Tutorial led by Editor Michel Romaggi, in collaboration with the author Fiorenzo Carozzi
Edited and published by Yvette Depaepe, the 22nd of  January 2025

'The red tree'

'The red tree' is a wonderful impressionistic and painterly image, Fiorenzo.
Can you explain step by step how you created it? Circumstances, materials used, settings, post-processing etc.

I often use the 'in the round' technique', which means that I walk around the subject, covering all or part of the circle, taking pictures every few steps. In this way I collect 5-10-20 or more images, depending on the subject and context.
I always make sure that the main subject is always in the same position in the frame to make post-production easier. The elements that remain in the same position in each shot are easy to identify when the images are stitched together. Elements that vary in position from shot to shot will appear unstructured. The more shots you use, the more obvious the effect becomes.
No special photographic equipment is required. I work with my Canon 5D IV and usually use the 16-35 lens, always using the same focal length for shots. But I have also tried this technique with the drone and with the smartphone, with quite good results.

I took 9 photographs in the late afternoon to create this image, over an arc of 180°, keeping the tree in a central position, with other trees in the park and the houses of the town as a background.  All photos were taken in raw format, ISO 100, f5.6, 1/80-1/500, 29 mm, keeping the focus on the trunk. This tree is in a park in a pretty town on Lake Maggiore (Angera), and in autumn its leaves are intense red-magenta.

POST-PROCESSING
* I made basic adjustments to all the images in Camera Raw, correcting any highlights, and converted the raw files to jpg (easier to handle in Photoshop without having too large a file).
* I then opened the jpg files as layers in Photoshop.
* I chose the "base" image, which is representative of the scene and will characterise the composition of the final photograph. This image was moved to the bottom as the first layer.
* On the base layer, I created guidelines to define the height, width and centrality of the tree.
* I selected the other layers one by one and moved each layer to position the tree as much as possible within the guides. At this stage I used the masks on each image to remove any unwanted elements that I did not want in the final photograph.
* I deselected all the layers except the first one at the bottom, which I wanted to have 100% opacity.
* I selected the other layers one by one and gave each one a 'correct' opacity, depending on the final result I wanted. This opacity can vary from 5% to 60%, bearing in mind that the higher the opacity, the more detail will be shown, while the lower the opacity, the more blurred the image will be. In this image, the opacity of the different layers varies from 12 to 30%.
* You can use a different blend mode for each layer, depending on what you want to achieve. For this job I used 'Normal' mode for all the layers.
* In this case, I made a copy of the base image, placed it as a top layer and used a mask to add more detail to the leaves and trunk.
* When I had the final image I wanted, I merged all the layers (I usually wait until the next day, because after a break I am sure to think of other changes that need to be made).
* I cropped the image because moving the layers causes imperfections at the edges. When shooting, remember that a final crop will be necessary, so compose so that the branches of the tree are well away from the edges of the frame.
* I made the final adjustments in Photoshop/Camera Raw, as with all the other photographs: white balance, curves, levels, saturation, vignetting, sharpness.

At the end of each job, I usually ask myself: is this picture worthy of being published on 1x.com?
If the answer is yes, I am satisfied with the work, if the answer is no, I will try again.

What led you from the natural landscapes of your early pictures to this creative quest?

Digital photography was the impetus that led me to return to photography with continuity and passion. On the other hand, the proliferation of images in our culture, the compulsive use of smartphones to collect and share photos, the advent of AI that creates breathtaking landscapes out of thin air at a simple request, and the obsessive search for 'locations' for landscape photography that are often all the same, have led me to some reflections.
- What originality and personal contribution can I still express in landscape photography today?
- How do my landscapes fit in among the thousands of landscape photographs that flood the web every day?
- Do I still have the urge to go on long hikes in search of the extreme weather conditions that are best suited to landscape photographers?
The answers were not encouraging and I felt the need to move on.
Painters, in order to distinguish themselves from the triumphant realism of photography, found new forms of expression (impressionism, abstractionism, etc.). In the same way, I felt the need to break down reality and try to convey emotions using different photographic techniques.
For many years I sought sharpness and clarity in my landscapes, to the point of being a prisoner of fixed rules. In ICM (Intentional Camera Movement) I found my photographic freedom again: there is only my camera, the subject and the infinite possibilities of interpretation of the scene.
The search for 'special' locations has been replaced by the personal interpretation of even ordinary places with photographs with strong pictorial, abstract and dreamlike connotations.
There is little innovative in this vision, but in following this path I feel freer and more fulfilled.

'Walking to the big tree'

What determines your choice of subject: your personal taste or the desired result of the photographic work? Are there certain subjects that lend themselves better to this technique?

My most recent photographs, published in 1x, were taken using a special type of ICM technique called "in the round". It is not the camera that is moved by the photographer, but it is the photographer who moves the camera around the subject, creating a series of 'sharp' images that are then stitched together in Photoshop.
This technique of creating an impressionistic image from a series of images around a subject was originally developed by the Catalan artist Pep Ventosa, who describes it as 'in the round'. His photographic collections of trees, among other subjects, inspired me to try this technique.
As with any photographic genre, the choice of subject is the key to a good end result. In 'in the round' photography, it is necessary to choose a strong and isolated subject that stands out clearly from its surroundings in terms of colour and/or shape and/or luminosity.
I initially chose trees as the main subject of my 'in the round' works. In some of these paintings I also included a human element near the tree to try to tell a story. I have also made works with trams, newspaper stands, children's merry-go-rounds, fountains, monuments, basketball players around the basket, flower stands, roundabouts, flowers in a vase.

'Flying chair carousel'

Depending on how I choose the subject, the angle from which I shoot it, the type of background, and how I superimpose the images in Photoshop, the results can vary from misty and slightly dreamlike, to impressionistic, to something almost surreal. The end result retains the essence of the subject while removing the distracting elements of the background. In short, the possibilities are endless.

'Milan tram'

To conclude this nice tutorial, could you tell us a little about yourself?

I was born in 1950 and have always lived in a small village in northern Italy, in the area of the pre-alpine lakes.
I am a retired microbiologist and all my professional life I was enchanted by the colours of bacterial colonies on Petri dishes illuminated by a side light.This chromatic enchantment has perhaps not been unimportant in my search for colour and light in my photographic journey.Photography has always been a passion for me, but it is only in the last fifteen years that I have returned to it with dedication and commitment, finding in the digital darkroom the same stimulating sensations that I experienced many years ago when, in my youth, I saw black and white images appear in the developing trays of the "real" darkroom.
Above all, I have devoted myself to landscape photography, because I love nature, the solitude of places, the magic and mystery of light at dawn and dusk, and the scent of the air in the golden hours of the different seasons, with snow, fog, frost and so many other conditions.

'Milan Cathedral'