Posted by Dave Bull at 4:09 PM, August 10, 2008
The Seacoast in Summer print has nowhere near the complexity of the previous Forest in Spring. It is very nearly a 'monotone', and builds up the varied densities of tone by repeated applications of the same grey/green mix.
The process started with a selection of photographs I downloaded from the NASA website (all public domain material). As I studied the surface of the moon in these photos, I learned that what I wanted to do is not actually possible in 'real life'. I wanted to show the spherical shape of the moon by shading off the light at the edges all the way around the visible circumference, but none of the photos showed this effect - all the way around. Perhaps it might be possible to take such a photo at the perfect moment of 'full moon' from a perfect point in space but that is not the way we usually see the moon.
So to create the effect I made a composite, using photos taken at slightly different times. This is a view of the moon you have never seen, and will never see.
I then set to work and split the image into ten levels of tone. These are not evenly spread out along the tonal 'spectrum'. At one end is the bare white of the paper, visible in a very few places on the lunar surface; the other end is of course the total black of deep space. The remaining eight levels are pretty evenly spread out, sitting in a 'band' somewhere in the middle of the overall range.
The print took ten impressions. The basic 'white' is not printed, but the deep black is printed twice. Let's see how it comes together ...
Impression #1: This is the base tone on the lunar surface, and by the time we get to the end will look nowhere near this dark - although it will of course really be so.
It's not a completely solid tone, as there are a few small hi-lights popped out here and there.
There is no specific reason that this colour should also cover the open sky area, as that will be totally buried later, but doing it this way serves to help get the entire sheet of paper into a nice 'equal' condition.
Impression #2 - Next level of tone ...
The resulting build-up :
Impression #3 - Next level of tone ...
The resulting build-up :
The thread continues in [Seacoast in Summer - 2] ...