Exposure bracketing is where, instead of taking a single photo, you take three or more pictures that are all exposed slightly differently. Usually one is the correct exposure, one slightly underexposed, and one slightly overexposed etc.

Exposure bracketing is a technique for making sure that you get a good exposure while you’re in a location rather than a studio. Landscape photographers sometimes refer to bracketed shots as “safety shots” due to this. Anytime you feel the scene is challenging (too many highlights or shadows) is when exposure bracketing should be used, for example, sunset images are usually better when slightly under-exposed.

To manually take bracketed exposures, set up your camera for a shot as normal. The best results occur if you’re using a tripod. As soon as you take your first shot, adjust the exposure compensation, shutter speed or ISO by one stop and take a second shot. Adjust the shutter speed or ISO two stops in the other direction and take a third. Now you should have three identical photos that are one stop underexposed, correctly exposed, and one stop overexposed.

Practising exposure bracketing

Who Is Robert Adams:

Robert Adams was an American Photographer, best known for his published book in 1974 called The New West, his landscape photos of the changing west and his affiliation with the exhibition called The New Topographics.

His Photography was influenced by the changes happening in America at the time, with the addition of man altered areas and suburban houses.

His Work:

His work featuring New Topographics was black and white photos of the changing west. The idea of his work in relation to New Topographics would feature elements from the man-made parts of our world with what was remaining of the natural parts, typically in the background to symbolise that man-made things were replacing the natural world.

This image for example, involves a gas station as the main subject. You can see elements of man-made objects being present in things like the lines and shapes, things like the big sign, poles and the building’s corners have very sharp edges and straight lines. They are manufactured and perfect. However, the mountain seen in the background appears to have a more rocky, rough-like look. It is uneven and messy. It is not manufactured and is natural.

Other elements that can be labelled and compared are:

The lighting that involves the street lights and the sky, the overall tone, the patterns in the shapes and/or the composition with the organisation of the visual elements, layout, contrast or viewpoints.

Contact sheet

This is a screenshot from a photoshoot we did in school, focussing on urban landscapes that we have previously discussed in school. This shows my editing process of the photographs I took from Havre des pas to La Collette.

Final images

I went outside to take some Urban Landscape photos that featured buildings and the seaside. These ones feature Havre Des Pas and other areas around it. The contact sheet seen below is the photos taken. And the ones under “Photoshoot” are the final images chosen and edited.

Contact Sheet:

Photoshoot:

Black and White Edits:

I selected a handful of photos from this collection and made them black and white:

I personally think that all of these photos turned out great and that they featured lots of things to look at. both good in Quality and Quantity. I think the editing has also made them much better and enhanced. I enjoyed editing these as much as I did taking them and this has probably been one of my best photoshoots so far. My favourite ones are the ones that were taken at the top of the hill with the road going down it, showing the view of the buildings going off into the distance. I also love the ones that feature the big chimney alone and ones that show the electricity station as well. Showing the height of the chimney and the station next to it, in addition to the nice green/blue water below.

What is Typology? Typology is typically a body of work that holds consistency throughout the work, usually in the environment, subjects and presentation.

Bernd and Hilla Becher

1934-2015

Bernd and Hila’s main aim was to capture disappearing and changing landscapes at the time in Germany. This connects with the New Topographics idea of not only recording the moment in time but prompting the viewer to consider the subject’s place in the world. They were inspired by other photographers and styles such as Karl Blossfeldt, August Sander and The New Objectivity. they would photograph similar buildings from the same angle, and space away from it, then create a grid with all their images. They used the same ideas and rules each time they did a shoot. The main rule was to photograph on a day with simple light, and they would wait for a big cloud, winter or dawn to do this. Hilla said this was because they wanted the buildings to stand out and be the dominant subject. The couple didn’t want the image to distract from the main focus, and needed the main contrast and detail to be in the buildings.

‘buildings where anonymity is accepted to be the style’.

Kevin Bauman

Bauman is a Montana based photographer specializing in architectural, interior, and industrial photography. His work is used in multiple architectural and interior design clients. One of his popular projects is ‘100 Abandoned Houses’. https://www.100abandonedhouses.com/ – I like the way he documents houses that once had a life, and tell a story in the way they are presented. Using typology to present these photos creates an overall story and feeling that can be told. I like the way you can click on an image and zoom in to see the full detail. I think the repetition of typology in his work can first off be seen as boring, and similar between each photo. However it is a piece of work that needs time and attention to be fully appreciated.

I like how his photos from ‘100 Abandoned Houses’ can be organised into a ‘story’ from fully uncovered houses, to completely surrounded and hidden houses. The fact that its almost showing nature taking back it’s habitat is like an opposite of typography. It also displays natural decay and could possibly represent death.

Karl Blossfeldt

1865-1932

Blossfeldt also used typography in his work, except he photographed natural subjects. He built his own camera out of wood that had lenses capable of magnifying his subjects up to 30 times their natural size, and had 1m long bellows. This meant he got unique images. Although he began his career as a sculptor, Karl later was best known for his precise photographs of plants. His images have high detail considering he built his own camera, and the technology at the time was fairly new.

Robert Adams:

Robert Adams is an American photographer who focuses on the changing landscape of the West of America. His work first came to prominence in the mid-1970s through his book The New West and his participation in the exhibition New Topographies: Photographs of a Man-Altered Landscape in 1975.

Roberts work shows the human impact and damage we’ve caused on the world. and documents it through his photography.

While teaching English at Colorado Collage and practicing photography as a hobby, Adams photographed residential areas around Colorado Springs at the request of the organizers of a conference on the western landscape. This experience further ignited his interest in the medium, and he continued to focus on the relationship between contemporary society and the natural world. This photograph-included in his first extended publication of images on the subject, The New West: Landscapes Along the Colorado Front Range (1974), an extraordinary summation of the current, frayed state of the country’s natural environment-encapsulates the situation of the western landscape, as the pathetic space of a deserted drive-in abuts a majestic mountain-scape just beyond. 

Michael Wolf – Paris Tree Shadows (and other urban phenomena)

Zhao Xiaomeng – Bicycles in Beijing, Now

The fate of the bicycle can tell us a lot about the modern Chinese economy. As it thunders remorselessly towards ever greater industrialisation, the car has superseded the bicycle as the preferred mode of transport. In cities like Beijing, bikes have become relics of a bygone age, no longer a symbol of a unifying culture of cycling but rather emblems of social marginalisation. This moving typology by artist Zhao Xiaomeng documents a radical change in people’s living conditions and economic circumstances through portraits of their bikes, some of which still cling to the last remnants of a useful life. As the old Beijing saying goes, “a dog’s life is better than no life.”

KEVIN BAUMAN

Who are they?

Bernd and Hilla were a married photography duo who were born in Germany. They are most known for photographing disappearing industrial architecture around Europe and North America.

They began collaborating together in 1959 after meeting at the Kunstakademie Düsseldorf in 1957. Bernd originally studied painting and then typography, whereas Hilla had trained as a commercial photographer. After two years collaborating together, they married.

what did they photograph?

The duo mainly focused on photographing water tanks, coal bunkers, gas tanks and factories. And every single photo had a couple things in common, that being the weather, some times they would wait for a cloud to come, wait for dusk or even winter so they would all get a similar dim background.

What to photograph

front doors which look similar

houses

gas tanks

warehouses

apartment blocks

towers

New topography-

Contact Sheet:

Edits

Urban landscapes are capable of creating both beautiful and unsettling photographs. While urban landscapes include some type of building, the lighting that surrounds the image it what makes the piece come together.

Who, What, Where, When, Why, How

Who?- for this photoshoot, I plan to try to photograph some old or industrial looking buildings. This is to make the pictures look more urban to fit with the theme of the photoshoot.

What?- I would like to include overgrown aspects to the image such as vines or trees. This will help to create a different mood to the images.

Where?- I think I’m going to try to find some areas in St. Ouens due to the fact that there are a lot of olden style buildings there.

When?- I think I’m going to take the pictures over the Christmas holiday as the winter weather and scenery will add to the urban look.

Why?- I think that these pictures will open up a new view to Jersey as we are only really shown the up to date side of the island, rather than the urban areas.

How?- I think I will take the pictures using my camera rather than my phone camera as this way I will be able to adjust the settings easier.