predominantly filters in through the windows.

That has to be felt in every image throughout the book.

Finding ways to get you feel the particular light in a photograph to its maximum extend, I find that very rewarding and challenging