Uuglypher Loc: South Dakota (East River)

Not to put too fine a point on it, but it wasn't Adams' reputation I had in mind being affected by the Internet....

Apaflo Loc: Anchorage, Alaska

Again you wish to resist attempts at on topic discussion...

Mark7829 Loc: Calfornia

It took Ansel five (5) years to get this to where he liked it. In the final, he darkened the sky and removed clouds, things we take for granted today. Ansel was a pioneer in noteworthy respects, such as the f/64 club. large prints, zone system (the father of the today's histogram) and much more. In my mind, he was the first to really post process. As others have indicated, we manipulate images in the camera with filters, DOF selections, special lenses such as close-up, fish-eye, tilt-shift, filters (gradients, polarizers, enhancers, IF) and alike. Those who denounce the process are just green with salacious envy.

oldtigger Loc: Roanoke Virginia-USA

could we get back to a critique of AA's snapshot?

minniev Loc: MIssissippi

Rendering a proper print was some kind of challenge in the darkroom days, which I remember but try not to. I am not one of those nostalgic for those good old days but I still admire the skill it took to to get to a particular end like this.

minniev Loc: MIssissippi

Thanks for your comments Frank. It seems that many folks don't find much of interest in this image. It isn't my favorite of Adams' images but I do see its appeal, partly because I like the villages in New Mexico and relate to the image.

minniev Loc: MIssissippi

I would go even further. What we do BEFORE we press the shutter button is also manipulation. We decide what to include or exclude, which parts will be blurred or sharp.

minniev Loc: MIssissippi

Thanks, Don, looks like lots of people share your feelings. And he did make many varied versions of this image with the highly contrasty version being the last one I think.

minniev Loc: MIssissippi

I don't know, but if you research it and find out, do tell the rest of us!

Thanks for stopping by.

minniev Loc: MIssissippi

Thanks for stopping by to take part, and I know you'll help us keep the discussion on track:)

minniev Loc: MIssissippi

In my reading prior to making the post, I ran across various references to the part this image played in Adams' career. It is one of his most (fiscally) successful prints, and he seemed to like it a lot himself.

I appreciate all the information you've brought forward and I'm sure you'll help keep the discussion on track. But I had hoped it would generate this kind of interesting conversation!

Billyspad Loc: The Philippines

Something must have passed me by I think. Whilst I can recognize Adams was pretty slick in the darkroom his images generally do not move me. Seems its cool to mention ol' Ansel among those who snap a landscape now and again and call themselves a photographer.
Im sure if Adams had been granted access to Photoshop he would have been a superb photo manipulator but not sure his images would have been good enough to get him to the exalted position he is held in today. Far from convinced Nat Geo would have been knocking on his door.

wj cody Loc: springfield illinois

okay, let's leave aside whether or not we like the final image. the final image could not have been obtained had the negative not held that. burning and dodging and the selection of paper were the only processes in producing that final image.

the composition, the light, the inherent drama of the image were all there on the negative. at the time he made the exposures the only additive to the camera lens was a kodak wratten red filter. Mr. Adams, himself, did not "value" this photograph any more than his other work, either before or after.

he took a certain delight in, as others have mentioned on this post, explaining how the zone system and technical darkroom processes played their part in what we all now see. it was an excellent lesson for all large format photograpers and today's landscape photographers. the generation following him, Terry Hayden, for example, were able to apply this knowledge to their large format work, with excellent results. anyone making photographs or digital images should master the zone system and study light and available dark. it would elevate the images from "postcard and calendar" pictures to something much better than that which abound in the millions on the internet.

minniev Loc: MIssissippi

I would love to see what he might have done with Photoshop. I think he'd have figured out wonderful things to do with it.

minniev Loc: MIssissippi

Thanks for joining in the discussion! You may find some of the links interesting.

I like the word you used here: "inherent". That, for me, is the point of raw capture. In my own photography I try to capture the best set of "raw" ingredients of that inherent image, so that I can shape it later. I think perhaps that is what Adams did with this and other images, in a time when the shaping was rather more difficult.