If I’m lucky I get to release new fine art landscape photographs a couple of times each year. It is a long process which requires lots of tedious decisions that would be irrelevant in the eyes of some and critical in the eyes of
Autumn Rush, Metolius River
others. The difference between images that will translate well on the internet and ones that will translate well as fine art landscape photographs is vast. Most of the fine art prints that i sell tend to be large, usually 30 inches or more in the long dimension. Because I need to be able to make very large fine art landscape prints, I need to start with an exceptionally large image file which I capture and create with my large format film camera. This means that my original 4×5 transparencies need to have excellent focus. Without great focus, the final prints will be too soft, lack clarity and look unrealistic. I also need to avoid images which have large areas that are inappropriately exposed. Contrast is needed for clarity but large contrasty areas in large fine art prints end up being big black-holes or big blown-out sun spots. Both are Really unattractive in large prints but would be fine in your Instagram account. The above Metolius River photo, would have been frustrating to the viewer if the large Douglas Fir on the left side of the image was much darker. Having that large vertical swath without perceptible detail would also work fine for a small Facebook image, but not for a large fine art print.
The following image of Central Oregon’s Mt. Bachelor offered a separate type of challenge. The beautiful sunset in
Alpenflow, Mt. Bachelor, Oregon
this image captured from Oregon’s Three Sisters Wilderness Area, makes the fine art print work. Without an alpenglow infused sky, the beautiful alpine stream would guide flow the viewer toward a big bland, uninteresting sky. Once again, a bland sky would be tolerable for thumbnail images on one’s iPhone but not for a 50 inch tall fine art photograph. because of my persistence, this image has both a flowing stream and technicolor sky guiding the viewer towards Oregon’s favorite ski mountain, Mt. Bachelor. I’ve entitled this image, “Alpenflow”.
Another one of my newest images presented different challenges. Water Flow. I’ve visited this magical little emerald pool several times in the past but it has often been sunny, making the photos I captured too contrasty or the water level too high. With high stream flows, the flow over the central pool dulled the image, eliminating the depth, and interest of the image. Eventually, streamflow and weather cooperated and I was able to capture this artistic image with my trusty Ebony 4×5 camera. The fine art prints from have amazing texture and detail. To read more about this new fine art landscape photograph, visit, “Living Water”.
Without extreme attention to detail in my selection process, the large prints of this image would have been inferior.
Broken Top Eruption, Wildflowers explode on Central Oregon’s Broken Top Mountain
The last of my new fine art landscape photographs, “Broken Top Eruption”, required an almost geologic patience. Ive been traveling to the site of this image annually for nearly 20 years now and this was the first summer where the wildflowers were this prolific in this particular spot. The Three Sisters Wilderness, what I consider one of the Seven Wonders of Central Oregon, is always special but the wildflowers are not always this bountiful. I’ve shot many different scenes in the vicinity of this image and have walked past this scene countless times. This years when the wildflowers spoke to me.
With wildflowers exploding, the light conditions generously cooperated. Overcast skies offered periodic sun-breaks on the summit of Broken Top Mountain, giving life to its rocky spires. Without the sun-breaks, Broken Top would have been rendered flat and lifeless. With any wind at all, the lush wildflower foreground would have been an abstract nightmare. With the optimal conditions I enjoyed, you can see the minute filamentous hairs on each leaf and bloom. It is only with near perfect photographic parameters that fine art landscape photographs like this can be captured. That, in part, is why they excite me! I hope you enjoy my newest work. Please browse through the following and click on the various thumbnails to see large images of the fine art landscape prints that I have available and to to read the stories behind them.
How great life is! Thank for sharing! You have a nice blog and are really good photographer.