Stumps and Mist, Washington. Black and white photograph. Radeka photography

I took this photograph very close to Nooksack Falls in the North Cascades mountains of northern Washington state. A precarious and dangerous climb leads to this spot, and I don't recommend anyone risking loss of life for the opportunity to make a good photograph. I was struck by the eloquent light of the misty canyon contrasting with this outcropping of tree stumps. The mist is actually water vapor from Nooksack Falls as it thunders to the canyon floor below. I waited until the misty distance appeared smooth and soft and shot this photograph with a Scneider 121mm Super Angulon lens on Kodak Tri-X 4x5 film, developed to lower contrast using SLIMT development. The negative is excellent - sharp throughout with clean, clear values from shadows to highlights. To make the best print I could, I used an inkjet dodge mask, designed on the computer using Adobe Photoshop CS2. The mask was made with both yellow and magenta colors in various areas of the image to establish the proper balance of tones throughout the photograph. Even with this mask a fair amount of burning and dodging is still necessary.