Pick your 3 favorite photos from the list featured in this article.
Describe how you think the photographer shot the photo in terms of camera position, lighting, exposure and working with subject matter. Also note what the photographer might be communicating the the audience for each photo.
Question of the week:
What are the best exposure ideas for black and white photography (Aperture, Shutter)
What advantages might a rainy day have for black and white photography?
Tips for shooting black and white:
- Rather than using color to lead the eye around the frame, look for shapes, lines, tones and textures to form composition. And of course, look for contrast, darks to lights. Allow tonal value to influence composition.
- Remember, a gloomy rainy day can be a great backdrop for shooting black and white.
- If possible shoot in RAW and monochrome or black and white setting. RAW offers interesting post-processing capabilities
- Use a low ISO. High ISO presents noise that is hard to process out. So consider a tripod for a steady shot and consider exposure that allows for the contrast of dark to light value in your shot.
Ansel Adams Documentary
Black and White Photography-Ansel Adams:
GROUP 1
Question for the above:
1. How did his work impact the environmental/conservation movement?
Group 2
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JLC6VKt1Ceg&feature=related
Question for above:
1. Based on this movie, what do you think the value of the zone system as to photography?
Group 3:
Ansel adams on photographing yosemite
1. What did Yosemite mean to Ansel Adams?
Douglas Nickel on Surf Sequence
1. What does Nickel mean by time and place?
Adams on environmentalism
1. What does he say about environmentalism?
------next----Group 4
Adams on his working methods
1. Why is understanding the technology important to Adams?
Ansel Adams on Photography
1. Visualise-what does it mean?
Climbing Diving Board Rock with friends at Yosemite
1. what does this short film tell you about Adams and his relatioship to Yosemite and the art of photography?
Group 5
Ansel Adams Interactive:
Simmons Peak
Monolith/Half Dome-what is the zone system. What does "seeing the final image" mean to adams. What does it mean to you?
Frozen Lake and Cliffs-how do curators of museums see this work as abstract? Do you?
Group 6
Surf Sequence-what is meant by sequence in these pictures?
Moonrise New Mexico
Group 7
Mt. Williamson-is this work photographic art or journalism? Do you think he conveyed the way people really felt?
Group 8
Mt. Mckinley-discuss 3 main points about Adams' involvement with conservation
One of my favorites is the one with the the man wearing the hat with the dotted shadows. If the picture had been in color, the picture would have looked messy or even distorted, but because the color was extracted, the photo has only two color dimensions, giving each a more crisp effect.
ReplyDeleteSmoke is also a good subject of bw photography. As I've noticed, things that are already generally black and white are used to compose great photos. Foam, Smoke, Clouds, etc.
I like the Lego one representing the Flag raising at Iwo Jima. The picture is barren, forcing the viewer to look at the figures and not a distracting background.
ReplyDeleteI also like the one with the snails because it shows the progression of age almost like a timeline. It used the circle of confusion to draw attention to the snails.
The last one I like is the hot air balloon because the photographer draws attention to the focus using the bright white outline of the sun, even though there is a rich background.
i really liked the photo with the woman in white under the water. the camera is underwater so i have no idea what they did to achieve that photo. i also liked the photo of the golfer standing on the tree. the photographer probably dimmed the lighting in in to see the fog better. the third picture i liked was of the 747 plane in the clouds. its a really beautiful shot and i have no idea how the photo was taken, but the lighting was probably dimmed because its probably really bright in the sky.
ReplyDeleteI liked the picture of the man jumping in the water because it makes the use of the depth of field really well.
ReplyDeleteI also like the one of the boy in the water because it shows the water falling off of him and it must have taken very precise timing to get that good of a photograph.
I like the picture of the plane because i cannot figure out how the photographer took such a well timed photo and the lighting is great as well
1. http://media.smashingmagazine.com/images/black-white-photography/61.jpg
ReplyDeleteI think the photographer used a very deep depth of field for this, and a relatively large aperture with a low iso and high shutter speed. It was probably taken from a tripod, although it could have been done from a standing/kneeling position. Probably either late/early during a cloudy day.
2. http://media.smashingmagazine.com/images/black-white-photography/51.jpg
This one obviously used a very deep depth of field. Large aperture, low iso, high shutter speed; this would let in enough light to highlight the brighter parts, to contrast with the darker. Probably taken in the afternoon/morning, since the sun isn't super high up. I think it was taken standing up, because it looks like a situational shot, rather than one that was set up.
3. http://media.smashingmagazine.com/images/black-white-photography/78.jpg
This used a very shallow depth of field, evidenced by the circle of confusion present. This had low iso, large aperture, and a slower shutter speed than the two previous pictures. Most likely at least partially set up, with a camera very close to the snails and almost next to the ground.
1) The photograph of the girl just beneath the surface of the water is eerie and interesting. The photographer probably had to get a camera case to shoot the photograph while under the water. He appears to be slightly blow and at an angle to the subject which is the female about to drown. The lighting under water is minimal, so the exposure settings were probably maxed out to allow as much light to flood the picture as possible. The photographer is communicating the hardness of life and how people figuratively drown easily.
ReplyDelete2) The long dark road picture in the cornfields is also quite interesting. The photographer stationed himself in the middle of the road and far enough back to actually have an apex point. The lighting was probably not so good since it appears the photo was shot later in the day or even at night do to the amount of whiteness in the sky. The exposure was probably a lower setting to help along the dark mood. The photographer is saying that there are sometimes long dark roads in life.
3) The silhouette shot of a lady on the beach is also quite nice. IN order to get a silhouette, exposure was probably low and the photographer had to be right behind the subject and a little farther back. The photographer was likely trying to show that every human is just one in many. Also, the scene is really nice and lively because its a beach.
The 3 photos that I liked:
ReplyDelete1. Shazeen Samad, the one where the boy is upside down going into the water while someone is watching him. How the photographer shot this picture would be that they probably stood a bit far from the subjects and probably zoomed in a bit to clearly capture the picture and get both the water in the air and the full body of the boy. The lighting seems to be like in the middle of the day. The bw effect makes it look more simple.
2. A second picture that I liked was the first one, by Toni Frissell. The picture is really clear and its not blurry at all. Its like a unique picture because you don't really see those types of pictures everyday.
3.The third one that was good would be the one with the girl holding the cigarette because it shows her emotions and its simple and clear. Everything behind her is blurred which makes her stand out and the b&w effect helps her stand out even more.
My 3 favorite photos are: The hot air ballon in the sky, the man peeping through the gaps in the wall, and the little boy peeking out of the archway.
ReplyDeleteIn the ballon photo, the photographer was obviously way below the photo, most likely had to wait until the ballon was in the space between the clouds. It would be challenging to work with this subject because there is only so much time before the ballon moves. the position of the lighting worked perfectly, because the source of light is right behind the object. I believe you would put this at a standard medium exposure.
In the photo where the man is peeping through the wall. The subject would need to be willing to wait for the photographer to get the desired shot. Probably at a very low f stop to allow as much light to come in threw the tiny spaces to allow the shape of the face to be seen. The photographer seems to be conveying a emotional response to the photo, its quite sad.
In the photo with the young boy, the focus is completely centered around his face, but because he is in the corner of the photo the focus is not centered, which makes the picture more appealing. it would probably be difficult to get this desired image from the child, because children are constantly moving around. Probably at a medium exposure because there is a light coming from all around. The photo is an example of street photography and it provokes great emotion.
My three favorites are the one with the hot air balloon, the one with the gecko, and the one by Elliott Erwitt with the girl and the cracked window.
ReplyDeleteThe one with the hot air balloon demonstrates lighting very well and it captures a dreamy effect. It makes you feel like the hot air balloon is going somewhere that is magical by the way the light shines around it. The camera would have to be looking strait at the balloon with the cloud behind it. They would also probably have to be on a mountain to be that level with the balloon. You have to let enough light in in this one, but too much would wash the balloon out and not make it prominent.
The gecko would be a very hard shot because it captures the texture of the surface it is standing on and it only focuses on the shadows which is the content of the photo. They might have used flash in this photo to get the circle of light around the gecko perfectly.
The third one has alot of depth in meaning. It shows a little girl looking through a broken window with a sad expression. It gives the impression that the younger generation is looking at the world through broken eyes, or eyes that don't see what they should. Timing would be very important to this picture, you have to time it right so she is looking in the right place at the right time.
Toni Frissell, Sally Mann and Maurizio Polese are my favorite photographers from the article. I LOVE Black and white photography because they show realness of life and they take away the distractions of the colour and focuses on the TRUE BEAUTY. These three pictures, brought all different emotions in me and they all tell very strong and different stories.
ReplyDeleteThe photo Candy Cigarette by Sally Mann its extremely beautiful and impressive. It tells its own story. You don't have to be a master in photography to understand what the photographer is trying to show.
Maurizio Polese in the other hand pays more attention to tiny details. in my opinion this is the success of his photos. The composition of the photos is perfect.
Toni Frissell does an incredible job. She gave us a very clear photo, but her work give us a lot of space for imagination.
The first picture that I would say is my favorite (which is hard because they are all amazing) would be the Tour Eiffel by Gabriele Caretti which is gorgeous shot of the Eiffel Tower at night with a full moon. I think the exposure must be pretty high, due to the amount of light to make the moon so noticeable and since it is night no other light would be added. The position is perfect with the angle which I think is trying to portray the beauty of night. I'm pretty sure that the moon is on the golden mean and the Tower is almost a boarder.
ReplyDeleteAnother one of my favorites has to be the Ghost Town Charm, which kind of does a dark-light effect. It must have a high exposure to capture the amount of light to make the photo pretty bright white. They made the building seem dark and scary due to the amount of light around the building. I think this person is trying to portray the creepiness of ghost towns, by making things brighter around it, because darkness normally portrays fear.
The final one that I really liked was the cat picture by Rui Palha I'm pretty sure that this photo also had a high exposure, but then the inside of the room has to be really dark. It was probably taken with high exposure and flash to catch only the outside. The picture probably mean to relax in life or the daily leisure of everyday. Of course cats can be hard to work with, so to get two cats to somewhat sit still is really useful. It's a bit hard to tell whether the cats are in the house or outside the house. The position is slightly tilted probably to get the reflection of the window, and each cat has like their own third with the line of the window down the center. The cats may be on the golden mean.
Question of the Week: There probably should be a high aperture and flash would be really useful, the shutter seems to be high as well. A rainy day would be useful because there would be no extra light to bleed into the photo which is why a lot of the pictures are at night.
My three favorites are the gecko, snails, and the escape. Unusual angle, unusual perspective, by Maurizio Polese. for the gecko picture the gecko would have to be on a see throw object like a window or glass table. The photography would have to be directly below the gecko or right in front of it. The lighting would have to be hitting at the gecko's head and have shadows near the lower part of his body to get the contrast of black and white. The exposure would probably need to have a low aperture because there ins't much white/light in the photo.
ReplyDeleteFor the snail photo the photographer would ned to be in line with the snails, at ground level to get that sort of view of them. The lighting looks like it was taken in the daylight because there aren't that many shadows. The exposure should be high for there is a lot of light coming and hitting the subject.
The Maurizio Polese, photo of the women walking at night makes the audience look at the photo twice for it is confusing, because you dont know if it is the wall or the ground. The photographer would have to been place in a distinct perspective to get this cool shot. The lighting would have to be more focused on the ground to get some shadows. The exposure would be low because it look like there wasnt much light when the photographer took the photo.
One of my favorite one is the photo byAneta Kowalczyk showing portrait photography. The photo is extremely beautiful showing the beautiful side of black and white photography. Another one i love is the one named Ghost Town charm that shows how much lighting and shades will impact black and white photography. The third picture i love is bySally Mann, titled Candy Cigarette, not just displays something, it tells a story. It is emotional and beautiful. :)
ReplyDeleteThe first photo that caught my eye was by Maurizio Polese picturing a pathway with crops on either side. The front of the photo is very dark and leads the eye down the pathway and to the light. Even the clouds have a transition from dark to light. I think the photographer was closer to the ground for this shot so he could capture the length of the pathway and the height of the crops. He may have used a smaller aperture so that the front of the photo did not have as much light.
ReplyDeleteThe next photo I really liked is the air-balloon in the sky blocking the sun by Bert Quasebart. He had to be on the ground shooting up to get the air-balloon. The air-balloon really stands out from the rest of the photo because of the light coming in from the back.
The last photo I saw and liked is by Rui Palha showing a man on a bike underneath a waterfall. I love the light coming in from the sun behind the waterfall. He must have had a high shutter speed to get the waters movement.
I like "birds" because it has really strong contrast between black and white, it has a really good lighting to show the contrast between birds and sky. The other photo I like is the air plane one, the sunlight through the windows makes the really pretty patten on the wall.
ReplyDeleteI really liked the photographs of the woman of Tibet simply because I hear about all of my grandpa's experiences there and the picture really captures the life in those areas. I believe the settings probably had a low aperture setting since it seems pretty dark, which really helps in giving the audience the feel the photographer is setting up.
ReplyDeleteThe second photo that I like is the one by Nick Brandt. I simply love really focusing in one the subject pictures. I have no idea what settings the photographer would of used.
The third photo I really liked was the one taken by Ansel Adams. I love the scenic view and the clouds, and once again I have no idea what settings were used.