Digital Artists: A Tale of Three Photographers

Digital Artists: A Tale of Three Photographers

By Lorraine A. DarConte

Today, there are almost as many different ways to create a photograph as there are photographers, and digital technology has only made the list longer and more interesting. Just as some photographers prefer Canon over Leica, or Kodak as opposed to Pentax, they are picking and choosing the digital tools that best serve them in their photographic pursuits.

Juliya Lezhen, a young student originally from Russia, submerged herself in the world of junkyards and rusted metal and emerged with a series of colorful, abstract images reminiscent of Rorschach tests and Pollack paintings. Joe Deiss, a master of large format photography, has temporarily abandoned his Deerdorf to work on a series of botanicals that are one-hundred-percent digital. And I, myself, have been busy leading my own personal digital backlash by returning to photography’s roots and learning the fine art of alternative processes, with a little help from digital technology (so much for that revolution).

My current series, Plant Abstracts, combines new, 21st century digital technology with early 19th century photographic processes including Vandyke, cyanotype and gum dichromate. I chose to photograph plants – foliage and flowers – for several reasons. One is the challenge of presenting the subject matter – which has been photographed, sculpted and painted by most everyone – in a new light. Plants are also readily available models with good attitudes that are, simply put, beautiful and hard to resist, no matter how commonplace.

Printing the images using these early processes allows me to produce photographs on a wide range of paper surfaces that result in prints with beautiful textures and tonal range, adding to their unique quality. The digital technology – in this case, scanning and manipulating images, and then making computer-generated negatives – allows me to create an image that exists in my mind’s eye and work with traditional photographic processes.

All images are first photographed with film and then scanned. I transform the images via Adobe Photoshop and an iMac with one or more filters such as "twirl" or "noise." Images are also converted to black-and-white. Some of the photos are heavily manipulated while others I barely touch. I then invert the images in Photoshop to create a negative (a positive can also be used). To make a negative, I print the inverted image (any size from 5x7 up to 11x17) on Pictorico Premium OHP Transparency Film with a color printer. I use an Epson Stylus Scan 2000. That’s the digital portion of the process. The prints are created individually, by hand, with a few well-mixed chemicals, some fine cotton/rag papers, a contact frame, hake brushes, UV light and water. The paper is coated with light-sensitive chemicals, dried and placed in a contact frame with the negative. I then expose the image outdoors (a UV box may also be used), typically for about two minutes (time varies with negative density, of course). The prints are developed mostly in water (for all three processes), although Vandyke prints must also be fixed. Since the photographs are printed on 100-percent cotton rag papers, I can also add color by painting them with traditional watercolors.

Recently, I was asked why I go through the hassle of hand-making prints when I can get a similar effect using digital software. For me, it’s about acquiring new skills and honing old ones and mixing new technologies with old-fashioned craftsmanship. It’s about the texture of the paper, the curve of a brushstroke, and rich, beautiful colors. It’s about a quality print that is truly one-of-a-kind.

Rusty Revelations
"The light here in Tucson is incredible," says photographer Juliya Lezhen. "There’s hardly ever a cloudy day, so I never need to use a flash or other artificial light. Every day I can go out and photograph something." Lately, that "something" for Lezhen has been metal, mostly of the rusting, peeling and decaying variety. "I started noticing little details and imperfections on metal, and so I concentrated on photographing these flaws, up close and personal. I find the process of deterioration and erosion intriguing," she notes. "Neglected, discarded and antiqued objects can be found almost anywhere, and because they’re exposed to the elements, they are changing every day. Most of these things," says Lezhen, "no one pays any attention to. They’re just part of our everyday lives. But I discovered, while looking through the camera lens at a tiny portion of peeling paint, a whole new world created by bright colors and beautiful light."

Indeed, Lezhen’s images, although surreal, emulate landscapes, moonscapes, and perhaps even a few very strange dreamscapes. One photograph resembles fried eggs dripping down the side of a wall and another appears to be a screaming robot. They are also reminiscent of images seen and imagined via those infamous Rorschach tests—with one glaring difference – Lezhen’s are bright and colorful, although both may be viewed while prone on a couch. "Different people see different things while looking at my photographs," reiterates Lezhen, who does have a background in psychology. "In a way, many photographers are psychologists," she adds, "because of their ability to look at, analyze and see something different through the camera lens."

States Lezhen, "I chose to do this particular series by shooting 35mm transparencies, which I then scanned at 5000 dpi using an Agfa scanner. I used Adobe Photoshop 7 as a digital darkroom where I burned, dodged and made minor color adjustments. Most of the images are not manipulated or even cropped," she says. "I try to crop in-camera as much as possible. I did a little color management, which I learned through trial and error, but I did not change the original colors. I saturated the colors somewhat, because after scanning, some color and sharpness are lost." The prints were made on an Epson 2200 printer using Epson’s 13x19 Enhanced Matte Paper and Epson’s archival inks.

"I consider myself very fortunate," says Lezhen, "to be able to use today’s advanced technologies to help me create my images. By shooting film I am able to preserve that special warmth and grain that it provides. But by outputting digitally I can take advantage of the advanced digital tools, which provide me with more flexibility and a greater control over the final product."

Digital Photograms
Joseph Deiss has created the ultimate series of botanicals by placing his subject matter directly on a scanner, resulting in images with precise detail and color reproduction. The images are, in a sense, modern-day photograms, but with a lot more information. "Last summer," said Deiss, "my son, Julian, returned from Alaska with a portfolio of algae pressings that I so admired, I had to scan them. After my initial attempts, which were less than stellar, Julian constructed a box so that I could make cleaner scans. The box keeps out miscellaneous light and allows me to work with three-dimensional plants. It’s a simple black box that fits over the scanner and has a hinged flap at one end so plants with long stems can be scanned without being disturbed. This," explains Deiss, "is my equivalent of a digital camera."

"I scanned the best of Julian’s algae pressings, then moved on to other plant life. I began collecting weeds and flowers and whatever else caught my eye and started pressing and drying some and scanning others. As of now, I have about forty pieces. I’m really indiscriminate about what I pick; it doesn’t have to be beautiful, it can be almost any growing thing. In fact, I just brought some nasty looking thistles back from the beach and they came out absolutely beautiful. I spend a lot of time maneuvering the plants on the scanner so they take on a form that is interesting, pleasing and challenging to the eye," says Deiss. "The scanner has very little depth of field, so pressed plants are always sharp, but the freshly picked plants are only sharp up to about three sixteenths of an inch and then quickly fall out of focus, as well as falling into darkness."

Deiss works with an Epson Expression 1680 Pro scanner with Epson software, a Macintosh G4, 1.25 GHz multiprocessor with 2GB of RAM, a 23-inch Apple Cinema HD Display, and a 15-inch LCD monitor. "I am religious about keeping the monitors calibrated," Deiss emphasized. He uses a ColorVision Spyder with OptiCAL software for monitor calibration.

While in Photoshop (version 7.0.1), Deiss spends about 10-12 hours per image doing touch-up work. "There’s always bugs, pollen and sap to deal with," he notes. "Bugs that move during the scan have to be repaired. And, because I can’t leave well enough alone, I work with 16-bit files, so I can make color and contrast changes without losing too much information.

My file sizes are about 600 to 800 megabytes." Deiss does most of his work using curves, color balance and the lasso and stamp tools. "Before I make a test print I use an edge sharpening routine so that I get a nice crisp image. Ultimately, these images are meant to be about 30x48-inches. I see an Epson 9600 printer in my future…"

Deiss currently prints his images on an Epson 2200 with Epson Enhanced Matte paper. "I’ve always chosen the matte papers. It’s probably a hold over from my (woodcut) print-making days.

Sept2003, Digital Output