"You can do better." 

"You can do better."  Thankfully, I heard these words during a print review on the San Juan River with Alain and Natalie Briot in October of 2005.  Hopefully, I will hear these words frequently, either by saying them to myself or from others I entrust for print reviews.    How do you respond when someone says "you can do better?"  My take on it is that they are in essence saying "I know what you are capable of and this is not as good as you can do."  So I knew that  I would have to revisit the image at a later date. 

The image is very special to me as it represents one of the most exciting times of "special light" during the "Wild Horses/Northern Utah" workshop in June of 2005.  You can read my account of that moment here.  The light was dramatic and short-lived.  I was working with 4x5 and was not as efficient as I would become with more experience.  As a result, the transparencies are a little on the underexposed side.  Here are the two raw scans that were combined for the final image below.
 

The brightest exposure used for foreground.	This exposure was utilized for the sky.

So, why did I not do as good as I could in the original attempt?  I think there are a myriad of reasons to explain why.  The two most important were self-imposed limitations.  The first was an arbitrary time limitation.  This is an incredibly complex image to put together and I simply rushed through the process and at times "settled" for compromises.  The pressure to complete the portfolio from the workshop was leading to a less-than-ideal image for what was one of my most important images from the trip.  The "Star Wars" producer Rick McCallum says "a "Star Wars" movie is really never finished, they just run out of time."   When I have a "special" image now, I make sure I give it the "time" necessary for it to reach its full potential.  I also had a limited vision of what could be done.  The transparencies were largely dictating my "interpretation" of the scene and limited my own individual artistic interpretation.  I needed more confidence in that I could take the data as far as needed to accomplish the end vision.  I simply did not know how to get more data out of the shadows in either the scan or within Photoshop.  Now I have the skills necessary to achieve these results. 

Did the first effort represent my "current level of competency" at that time?  Possibly.  I can't discount that my effort today has been greatly influenced by my own improvement in skills with regards to scanning, Photoshop, Noise Ninja, as well as an improvement in photographic vision through the study of the works of others as well as my own "black and white studies."  Today, I also have a greater understanding of how to make a fine art print and what a final print will look like on my preferred papers and inks.  There is no doubt that two technical competencies improved over the past few months to allow me to take this image a bit further.  One is that I can get a much better scan out of the Imacon than I could 6 months ago.  I actually do a bit more work within the Flextight software than I did on the original scan in July.  The other technical advancement has come with better skill development with regards to the use of layer masks with Photoshop.  I now have confidence that I can make a detailed mask to specifically enhance any selected area that needs attention.  Only a few months ago I tended to work more "globally" on an image with some skills in masking.  These two technical improvements have led to what I believe is a much more aesthetically pleasing image compared to the original. 
 

Original enhancement of "Emotional Light" from June 2005.	April 2006 enhancement of "Emotional Light."

Is it perfect?  Far from it I should say.  There is no doubt that a drum scan would aid in cleaner shadows as I push the transparency pretty hard.  Is it better?  I think it is and I hope that Alain does as well.  There is no doubt that the new enhancement more completely conveys the "feeling" of the moment when the light broke through the cloud layer just before sunset.  Perhaps a great exercise would be to revisit one particular image, one of your favorites, every year and start from scratch.  Rescan the negatives/transparencies or do a new RAW conversion on the files.  Try not to refer to the original enhancement.  See how you approach the image with some separation of time.  Once completed, see how it compares to your original enhancement.  What a great way to see how your skills have evolved, how your vision may have changed, and more importantly to answer that question:  "could I do better?"