Joe cornish

ben1 · Jul 10, 2006

Hey guys just a random thread,

i read somewhere before, i think it might have been on ere, but i cant remember, that joe cornish's images have hours of work spent on them photoshopping etc...

Havin recently only taken the time to have a look at some of his work, to be honest i cant really see where the above comment comes from....

its great stuff, realllly great... but what could possibly take "hours" of work in photoshop...???

Im also curious as to the extent to which the landscapers in here modify/touchup etc etc their work in photoshop....

))

Steve Smith · Jul 10, 2006

I have read recently that Joe has started using Lightjet printing onto Fuji Crystal for some images but most have been created by the Cibachrome/Ilfochrome process.

Therefore I find it hard to believe that there is any Photoshopping in any of Joe's images.

What is evident is a lot of skill and patience.

Steve.

Tom Stanworth · Jul 10, 2006

I can imagine that getting anything like that just right for a large lightjet would take time, especially if it is for exhibition or sale in editions. This however does not mean that the image is heavily manipulated, only that a perfectionist wants to get 'right' the subtle combination of contrast, density, colour balance on a gross and localised scale. I am sure that many of us do the same in the darkroom and would not consider our images heavily manipulated or unfaithful. If anything I would guess that most mono negs deviate far more from a straight print than would his colour trannies outputted via a digital intermediary process.

mcgrattan · Jul 10, 2006

The interviews I've read with him, in UK photo magazines, imply he does quite a lot 'in camera'. There's heavy use of neutral grads, polarisers, warm-up filters and so on.

Nothing that indicated a lot of work after that stage though.

roteague · Jul 10, 2006

ben1 said:
i read somewhere before, i think it might have been on ere, but i cant remember, that joe cornish's images have hours of work spent on them photoshopping etc...

What you read wasn't accurate, in fact, it is a misrepresentation of what Joe does. You can ask either Les McLean or Baxter Bradford, both members of APUG, who know Joe personally. Joe makes heavy use of split neutral density filters as I do. I do all my work in camera, on film. I don't believe in using any type of digital manipulation on any of my images, other than what is necessary to make the image look like the original transparency.

David H. Bebbington · Jul 10, 2006

No personal acquaintance with Joe Cornish, but I too have the impression that a high level of skill with camera filters is an integral part of his style. It basically has to be - if you're going to do extreme manipulation in Photoshop, you really wouldn't choose to shoot on high-saturation (high-contrast) transparency film, because with this film if you don't get it right in camera, you've got nothing to manipulate! A normal-saturation color neg film would be much more accommodating in this respect.

Regards,

David

John McCallum · Jul 10, 2006

Not true

I've discussed this with Joe in person. He still uses Velvia film (or did a year ago) and did not have an interest in digital methods other than the requirements for printing his photography. When it comes to digital manipulation, he mentioned he has toned down some of his images when they appeared a little unreal due to the colour saturation of the film, but that was the extent of it.

He also said he did not have plans in the future to use digital methods, rather would use Velvia as long as it was available. He genuinely appeared to have no interest in spending his time behind a pc.

Sanjay Sen · Jul 11, 2006

No personal acquaintance with Joe Cornish, but I've read his comments where he says that he is not interested in digital processes but he has nothing against them either, just that film is still superior than current digital processes and that is why he still uses film. Most or all of his images are shot in Velvia.

(IIRC, I came across the above comments in the preface or introduction to his book "Light and the Art of Landscape Photography", but I may be mistaken.)

Regards,

timparkin · Apr 24, 2008

I beleive Joe is a pragmatic person and will use digital post production where it is appropriate to better represent the images he saw when he was creating the picture. This could mean correcting for reciprocity, using a warming/cooling filter digitally in order to make slight corrections without putting another peice of resin in front of the lens; dodging/burning and some saturation reduction/boosting if necessary. I don't beleive he's a Luddite that would be happy making big changes in the analogue space but would eschew changing anything digitally. All in all, an admirable attitude to image creation which starts with capturing a transparency as accurately as possible.

RobC · Apr 24, 2008

Sanjay Sen said:
No personal acquaintance with Joe Cornish, but I've read his comments where he says that he is not interested in digital processes but he has nothing against them either, just that film is still superior than current digital processes and that is why he still uses film. Most or all of his images are shot in Velvia.

(IIRC, I came across the above comments in the preface or introduction to his book "Light and the Art of Landscape Photography", but I may be mistaken.)

Regards,

since he doesn't print his own images, whether the camera is digital or film would make little difference to him except that carting a laptop and highly expensive digital backs across the scottish mountains when its peeing down with rain would probably not be a smart move. You could drop a 10x8 camera in a lake, take it out, wipe the lens and gg clean and it would still work.
There's a practicallity to using film for landscape work because digital simply doesn't do it unless you're within ten paces of the car which might suit some. but not joe cornish I think.

RH Designs · Apr 25, 2008

Read what the man himself has to say on the subject here.

Bob Carnie · Apr 25, 2008

If you want to see his prints up close and personal , Elevator will be having an exhibition of his work in Toronto late October.

Joe cornish

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