Over the past few weeks I have had the chance to go through Michael Frye’s new ebook, “Light and Land: Landscapes in the Digital Darkroom.” Many are no doubt already aware of Michael’s reputation from his photography, his workshops, and his other publications including his “Photographer’s Guide to Yosemite” and “Digital Landscape Photography: In The Footsteps of Ansel Adams and the Masters.” I have the .pdf version of “Light and Land”, and I understand that an iPad app version may also be available.

It is typical for photographic “how to” books to focus on specific techniques, and to be organized around a presentation of these techniques – perhaps with a section on curves, a section on black and white conversion, and so forth. This approach has its place, especially for certain types of learners and at certain points in the learning process. It is important to understand the basic techniques and operations that are available in the “digital darkroom” of such programs as Photoshop, Lightroom and so forth. That said, the bigger and more important issue is how to call upon these techniques creatively and effectively and appropriately in order to make photographs. Not all “how to” books do an effective job of illustrating this.

Michael’s “Light & Land” takes a different approach, and one that more accurately and realistically reflects the thought process of a photographer who is calling upon this arsenal of techniques in the service of creating beautiful photographs.  He writes:

“The digital darkroom gives us tremendous control over our images. We can make them lighter, darker, add contrast, change the color balance, increase saturation, turn a color photograph into black and white, remove telephone poles, blend exposures with HDR, combine ten images to capture infinite depth of field, or put a winged elephant in the sky.

But what do we do with these choices?”

That is the question. In essence, we get to look over Michael’s shoulder as he makes “these choices,” and moves through the process of converting the original raw file to its creative interpretation as a finished photograph. (Michael uses Lightroom, though the processes he demonstrates can be adapted to other applications.)

“In this book I’ll take you step-by-step through each decision as I process five different images… You’ll see my workflow…, and I’ll explain why I use particular techniques in a particular order. But more importantly, you’ll come to understand the aesthetic judgments behind each decision – how a certain amount of contrast conveyed my vision, or why too much saturation muddied the color rather than enhanced it. As you look over my shoulder you’ll gain insights about how to convey your own unique vision, and how to squeeze every ounce of beauty, emotion, and inspiration out of your photographs.”

This is the key concept, and it describes what is so important about this book. There is no one right answer to what is the “best” way to interpret a photograph. The real questions are, given the many possibilities inherent in the image, what will you decide to do and how will you to it? Following a brief overview of some of the specific techniques and considerations, Michael moves on to the main subject, letting us watch as he evaluates and works out his interpretation of five of his photographs. He begins by offering a summary of his thoughts about the original “capture” – how and where it was made and perhaps what drew him to photograph it. Then he goes to work on each image, considering how various techniques can be employed to achieve his vision for the photograph. Along the way we are exposed to the usual range of techniques and processes: color balancing, curves, saturation, sharpening, dodging/burning, cropping/composition, black and white conversion, toning, dust removal, controlling highlights and shadow detail, and more. There is plenty of information about all of these processes. But more importantly, we see Michael working out and explaining why he uses these techniques, always in the context of the photographic image (rather than the technique for its own sake). We even get to observe him second-guessing himself about certain decisions.

For photographers trying to figure out how to make photographs using the digital darkroom, this is a great resource. Given that many aspiring photographers run the risk of focusing on the technical stuff for its own sake (“What is the right way to sharpen?” “what is the right color balance?” “Which plugin should I use?” “What lens is sharpest?” and all the rest), this book is a wonderful antidote to such thinking and presents a model of how a talented photographer makes wonderful photographs using these techniques.

I would recommend the book on its own merits, but given the amazingly low price of $5 for the electronic version, I can only say… buy it now!

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