Page 12 - NyghtVision Magazine Volume 3 #2

eral-purpose lens wasn't suited to the job. So,
we purchased three Canon L Series lenses: the
14mm, the 24mm Tilt and Swivel, and the 16-
35mm. These were expensive lenses and, for
our needs, didn't serve a larger purpose. Par-
allel lines, accurate colors, special lenses... I
began to feel the same way about architectural
photography that I had felt about shooting in
manual mode: too much to think about and not
much room for emotional expression. Given
that emotional expression is where we add the
most value, I became increasingly concerned
that we would not be able to compete in the
commercial market.

RANSITION. In 2007, just before
WPPI, JD discovered Optics Pro from
T DxO Labs. He handed me a maga-
zine opened to their ad. We were both amazed.
Hours of post-processing required to correct
visual distortion would be reduced to a matter
of minutes—if the software actually delivered
what the ad promised. In fact, it did. I believe it
was sometime in 2008 that DxO Labs released
Film Pack.
While at first I thought it was a toy, it didn't
take long to realize that despite all the straight
and parallel lines I was obliged to produce, I
could also create emotionally powerful images.
In fact, it became very clear that each film-type
effect evoked a very different emotional expe-
rience. If I could get the lines parallel and the
rectangles straight, then I could use Film Pack
to capture the emotion I experienced when I
created the image. Then in 2010, Nik released
Viveza and JD quickly learned how to correct
color shift. All the pieces of the puzzle were now
in place. We could deliver emotionally power-
ful images that met commercial architectural
image standards: lines that were parallel, rect-
angles that were straight, and colors that were
accurate.

LEFT: Lobby of Polo Hall, Wake Forest University.

12 | the art of convergence