Slade Zumhofe's lesson on Tonal Balance

Recently I featured the galleries of Slade Zumhofe in a "Diamond in the Rough" post.  Since that time, I've had a couple of short online discussions with him that are well worth sharing.   The first of which concerns the concept of "tonal balance". 

When I first saw Slade's work, I immediately knew I was seeing the work of a very skilled photographer.  I remarked on his work as having a mastery of the concept of compositional balance.  As abstract a concept as this can be, his work seems to bring some concrete examples of beautifully balanced compositions. 

Slade's Manito Fog image above for example, has such a perfect visual weight to it.  The huge tree in the foreground with it's converging trunks and root structure is repeated, and balanced with the smaller tree in the background.  Notice how the background tree converges right at the horizon line, giving itself the same grounded feeling as the foreground tree.   This composition didn't happen by accident, and I doubt if it would have the same feel if the camera was moved even a couple of inches in any direction.  This is beautiful compositional balance.

Here I would like to share Slade's comment to my original post about his work:

"I was very impressed what you pulled out of my images....balance.  This is something that I have strived to express each time I create an image.  I get the opportunity twice a year to teach a one day seminar at the local college about "tonal" balance vs. "compositional" balance.  Many photographers work so hard at the compositional balance they forget about tonal balance."

What did he say?  "Tonal Balance?"  What's that?  I asked him to explain more about the concept.  Somehow I knew his answer would explain the very subtle difference between good B&W photography and outstanding B&W photography. 

Here is Slade's reply to my question about tonal balance:

"Well....from my experience, tonal balance is the most difficult thing to teach because there really aren't any rules.  The only method I have found helpful is a "before and after" comparison of images.  When I began photography I was drawn to several photographers work but wasn't sure why.  My images were just as sharp and I felt I had a few that compositionally were just as strong....but mine still lacked something.  The best way to learn and understand tonal balance is by continually looking at others work and seeing exactly what it was they did to create that image/print.  "Examples" by Ansel Adams is a great book for this as well as several books by John Sexton--he gives before and after examples in the back of his books....Bruce Barnbaum also has a book that shows how he interprets his images scalled 'The Art of Photography--An Approach to Personal Expression'.

Tonal balance has more to do with the print than anything else.  It is the pushing and pulling of tones (burning and dodging)--massaging of the tones that are already there.  I'm not talking about drastic changes to an image but it is VERY rare for an image to have that sparkle if printed straight."

Ah Ha!  Now I get it.  Now I can see it.  All of a sudden this light bulb goes on over my head and I am seeing in a entirely new way.  I'm seeing what I saw before, but with more mature eyes.  Tonal balance is the difference between "average looks" and "supermodel looks" (sorry, that's just a poor analogy that came to mind).  It's hard for me to explain, but once you see it, you know.  It's what makes the photographers' work that Slade mentioned stand out.  It's also what makes Slade's work such that I can look at it for long periods of time and see something new each time.

Our discussion continued:

"Compositional balance happens before exposure and tonal balance happens during printing.  I tend to put tonal balance into 3 categories and use them in this order (although I don't necessarily use all three on every image).

The first is correction--we all know film/paper sees tones much differently than the eye/brain does. The first thing I do is correct the overall tone with a contrast adjustment and then a few individual tones that either appear unatural or unappealing.

The second tonal adjustment I do is for "movement". Much the same as one would do compositionally, I try and create movement in the image by slightly altering tones--either darker or lighter--to move the viewers attention around the image. The simplest method of this that most printers do is an edge burn.  By darkening the edges of a print slightly it keeps the viewers attention towards the center of the image.

The last tonal adjust is the most difficult and I call it "visual appeal".  What do I want to say with the image?  What did I feel at the moment of exposure?  Or, what an awfully boring image so what can I do to bring it to life?  There are no rules to this one--I begin by looking at the image as a whole and try to accentuate certain tones and attempt to bring a 3 dimensionality to the image by setting darker tones against lighter tones.  You never know when you are done but you usually know when you have gone too far--the image becomes unrealistic."

Let's revisit the Manito Fog image.  I've asked Slade to comment on this image from the standpoint of tonal balance: 

"I've included the before and after image of Manito Fog for your reference."   

(ORIGINAL IMAGE seen below.  Roll mouse over the image to see the FINISHED IMAGE)

 

"It was a very gloomy day without much in the way of light or shadows.  I do enjoy photographing on overcast days but this was a bit much.  As you can see in the straight print, all the necessary tones are in place and there are some decent blacks and a good deal of light greys.  Normally this is what we are after, but the image really lacked brilliance.

You can see not only is there very little local area contrast, but overall the image is fairly boring-tonally.  The main tree trunk doesn't stand out as much as I remembered against the fog and the left side of the image really lacked anything at all.

I began by giving the image an overall contrast adjustment--equivalent to about a grade 3 paper.  This helped the local contrast but overall the image was still dull.  The main subject--front tree--was not jumping out at me as it had when I was standing in front of it with my camera.  I took the entire tree down about 1 zone and then began dodging all the areas of the trunk that had some form of light on them.  This began "forming" the trunk--giving it shape and visual appeal.  I also lightened the leaves at the very top of the hill to almost bring them together as to appear more of a carpet than individual leaves.  This is how I saw the image at the moment of exposure.

Now begins the third part of tonal balance -- I knew I wanted the background fog to keep its softness, but the left side was very bland.  Holding the image in front of me and squinting -- the whole left side of the image felt too light -- not in tones per say but in tonal weight.  I immediately knew I would need to darken the tree, which would not only help the balance, but give a more 3 dimensional effect as it produces another layer of detail as the viewer moves further into the fog.

As I stood there to take the image, that tree stood out beautifully and had wonderful form.  As you can see in the straight print it gets lost against the other grey forms.  I brought that tree down considerably -- even more so than it really was, but this is the freedom we have as printers.  The image needed that visual weight.

The last step was to move around the image and lightly dodge small sections to give the print some brilliance.  You may notice -- hopefully not before I mentioned it -- that certain leaves in the forground are lighter than they probably should be.  This keeps some interest in the foreground and keeps the viewers eyes moving in that circular pattern I intended."

Slade's thought process with this image reminds me how much more there is to think about beyond just subject choice and composition.  This truly beautiful image has been brought to life by the vision and talent of the photographer, with tonal balance being a key ingredient in the success of the final print.  After this lesson, it is worth another long visit to Slade's galleries to see just how this idea of tonal balance sets his images apart.

I want to personally thank Slade for taking the time to share his thoughts here.  He's a very busy bank executive along with being a terrific photographer.  In the middle of a very busy time, he made the effort to answer my inquiries in depth.  His generosity is much appreciated. 

Comments

[Mark]

Thanks for sharing, you are one of the few blogs in my list that really stands out giving useful tips.

Very interesting this tone balance, specially that "3d" effect.

[Ade Reilly]

fascinating read. cheers

[Christina Conroy]

Wow. What a great entry, and what a lot of food for thought. I think I really need to slow down my post production work. I always feel that it's shoot shoot shoot and then just "get them processed" and move on. But now I really am motivated to slow it down. I love to paint and what's better than painting with light! Thanks!

[Azlin Ahmad]

Great stuff, Chuck! Thanks for taking the trouble to compile the info etc. I've always been a traditionalist when it comes to post processing, but this is a real eye opener.

[BishopB]

Chuck -- Good to find your new site and blog. You are doing all a great service by postig this entry and highlighting the work of Slade...very nice!

I think we would all be surprised as to the amount of attention given to the issue of tonal balance by our favorite pro...or fine shooting bank executive. I know that I was after attending a PhotoShop course for fine art photographers. As the instructor went through his steps of post-processing it was all clearly done to provide the tonal balance that you have highlighted here.

There is always much to learn but I am thankful for the effort you and Slade have put forth. And, Slade, that is a beautiful image!

All the best -- Bishop

[Craig Persel]

Thanks from me too Chuck. I just returned from a one week jaunt to California and picked up Freeman's book "Mastering B&W Digital Photography" as a result of reading this latest entry. Got me inspired to take my B&W processing to another level. Thanks again. Craig

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