Yesterday was Ansel Adams birthday and I missed posting an image in his honor. Ansel was born in San Francisco, California on February 20, 1902 and with his love of nature went on to create some stunning landscape photography. But it wasn’t just the photos themselves that have become iconic, but the way he made them.
He was a master at dodging and burning film images in the dark room decades before we had the ability to apply such edits with ease in modern photo editing programs. At first I wasn’t into dodging and burning any of my images (the effect can be used in black and white and color) until I watched a few videos about Ansel and tutorials on how to dodge and burn.
I learned how some images I was totally taken by were often created using this technique. I was smitten! The technique really isn’t that difficult but I will warn you, like with any other style of editing you can get so taken in that you will go at it for much longer than is needed. Some edit fast, some slow, some not at all… do you just don’t overdo!
So here is my belated birthday homage to the great Ansel Adams and while it wasn’t taken in Yosemite National Park, I think Rocky Mountain National Park works equally well.
Teri 📷
(For tips on dodging and burning try here and here. )
(Check out my other blog over at What’s Happening Ohio too!)
Images by T.Dashfield Photography 
“photoshop” became a bad word. but people forget, editing was done long before “photoshop” was even a gleeem in the inventors eye.
the camera may capture the image my eye may see. it does not always capture what my mind “sees” thus the edit.
i was a photographer for my high school’s yearbook and newspaper in my senior year. people would say they liked my photos but they never knew how much time i spent in the darkroom editing those photos so they would “pop!”
Exactly!!!! I so agree with you. Sometimes a click of a button in editing (meaning an action or preset) may make the image you imagine come to life but more often it means you spent time working towards that final image. And in the darkroom? THAT was some time and effort!!!
our darkroom is now the computer and we are no longer in the dark. lol
I dunno…there are some days when I just stare at an unedited image and draw a complete blank 🙂
lol
That’s the perfect image to share. Stunning! Ansel Adams would be impressed … well, at least I am 😉
Thank you and I hope he’d at least smile at it 🙂
Awesome!
Thank you!
I first come to know of Ansel Adams through my landlord in Eugene Oregon. He is an avid photographer and one day I commented on how lovely his photos were and I asked him why he would shoot in monochrome only – his reply was that he admired the works of Ansel Adams and wanted to do photos as good as him. You are doing great too! Looks like you and my previous landlord in OR will be at great heights as photographers, if you both, are not already are!
I appreciate your compliments and you used to live in Oregon??? How wonderful! I’ve heard the coastline there is a photographers dream 🙂