Keld Helmer-Petersen was a Danish photographer who achieved widespread international recognition in the 1940’s and 1950’s for his abstract colour photographs. He is one of the most influential Danish photographers in the 20th century. His career spanned 70 years and he had strong interest in modern architecture, industrial areas and structures. His efforts have put a mark on photography as an artistic expression. With his keen eye for things that are generally overlooked, Keld Helmer-Peterson opened a door to the hidden beauty of a world we thought we knew so well.

High Contrast Images-Black lighting

Keld Helmer-Petersen published several books of black and white images that explore dramatic contrasts of tone. In some, we are only presented with images that are black and white.  All mid tones have been removed. He created and found these images, using both cameras and flat bed scanners to achieve the effects he was looking for. These books are beautifully designed and encourage us to consider the space around the image and the accompanying text as integral to the meaning of the work.

Keld Helmer-Petersen’s Image

This image looks like it has been taken of an industrial area/structure. I took inspiration from this image to create my own images below. I took an image of an industrial structure and used the threshold tool on Photoshop to try and recreate the dramatic contrast in Keld Helmer-Petersens work.

My Images

Before and After

I created this black light effect image in response to Keld Helmer-Petersen by opening Photoshop going to image adjustments and changing the image to black and white and then adjusting the threshold to the level I wanted it at.