I took this photograph earlier in the year when I spent a couple of days inside Patrick’s Point State Park. I have an earlier rendering of this image. It was my intention yesterday, to print the earlier version on canvas. I took it to my buddy Hal Work to use his larger printer. When we looked at it in close-up detail, we saw that there were real issues in the sky in the area of the small twigs. That image was created from a three-image HDR composite. Because the wind was blowing, those small branches showed movement from shot-to-shot. That showed up as ghosts on many of the twigs, and on a large print they would be obvious.
This morning I reworked it with two images, and I am becoming satisfied with the outcome as is shown above. What you see above is a far cry from how the print will look, but it serves some purpose.
It is my experience that to achieve “fine art” quality photographic prints, that one (just as in the days of film), must attain a certain level of digital dark room skills. I realize that many current cameras process jpg images that really are, at times, wonderful, but they offer considerably less opportunities for creative expression.
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About Thomas Bethune
THOMAS ALLEN BETHUNE
I have been interested in photography for most of my life. I started taking photographs with a Kodak Brownie Hawkeye camera when I was eight years old. My early subjects were trains and engineered structures as well as landscapes and family portraits. My interests and vision have matured, but the subjects that catch my eye continue to be of the same genre as my earliest visions.
A neighbor man had a darkroom, and he showed me the basics of camera operation and darkroom processing. I took courses in art and photography in high school and college. I worked as an apprentice to a commercial wedding and event photographer, and I was in charge of a recreational dark room while I was in the military. As an adult, I earned a bachelor’s degree in photography from Humboldt State University. My experience with film formats included 35mm, 2 ¼”, and 4”x 5”. I exhibited at galleries near my home in Arcata California, and in Santa Fe New Mexico.
All my current work is digital. I am scanning many of my legacy negatives and slides. I sometimes process and print the scanned negatives. I often post them on my blog. I process all of my prints with archival media.
An award winning fine art photographer living in a redwood forest.
BA Photography
Director, Redwood Art Association, Eureka CA
Co-curator, F Street Foto Gallery, Eureka CA
Thomas Bethune's Photographic Journal 