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Rangefinder Magazine
April 2004

Insight/ On the Cover by Bill Hurter

Changing technology is a topic that could be a Rangefinder issue theme 12 months of the year. It’s not always the technology itself I find interesting, but the way people put it to good use. Take long-time contributor Jane Wingate, for example. Always a film aficionado, Jane took to digital imaging like her native New Hampshire takes to snow drifts. In her article, “Painterly Digitals (pg. 42),” she exploits the essence of digital imagemaking and is now learning to live with the phrase, “it looks just like a painting.” Woody Walters (pg. 18) is a landscape artist in the Ansel Adams tradition, who has found a new means of self expression in digital collaging. Walters’ illustrative images, rich in symbolic content and often religious in nature, sometimes take years to complete as layer upon layer of imagery is merged into an ever-changing dreamscape. Looking at Walters’ images is reminiscent of staring at clouds, seeing recognizable shapes appear and disappear into thin air. Jim DiVitale (pg. 8) is another digital artist with a corporate and advertising client list as long as your arm. Jim was one of the pioneers in digital imaging and, with a savvy business sense, Jim has created a hugely successful business and now a blossoming teaching career. Photo Art (pg. 46) is a fascinating new book by Tony Worobiec and Ray Spence. Both authors are masters of alternative photographic processes, and the book details these techniques, but also gives the equivalent digital procedures that will emulate these special effects.

RAW file capture is a subject of some considerable debate. While many photographers choose to work in JPEG Fine mode, others prefer the RAW capture mode because of its far greater options for re-editing. In this issue we have two articles that deal with the RAW capture mode. Ken Storch details the new Adobe Camera Raw software (pg. 67), dubbed ACR2, which is a part of Photoshop CS. Stan Sholik gives an overview of processing RAW images (pg. 58) and outlines the reasons why photographers should choose RAW file capture as a workflow strategy. Also in this issue noted photographer and writer Ctein (pg. 28) gives a working field test of Photoshop CS.

Bill Hurter, Editor

PHOTOGRAPHER: Anthony Cava
Camera: Nikon D1X set on RAW
lens: Nikon 80–200 f/2.8 zoom
EXPOSURE: 1/60 at f/5.6.
Lighting: A White Lightning studio flash with honeycomb grid was used to the camera right. There is a softbox positioned on the same side as the grid, but set to output three stops less light than the grid light for low-level fill.
File processing: The image was shot in RAW mode, sharpened 30 percent, resized to 100 percent to produce an 8.5x13-inch file. White balancing was done off of a gray card. Contrast was “bumped up” slightly. The file was saved as a 16-bit TIFF file.
COMMENTS: I was shooting clothing over two days in studio with this model. I have worked with her in the past, and we have an excellent working relationship. We had recently finished this new red stucco wall in the studio and I wanted to try it out. When we finished our catalogue assignment, I asked if I could photograph her for a quick test. I knew exactly what I wanted. It took me five minutes. I wanted to try something a little more dramatic. The grid spot gave me very hard, directional and dramatic lighting on her face. The softbox offered a little base density to bring out some detail in her body and clothing. The file was processed and saved as explained.