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© 2012 Ken Cangi, All Rights Reserved.

We lost one of the trailblazers of big-mountain skiing, yesterday. He will be missed. RIP, Jamie.

Jamie Pierre 1973-2011 | Powder Magazine.

Retouching in advertising – has it gone too far? It’s a fair question. How do I feel about it? The answer is pretty cut and dry for me. If the retouching, per se, is used to sell an unattainable result, then I don’t agree with it. Beyond that, I believe that digital retouching is one of the greatest tools to come down the creative pike in my professional lifetime.

It has raised the creative level of photography almost beyond scope, and it has – for photographers like me, who are continually developing the digital skills necessary to achieve those results – placed the A-Z process of image-making in our hands. With the proper skillset, the photographer can now realize and control her or his vision from concept to finished product.

Digital retouching’s application in the creation of editorial fashion, automobile ads, and movie posters, for instance, is unsurpassed. Most of these types of images don’t portray real life. They are meant to incite our fantasizing about how these products will enhance our lives. The images are meant to stimulate an emotional response, and as long as it is not an outright lies, then I have no problem with it. Unlike peddling an overly retouched beauty image as the result of applying an anti-aging cream, any one of us could achieve the sensation of feeling like a movie star in the clothing that we see on photoshopped models, or the sensation of driving at blurring speeds on a tortuous highway in that new coupe. The latter two examples are selling an image. The first one is selling a blatant lie, and I believe that the distinction is clear.

Above are the before and after versions of an outtake from a recent shoot. The subject was sitting on the set while I was making lighting adjustments, and this was one of the lighting test shots. It is a very plain image of an attractive, young woman, which, in its unretouched state, does not represent how I visually perceived this person’s attractiveness in person. The retouch version does. Moreover, the retouching brought this from outtake to a more than usable image.

From a purely creative standpoint, the positive aspects of digital retouching, imo, far outweigh its negatives. As for false advertising, it was around long before Photoshop, and it will probably remain so long after.

KC

I was recently contracted for an assignment outside of my professional forte. It involved designing and building a restaurant website and food photography. The deadline, from concept to final product, was six weeks. Although it seemed a bit overwhelming, I felt confident in my ability to bring it in on time Everything went smoothly, and the client was pleased with the final product. You can browse the site at: www.rivercitygrillpg.com

Tuesday was dry, warm, and sunny, and then the next day (yesterday) was a white out. CRUISAROO will have to wait til next year.

I’ve noticed lately that I always tend to compose images – even in personal work – with an eye toward type space. The thought entered my mind briefly that maybe this isn’t always the most creative way to shoot, and then I decided that creativity for the sake of art. per se, is one thing, and creativity for advertising is an entirely different thing. Making my living as an advertising and editorial shooter, it makes sense to always think in terms of publishing the work, so I guess the message to myself is that if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.

I am constantly scouting new and interesting locations for commercial assignments, and Boulder, Colorado is a place that never disappoints. I made these images while scouting scenic backdrops on Boulder Reservoir for a fashion shoot. Unfortunately, I shot them as low-res Jegs, thinking that they were only location test shots. After seeing the final images in post, I decided that I will shoot “everything” in Raw from now on. Live and learn.

It’s not a regular habit, although I was lucky enough, recently, to have my camera with me on the drive home. I was sitting in rush hour traffic and was temporarily blinded by what turned out to be a ray of amazing late-day sunlight reflecting off of a traffic sign. I jumped out of the car and got this image just before the light changed.

I’m currently shooting work for my new website, which should be online soon. The older images here will not be displayed on that site, although I’ve had so much positive feedback on them, over the past several years, that I’ve decided to keep them posted on this blog as an historical representation of what I’ve been doing over the years. I hope that you enjoy them and that they inspire you to go out and play .

Click on images to enlarge

Inspired by Stefan Sonnenfeld’s color work on the 2007 remake of the cult classic, Sweeney Todd, I set about creating my own rendition of that movie’s somewhat dichromatic look. Two days and several dozen layers later, I arrived at the look shown in my image above of a climber and his rope.