Color

These colors are not what one would expect to see in the bark of a birch tree. And, to tell the truth, the colors are accentuated beyond what the human eye would see in a casual glance.

Let me explain.

When I shoot these close-ups of bark, I’m not particularly interested in simply capturing what I see. I’m not a scientist, I don’t feel bound to present an “accurate” representation of what my eyes see.

 In fact, for me, part of the allure of this work is that, in the course of post-processing, I can see much that I didn’t see when I shot the image. Of course part of the reason for that is my manipulation: I tweak the contrast, saturation, white and black points, and such. Often those tweaks degrade the image in unappealing ways and I let it go. But sometimes, they reveal the colors and textures present in the image in unexpected ways. There’s little in the image that wasn’t in the bark, but the emphasis has shifted.

 That’s the magic! It doesn’t happen that often, but it’s breath-taking when it does.