Ingleborough Storm - From Capture to Print
…or… One Man’s Stumblings in the World of Print
Typically these photographic stories are concerned with how a photograph was visualised, constructed and shot. Untypically this story is concerned with how a photograph came to be printed. Not very interesting? Well ok, but a great photo stuck on a computer hard drive, or lost in the ether of the web, is not only not very interesting, but also a great waste. As any serious photographer knows ensuring the print does the image justice can be a complicated business and has always been the ultimate expression of the creative process. The end game as it were.
But let’s start with the photo; taken high on Cam High Road looking south(ish) to Ingleborough during the recent thunderstorms. The weather was superb: rolling thunder, cracks of lightning, clouds charging overhead, sudden lashings of rain, bright sunshine as shafts of light broke through the clouds - real drama! Ingleborough, usually a silhouette from this distance, was wonderfully lit, with a bank of rolling white cloud framing its outline. Perfect, but only for a moment as the cloud pushed onto and over its flat peak, and though we waited for an hour or so, sometimes in heavy rain, sometimes in bright sunshine, often in both, Ingleborough failed to re-appear. And that was it, the moment had passed, and as the clouds got lower and darker and heavier, and the light changed, we headed home.
The next day, after the usual basic post-processing in Lightroom - lowering the highlights, upping the shadows, adding clarity, etc. - it has to be said that I was pretty taken with the image, and, being very enthused, I determined to print it.
My first attempt at a print was too dark. The sky and Ingleborough itself were fine, but the foreground was, unless put under the strongest light, one black smudge. This isn’t unusual for a first print; displaying an image on my MacBook Pro’s bright, contrasty, display is very different from how it looks on paper, and so I began the real process of preparing the image for print.
Six hours, ~ 50 test images, 10 cups of tea, and an awful lot of buggering about later, I finally had a print I was content with, which is five hours and 45 minutes, 49 test prints and 9 cups of tea longer than it typically takes.
Why the problem. Well I guess it all stemmed from the fact that this is a dark image and I wanted it to remain dark and brooding, but still to be able to differentiate between different aspects of the foreground, so the tonal adjustments had to be subtle and the usual upping of the exposure just didn’t kick it.
A second, related problem was that when taking the photograph I’d made (not for the first time) the classic school boy error of not “shooting to the right” to preserve shadow detail in the RAW file and so, for an image like this where tonal range is all, noise quickly became an issue limiting any room for manoeuvre (note to self: the high dynamic range of the camera and Lightroom’s ability to recover shadows and highlights has made me a far too complacent photographer).
Problem three was that I’d gotten lazy and become reliant on my usual method of soft proofing, which is to display the image on an old (and less bright) monitor that magically (for 95% of prints) perfectly calibrates with the printer, so I’d not even loaded up the correct ICC profiles on my new Mac, never mind using Lightroom’s soft proofing features!
The fourth problem was that, once I’d finally loaded up the ICC profile and retaught myself how to use the soft proofing features , it took numerous attempts to match the shades, tones, contrast and exposure of the original image, which in this case would make or break the print. And once I had the soft proof matching the original image, including using the simulate paper and ink feature, the print was still too dark in the shadows!
The fifth, and most serious problem, was that at some point I totally lost the plot and forgot about what actually, for me, made the image (see footnote).
So the process became a dogged, obsessive struggle, man against printer in a “minor adjustment / print / revert to square once cycle” that lasted the whole day and used up immeasurable quantities of expensive paper and ink.
So if a wise man learns from him mistakes what have I, a not so wise man, learned through this process?
Well for the 90% of prints where the subtlety of tonal range in the shadows are a minor factor I’ll continue to use my quick and dirty soft proofing method of displaying the image on my old, less bright monitor, and making the necessary, simple, adjustments to exposure and contrast.
For the 10% of prints that do rely on tonal range I have resolved that from now on I will always:
(1) “Shoot to the right” to preserve as much shadow detail as possible in the raw image.
(2) Make use of (and practice using) Lightroom’s soft proofing tools using the correct ICC for the paper / printer combination, initially making very subtle, basic, adjustments (exposure and contrast) before starting on more localised and complicated mods.
(3) For final trial and error adjustments employ the excellent approach I discovered here: https://lightroomkillertips.com/setting-print-proof-test-brightness-slider/ by Scott Kelby (who seems like an awesome photographer despite liking Bon Jovi) that saved me an awful lot more paper and ink, and finally allowed me to hone down on the exact adjustments needed.
Note: The above has already been superseded. Rather than use the print adjustments to change the brightness and contrast of the image, use the tone curve in the develop module to create different versions. The advantage is that unlike the print adjustments you can see the impact of tone curves changes as you make them. Thanks to North Light Images for this tip who are a real authority on printing.
(4) Finally, and most importantly, throughout the process (and it will remain trial and error) keep in the forefront of my mind what attracted me to the image in the first place!
There’s many great articles and videos on 1,2 and 3 above on the web, too numerous to mention here, so if you’re interested in learning more do what I did and do some googling! But 4 is for me the most important step. Start by deciding on a clear vision for the image then for each major element determining the adjustments needed to turn that vision into reality.
A final couple of ironies. The first is that though I’m chuffed to bits with the final result, and would have it on my wall without a shadow of a doubt, I’ll be surprised if this image sells in our gallery in Swaledale; it’s just too dark and subtle to stand out against the artwork it will compete against; it needs a good long look rather than the two seconds it will get when people flick through the picture browsers! The second is that if you’re reading this and looking at the photo on a relatively dull display, the image will probably remain a black smudge. Such is life I guess!
Given all the time, paper and ink, was it worth it if Ingleborough Storm doesn’t sell? Of course, finally producing a print that conveyed the mood and drama of the occasion is immensely satisfying, and the whole process and deeper dive into printing has given me a thirst to learn more; and there’s a lot more to learn!
Footnote 1: Some of the battle was against the shortcomings of the image as taken: shadow noise, related impact on sharpness, etc.. In the end it just didn’t matter as this image is much more about mood than detail. The final result has the feel of a painting or etching, rather than a photograph, and who pixel peeps at those!
Footnote 2: I’m now thinking that the image would look good on matte paper, so the whole process has begun again!
The Major Players
- Camera: Sony A7riii
- Lens: Zeiss Loxia 85mm
- Printer: Epson SC P800
- Ink: Epson
- Paper: Pinnacle Premium Photo Lustre 300gsm
- Post Processing Software: Lightroom CC
- Fell: Ingleborough