Pete Turner's Captivating Color Photography Technique
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- Опубліковано 10 вер 2024
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Also check out Eric Meola. He worked for Pete Turner before going out on his own. I had the privilege of working with both of them when I was an art director.
Alex, I couldn't agree more that Pete Turner is massively underrated ( think I may have even voiced that opinion in the comments of some of your previous videos). When I was first starting out his work inspired me more than any other photographer (it didn't hurt that I was a jazz fan). I wanted to see color as he did. His work is all the more remarkable when you consider that it predated Photoshop by decades. He died in 2017 but I had the good fortune to communicate with him briefly over e-mail concerning a print that I was acquiring (the blue cannonball at 2:40). Thank you for doing this.
Spot on! The most beautiful color rendition is created in-camera - a melding of the photographer's eye, light, subject/color, camera, exposure, sensor/film, optics. Though important, post-processing does take a back seat.
I miss Kodachrome 64!
Back in the day, when I was writing feature articles for various photo magazines, I interviewed Pete Turner. Very personable and wanting to share his story. Some 30 years later, I recall him telling me that he loved doing his commercial work because it gave him an "excuse" to explore his creative ideas.
Another superb - and I mean superb - color photographer I interviewed in the '80s: Eric Meola. Did work for Nikon, among other clients. Check him out.
Gotta miss dye transfer printing too...
I think Jay Maisel fits that same mold and maybe a bit better. Some of his color work might be a bit more subtle but he needs to be on your list.
When I worked at a jazz radio station in college, I was fascinated with the giraffe photo (1:18) on the cover of Antonio Carlos Jobim's album "Wave." I didn't know what a giraffe had to do with the album title, but I couldn't take my eyes off the album cover. Thank you for this video.
I also remember being captivated by the Boat Wake photo at 0:10 when I saw it years ago after acquiring several issues of Nikon World magazine from the 1960s and '70s. I believe I remember reading that he used a blue filter. It's a stunning image. Thanks for providing information about him.
Thank you for sharing Pete Turner’s work! His sumptuous super-saturated graphic imagery seriously rocks light and composition. And all done in camera!
In those days Kodachrome was king and when that went away it was Fuji Velvia.
Coupled with some lab chemistry variation some amazing results could happen.
Thank you for mentioning the use of creating duplicate images to further enhance contrast and saturation. Those were the bread and butter techniques used back then before digital, and often not easy to achieve consistently.
Sadly, most people get their photography education mainly from looking at Instagram, where photographers like Pete Turner are seldom noticed and considered “old school” and “extinct” like dinosaurs.
Thank you again for bringing Pete Turner to UA-cam and the masses!
Biggest influence in my color for 51 years.
Oh my God. First Ernst Haas and then Pete Turner. These are my favourite two photographers from my youth. Thank you for helping me to understand why these photographers moved me so much both then and now. What a wonderful trip down memory lane and great inspiration going forward.
It’s been a long time since I’ve heard anyone talk about Pete Turner. He was my original inspiration. His work often appeared on the covers of the major American photo magazines as well as Nikon’s publications. Eric Meola, one of his assistants, also went on to a successful commercial career.
2:39 - "Cannonball, 1970" was used as cover art on jazz flautist Hubert Laws's album (LP) "Afro-classic" (1970, CTI Records) where he worked with a.o. Bob James, Ron Carter and Airto.
When this shot came by in the video, "Hubert Laws" shot through my mind immediately - very recognizable image with some dreamy mystique to it.
Like many of the commenters I'm old enough to have been deeply impacted by Pete Turner's images. I can easily say THE most influential photographer of my career. Much of those "inky blacks" were from duplicating his Kodachrome slides, often many times. Any semblance of shadow detail dropped away. I even created my own duplicator and attached it to the end of my macro lens to mimic the effect. Great video and homage to a master photographer!
I think I was exposed to his photography from a magazine called Omni, in the mid to late 70’s. His work was definitely unique in those days. The only other one close to him, and probably better known, is Jay Maisel .
Holy cow! 👌👍🔝📸😍
I have seen Turners photos many times, but never colected like like this and understod his greatness as a portal artist. What a joy!
Thanks Alex!
Wonderful video, insightful, instructive and inspiring. . .But you know what? I think many of today's young photographers who seem to be obsessed with "gear" would dismiss Pete Turner as an "old guy" who didn't use the latest mirrorless cameras and lenses of whichever brand they love. . .So in their minds he couldn't have taken great photos with what they would consider the "junk" gear he was using many years ago. I hate that attitude but I see it all the time in "comments" on videos about photography. I LOVE that you never once mentioned a specific lens or camera in showing what Pete Turner knew about great photos. Glad to have found you here. . .Excellent!
You've nailed it. Pete Turner is an icon. Well done presentation! I fell in love with Kodachrome because of Turner--I wanted the most saturated color possible.
Thank you Alex Kilbee! Pete Turner has been one of my absolute favourites ever since I acquired a book with his work, some forty years ago. You are so right, to not be afraid, like Turner himself, of deep and dark and black shadows. 🖤
Thanks for showcasing his work.... Pete Turner is one of the reasons I'm a photographers
This was another wonderful episode thank you. A blast from the past as I remember so well been impacted by his images way you back in the seventies, but “off my radar” recently with more attention given to Leiter, Haas, Helmer Keld Petersen and via books etc.
I used Kodachrome a lot back then and also did the duplicate to enhance blacks and contrast before scanning into the 1st versions of Photoshop. Then digital - now ‘sacked’, again! Temporarily?
I was already thinking about the difficulty of matching this colour richness and saturation via digital cameras before your comments and at the risk of starting the silly film versus digital war - which I don’t want to - I do think it is very difficult to gain the same feeling from colour from a digital image without it tending to look OTT or HDR like, often uncomfortably so for the eyes. There was just something about film and its mastery by the experts in the past that was special.
Alex, you put it in a short and crisp way again to the point. You have the great gift to motivate. Thank you for the interessting video. Cheers from Switzerland, Urs
Thank you, from Switzerland.
Pete was my hero growing up in the 70s. He got these colors mostly by duping Kodachrome on Kodachrome (eschewing the less contrasty dupe films) on his Repronar, and through the use of filters. He was amazing.
You should also check out his mentee, Eric Meola, and the early work of Mitchell Funk who would create surreal landscapes via Kodachrome-on-Kodachrome dupes and careful multiple exposures. Thanks for bringing attention to a truly great photographer.
He’s always been one of my favorites. Did you know he went to school with Jerry Uelsmann? Both amazing printers and manipulators.
I remember the Nikon ads in Popular Photography featuring Pete Turner. Impressing
Hi Alex, I'm surprised that you haven't mentioned Brian Peterson he loves color in his photography as he travels the world and at home in the pacific northwest of the United States he has a talent for finding color in so many ways and places.
Thank you for the inspiration and thought inspiring dialog that you put into every video I come away from watching each video having learned something. If everyone who watches your channel feels like they have learned something from each viewing then you truly are a great teacher, please keep sharing your knowledge of photography 📸 and thank you for being here.
And please, please, let us not forget another legend of Turner's time-photographer Mitchell Funk.
When I came to NYC in 1965 to become a photographer Pete Turner's images knocked me out. Thanks for showing his work.
Alex, you have brought back to me two of my photographic heroes in two consecutive videos! Turner and Haas deliberately composed with color in their minds. The medium they used, slide film, of course had nearly black shadows that had to be embraced… but the better color photographers of that time knew how to make it work for them. I wonder if it is because they probably learned black and white first…
I am bombarded at times with videos on photography but I am constantly drawn to yours because they really ‘talk’ to me in a way I can harness for my own creative progress. Thank you. Well done.
I listened to a 2007 Pete Turner interview last night on the excellent The Candid Frame podcast and it was interesting to hear how he had embraced the digital process and marvelled at what he could do in a day what used to take him a week. *And this is another great video as per usual, so thank you very much!
Great insight into another photographer I've never heard of, and what amazing pictures, thanks Alex.
How can someone not love these? They're strikingly full of contrast with pure colour and sharp edges. Magnificent in my opinion. It's photographic art on its own level.
Thank you for bringing Pete Turner to light. In the early days of my photography (the late 1970's) Pete Turner was a photographer that I attempted to emulate (without success). His work was, and still is beyond reproach. His work in 'duplicating' slides - an archaic process at the time, was carried out with such meticulous attention to perfection. Yes there have been a few truly great "color" photographers, but Pete still rises to the top. As you presented in a previous episode, William Eggleston photographed the mundane in color. Pete Turner did the same but elevated his subjects to a far higher status through his treatment and presentation...
Those pictures capture my soul Alex. Cheers.
Oh my. Thank you for this and please keep what you are teaching!
Part of the magic of these is because of slide film and the cibachrome printing process. In order to reproduce this color you have edit with heavy hands.
Thanks great video! Love hearing that it's ok to embrace the blacks, that's what I've always enjoyed naturally. But I have been seeing so many technical videos saying 'don't forget to leave enough light in your shadows, you can always darken light tones in postprocessing' that I was beginning to think I was making a faux pas. Even though their images are as clear as crystal, they seem a bit washed out to my aesthetic. I like these explorations of different styles!
Another great colour photographer worth checking out is Eric Meola, who is probably best known for his black and white photos of Bruce Springsteen.
Oh snap I just realized I have a book of his I picked up at a used bookstore that I hadn't gotten around to studying yet. Gonna go grab that book now.
Pete Turner was an icon for me when I entered into professional practice. He was a genius at seeing pictures anywhere and everywhere. His use of Kodak gelatine CC filters was legendary. It is because of Pete that Kodak opened a privately run pro customer only push/pull Kodachrome lab in downtown Manhattan.
Wow! Stunning images! Thanks for teaching about this photographer that's new to me.
Almost every 2nd or 3rd image you show here is a classic jazz album cover, literally. Most of them on CTI Records, but I also recognise some Verve and Epic Records. Thanks for the video ❤
Thanks for watching
Alex, I think the only thing I'd add is that Pete used the dye transfer process in printing, to which much of the effect is attributable. I thought for years it was Cibas, but found out more recently it was DT. BUT, let's not put too much on any processing. Around 1990 I started taking dupe images on chromes and C-41 and doing my printing off the C-41. I used an early Kodak kiosk at my lab which DID allow some basic darkroom controls (color channels, exposure, etc) and produced results which the lab owner (a very experienced printer) thought were Cibas. So, again, it isn't the tool as much as what you can do with it.
As for Pete, one of my heroes. Thanks for giving him his due.
Slide film also helps a lot. E100vs used to be my jam
Wow! Pete Turner's work is incredible!! You're right -- never heard of him. But I will study his work and be inspired. Thanks...
Thank you, yes Pete Turner is one of the greats!
I read many years ago that he employed a Bowens Illumitran to duplicate Kodachrome 25 slides onto Kodachrome 25 hence enhancing the contrast beyond what just using a polariser would give him.
He apparently used opaquing fluid to mask out unwanted areas on the duplicates, a primitive version of Photoshop.
These techniques are meaningless without his vision of course, although writing about them helped to sell many camera magazines in the '70's and '80's. This in turn inspired a new breed of extreme color acolytes that continues to this day, unfortunately largely without the finesse of a Pete Turner.
Holy mackerel!!! It’s why I love this channel!!! I’ve learned so much from you and I’m forever grateful to you.
My heart aches at times as I wish I had learned this in school as I had no one to teach me. I can’t go back in time but this channel gives me a reason to photograph and enjoy the art decades later. 😢
Oh for the bright light, the deep shadows, and the abundance of colour. I live in the North of England, searching for colour and screaming blue sky does happen but in limited supply. And I much prefer the work of Turner, Haas, and Leiter over Alex Webb but wouldn't life be boring if we were all the same. And I am sick of spell checker telling me I have spelled Colour wrong, no wonder the Americans call it Fall as they can't spell Autumn either.
I can't thank you enough for these wonderful videos you do. I have learned so much from them as an amateur photographer. I'm a professional musician and i was surprised to realize that the way I think about music can also be applied to taking photographs.
That’s great, thanks for watching
Fantastic - cant wait to experiment as my photography is backsliding - thanks
Such a great review of colour! Thank you, and thanks for showing Pete Turner, a new photographer to study.
His embracement of shadow is instructive. People go bonkers for high dynamic range to the point it almost becomes a religion. Rarely is it asked if such dynamic range is actually needed. Looking at oil paintings, areas of shadow and highlight make the image as much as anything else. I'm not saying that HDR is bad, but people often hear it, buzzword like, and think they MUST have a higher dynamic range camera. That all aside, how often does one run across an image that has 14 stops from dark to light anyway even if one does want to capture detail in both the shadows and bright areas?
I often stop the exposure down a full stop from what the light meter says. It often results in a better image, more dramatic, and the colors are truer to what is in front of my eyes that way.
Tnx for another great video Alex, and Pete Turner's photographs are amazing.
In some of those images, I would say the color creates the recognizable shape. Thanks again Alex.
thank you for your informative & inspirational showings of other fantastic photographers, Pete Turner’s images are incredible!! 😯😍!!
Thank you for watching
What a fabulous photographer. Really wonderful stuff. Thanks.
Thanks for watching
I remember having a Image Bank catalog, and He had many pages dedicated to his work. His work intrigued me on Kodachrome-(RIP) + 10 or 20 magenta -of course:)
Great video, first one without mentioning the name of the Photographer A. A. (which name I will not use, for obvious reasons)
Keep it up buddy, we know you can !!
Pete turner was and is a legend.
Beautiful work. I glad I watched this video.
I heard from Pete since I was a kid thanks to a Kodak photography book my dad had at home :D
Thanks Alex for bring attention to Pete. I discovered him on an album cover in the 1970's when I was a teenager. I had been shooting B&W but when I saw his work I was totally stunned - I had never seen anything like and didn't even know photographers could make those kind of images. I was so inspired by his work - and still am - that I switched to colour (Kodachrome 64 at the time) and have never regretted it. I can honestly say that discovering Pete Turner actually changed my life as I probably would have eventually dropped away from photography otherwise. His website is still up and worth the visit.
Think I owned that album. It was a jazz group?
Wow. Some beautiful photos
Beautiful! I had never heard of him, like you suggested. Coloured film photography has always been my main fascination, so I'm happy whenever I see / hear about someone who produced work this unique!
Another thing, besides it not being the same doing it in photoshop, is the time. A few moments of thought given when taking the photos can save a lot of time not having to adjust things in editing software. I'd think most photographers would rather spend more time in the field rather than sitting at a computer monitor for hours.
Excellent video on color contrast. I feel that he used a Polarizer quite a bit to bring in the darker blue sky.
I don't usually pay attention to color when photographing, even though I love it. It would be fun to do a project on color.
Thank you for regularly introducing me to new photographers in your videos. I am particularly pleased to know about Pete Turner, the work you showed is magnificent and definitely something I want to try for myself.
Now, this was inspirational!
You should look at Mitchell Funk - He was a contemporary of Pete
I Agree 100%
Wonderful podcasts generally. Makes one think about the process, not the gear. Any comment on the colour work of Ernst Haas? Please keep on
This channel is superb
Thank you. 👍📷😎
Thanks again Alex, for showing me something new. I will be taking a closer look at Turner's work. It's easy to forget how beautiful the 'human element', as it's sometes called, can be👍
Wow! So inspirational. Thankyou
Thank you
Didn't Pete Turner shoot mostly with Kodachrome -- something we'll never find again. Of course, then, his colors were richer and amazing. I like your suggestion about finding something colorful first, and then maybe photoshopping it. It's all I do lately. Most of my friends are typically into shooting flowers and animals. Your video inspired me to keep working with my good sense of composition and color together. Thank you.
Well, at least I know I wasn't on the "wrong" track with having a preference for hard sunlight for my photos. As I think about past shots, especially from my last two outings, those deep shadows really do help the colors stand out. Now I just need to figure out how to consistently get the deep blues I love from the photos shown in this video.
Wonderful Alex and straight to my heart. I am currently shooting Velvia profile on my Fuji and loving it. I am also using Fuji recipes to process my images in camera with old Kodak colors. Love Pete Turners images.
Wow just discovered a great photographer, why didn't they taught about him at school (I studied in the late 80's) only Ansel Adam.
I see that most of these had been made in the 60's 70's and 80's, which means that they were done on argentique support (negative or positive) that had stronger colors that today's dull digital.
Cole Weston, Edward Weston's son, was also a remarkable color photographer
Judging by the dates…. I would say they are Kodachrome slides, which explains the deep black shadows.
great episode!
Thank you
awesome colors! :D I would certaily hang a few of those in my house gladly! (can't say the same from other photos and photographers...)
Thank you for introducing me to another great photographer.
I love how you have started letting multiple images flood the screen with no commentary (though I think your analysis is brilliant). Gives time for the images to sink in🧡
Never heard of Pete Turner before this video, at least not recallable, but have been pondering a bit on colour photography and why the "all" the masters known today is black and white fellows, and most of them was around when I started up with photography as a sprog in the late 70s. Has there really been no development? As for my own stuff, I horse around with LR, and blame my tendency towards saturation and contrast to be the fault of Fujichrome and Rollei 35... :-D Another great video, thanks for putting in the effort!
Ha, at 6:50 I recognized that picture, it's on the cover of the composition book we're using in a composition class I'm taking at the local community college. I didn't even know Pete Turner's name. Ugh.
Turner's work is really very good. Stunning stuff.
I've been a fan of Pete Turner for over 20 years. Very amazing stuff.. He was way ahead of the rest.
Jay Maisel should be on your list.
Amazing work. I had never heard of him, thanks for sharing.
If anything, Pete Turner must have previsualization from Ansel Adams. Pete Turner must have thought about the type of photo wanted he before snapping the shutter. For the photos at 0:07, 1:47 and 5:29 must been shot with tungsten film, because when used in daylight or outdoors it gives off that bluish cast. Pete Turner talents were unknown until it was too late. Perhaps if his work was more mainstream, Pete Turner might have been noticed sooner.
Eric Meola!
Danke!
Thank you!
Will you ever do a podcast?
That trash can photo. One thing about that is that it is highly symmetrical which usually works better in black and white. It's unusual for that reason on its own.
AS a confirmed B&W man I shouldn't like this. Strange, then, that this might be your best episode yet.
Pete Turner has a new fanboi!
I detect some traits of Kodachrome 64 film in Pete Turner's photos. Is there any info on this?
Reminds me of Rothko a bit
To expand: what I was trying to say is that somehow in Turners photos, the color is creating the shadows, which is impossible, but somehow not. Not sure if that makes sense, but...