The Zebra Monochrome Magazine Issue #1 The Zebra Monochrome Magazine Issue #1 | Page 164

Your award winning images are breathtaking, elegant, and yet simple, with very
minimum editing. What is your philosophy
on post-production, and its role, if any, in
the creative process?
Thank you for the feedback. It’s always a
buzz when someone appreciates my work.
I use Photoshop when I need to. I like to use
my camera skills to make as best an image
that I can ‘in camera’. Then I use Photoshop
to take out any distracting highlights and readjust my crop if needed. I like to add subtle
texture when the sky is white, this texture
is of an image of frozen ground. The most
important element is to make an image that
has the correct aesthetics. I don’t think that
‘photoshopping’ is cheating. Photographic
manipulation has been going on since the
dawn of photography.
When I am printing an image to enter an
‘award’ or competition I will print the image
well ahead of time, I will tape it up on the
wall for a few days and judge it in different
moods and with different light. If there are
problems I fix them.
What programs do you use to create your
artworks?
Nik Software - in Particular Silver Efex
Pro - is a great way to make Monochrome
images from colour. I make my own custom
settings and use those as starting points for
the conversion. I also use my own custom
made borders on my final art prints.
Is black and white your preferred method
of editing? Do you see the world in black
and white while you are photographing?
I often prefer to shoot in monochrome
at the time of capture because it allows

me to ‘see’ the image as monochrome on
the LCD screen. I shoot a combination of
Raw and Jpeg. The Raw file will return to
colour in the computer and sit along side
the monochrome Camera jpeg. The Jpeg is
what I call the ‘live’ performance, it reminds
me of how I felt at the time of capture. I then
reprocess Raw file back to monochrome
although some times the Jpeg does the job
with minimal corrections needed.

© Jackie Ranken http://www.jackieranken.co.nz/