What is HDR?

In photography, HDR stands for high dynamic range. Dynamic range is simply the range of the lightest tones to the darkest tones within a photo. Put another way — it’s a measure of the light intensities from the highlights to the shadows.

This photograph is just one of may for which Ansel Adams used the water bath development technique.  Often times it was trial and error.  So his practice was to expose two sheets of film identically for a scene he anticipated would be significant.   If, after developing the first he concluded it needed a different development treatment he developed the second as was the case with this negative.

Photoshop HDR editing

HDR ONE

I used these four images:

Which then created this:

I then played around with the dials on the right, things the the shadows and the highlights:

I then played around with the “remove ghosts” option, which created this:

My final piece from my editing of the four images was this, I think it shows some perception of Ansell Adams ideas of HDR and how his images looked, I used a model to portray the actual size of the landscape, and to give more dynamic to my image:

HDR TWO

I used these two images:

Which then created this:

I then played around with the dials on the right, things the the shadows and the highlights:

This is my final piece from using these two images, I think the momentum of the car created a blur which adds depth to the image, and in a way obstructs your field of view away from the beautiful sand dunes, also the use of the woman running created another motion blur, although this image may not relate to Ansell Adams I think that it is one of my post dynamic photos, and allows many different things for the eye to look at by the use of things like lighting, field of view ect :

HDR THREE

I used these two images:

Which then created this:

I then played around with the dials on the right, things the the shadows and the highlights:

My final image related to my other artist reference Peter Mitchell, the reason I think it relates is because his images are those more of environmental photography, so I think within my image the two people sitting on the bench together portrays a sense of his imagery:

Ansel Adams was an American landscape photographer, and environmentalist, known for his black-and-white images of the American West, whereas Peter Mitchell is a British documentary photographer, known for documenting Leeds and the surrounding area for more than 40 years.

Ansell Adams example:

Ansell Adams photography relies very much on ‘the zone system’, which portrays dark and in depth element’s, which creates more within the field of view and creates a story. This creates a new lense over the human eye and a new story, portraying that it obviously didn’t actually look like this when the photograph was taken, he has added his own spin on what the human eye is viewing.

Peter Mitchell example:

Peter Mitchell’s photographs create a reality, where the image is almost exactly the same as he would’ve seen when he took the photo. The photo portrays a real life story, one where you can really see what he was trying to capture and where you can see his ideas coming to life, using a model to create a field of depth within the image, and a scale tro size of how widely he has taken this image.

Comparison:

These two images are so similar yet so different. Some similarities include the use of wide landscape photography, created a long vertical image which focuses on things further in the background rather than an image like a up-close headshot for example. They also relate in how they use field of view, for example Peter Mitchell’s use of thing like the man stood at his door and the use of the green bin on the right of the house to portray the actual scale of things within the image such as the house, similarly Ansel Adams uses shading within the image such as the lighter slow compared to the darkness of the mountain which creates a tone of contrast. These images differ within how they use colour, with Ansel Adams keeping to a grey scale whereas Peter Mitchell has used colours such as brown and green to portray the liveliness of the world, both images give off different stories and different emotions which can be portrayed in colour as Ansel Adams photography creates a more eerie and dimmer tone to create a more melancholy story.

Exposure bracketing means that you take two more pictures: one slightly underexposed (usually by dialing in a negative exposure compensation, say -1/3EV), and the second one slightly overexposed (usually by dialing in a positive exposure compensation, say +1/3EV), again according to your camera’s light meter.

The basics:

Getting exposure right can be a complex subject. There are lots of things you have to balance: how your camera is metering the scene, your camera’s dynamic range, and of course, what settings you’re using. By also taking one photo that is a stop or two underexposed and another that is a stop or two overexposed, even if you misjudge your exposure, you still have the bracketed shots. Landscape photographers sometimes refer to bracketed shots as “safety shots” for this reason.If you shoot bracketed shots, there are also a few more advantages: you can always create an HDR image, you can blend different parts of the image yourself if you need to, and, if something is moving through the scene, you can replace it with original image data instead of relying on Photoshop’s tools.

How to take bracketed photos:

To manually take bracketed exposures, set up your camera for a shot as normal. You can create the best photos by using a tripod as you know excatly where you have taken the photo and can therefore change the exposure without moving your cameras positioning around too much. As soon as you take your first shot, adjust the exposure compensation, shutter speed or ISO by around 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. To automatically take bracketed exposures, you’ll need to dive into your camera’s settings. The procedure is a bit different for every camera so check the manual for the specific steps. Once you have exposure bracketing set up like this when you hold your finger on the shutter button your camera will take a burst of photos varying the shutter speed each time.

In this first image, I cropped out some of the left side which had very little nature as I think it helped keep the photograph on topic. I then decreased the exposure and increased the vibrancy because I wanted some tones and shades in the sky to be more emphasised. This looks effective because it gives a similar approach to Ansel Adams, who focuses on bringing out detail in his images. Although I kept the whites and blacks neutral as I wanted the photo to have a sense of realism and doesn’t look too different to how I originally saw the landscape with my naked eye.

My final image:

Firstly, I decreased the exposure again because it gave the photograph more life and also I think it looks better with the black and white filter, so overall it doesn’t look too washed out. I then increased the contrast like Adams does with his photos so it adds more depth into the photo, whilst also adding in more detail. I decreased the shadows which also helps to add a contrast between the lighter and darker shades. I like to keep the texture, clarity and dehaze neutral because I think they can add an artificial look to the image, which is not the approach I want to take with my photos.

My final image:

For my third image, by the angle and lighting in which I originally took it, it already had quite dull tones and shades due to the clouds covering the sky. Therefore I did not want this image to be black and white because I thought it would take away more life from the photo. Instead, I decreased exposure and increased contrast in order for the image to have some of its colours emphasised, while also increasing the highlights and shadows. By doing this, certain shades in the clouds were then made darker, which makes the overall photograph look much more interesting and less dull. By using this technique, I was able to create a similar look to some of the sublime and romanticism images we have looked at, as the image has some dull colours, but it contrasts well with the brighter tones. This also allowed the photograph to have more profundity, without looking too artificial.

My final image:

Although this image naturally has a range of colours and tones within it, I wanted to make it black and white as I believe it brings out lots of the details to the sea and sky. By decreasing the exposure I was then able to bring out the contrast in colours between the blue sky and white clouds, and then adding to this by increasing the highlights, shadows and whites. This then prevented the photo from looking monotonous, by also decreasing the blacks to emphasise the sky.

My final image:

For my final edit, I experimented with whether it looks better in black and white or in colour. This photo has a high exposure which can drain some of the other tones throughout the image, so I think it looks more effective in black and white. By decreasing the exposure it helps add interest as the viewer is able to focus on detail within the photograph and see the range of shades. However I also think this image looks successful in colour because I was able to exaggerate some of the colours in the sky and make them appear brighter. I also increased the contrast because it adds prosperity and depth.

My final images:

Contact Sheet- Picked/Rejected and rated

We went to St. Catherine’s, Gorey and Rozel to capture different type of natural scenery such as cliffs, piers, the sand, the sea and historical landmarks. Including in our images is a few man-made objects such as boats, cars and railings which can significantly add to an image to make it more realistic and natural. We adjusted the exposure and aperture to allow more light and get the correct scenery of the weather.

I decreased the exposure and increased the contrast to create more visible detail such as the clouds in the sky. I emphasized this by increasing the highlights and decreasing the shadows and lastly increasing the vibrance to make the image more bright to create an interesting factor. Finally, I decreased the saturation to obtain it to be natural.

Firstly, I decreased the exposure as the image at first was overly exposed to create more detail and eye catching and decreased the contrast to create more detail around the lining of features to increase visibility such as being able to see the sky and sea separate and the rocks on the far end. I kept the shadows the same as I didn’t think it was necessary. I increased the texture on the rocks/pebbles to create different textures and more visibility. Lastly I increased the vibrance and saturation to make the image more saturated and vibrant to each tone and colour to make it look more romantised.

Within this image, I experimented something different by putting it in black and white first as it is harder to create different exposure levels in different areas. I increased the temp to create a warmer look to this image. Once I had done that I continued to decrease the exposure but increase the contrast and highlights so at the top of the sky is a lower shade and forms into a much lighter shade to create more visibility which makes the image almost look surreal. As shown the sun is slightly shining through the clouds which editing emphasized however it has a slight reflection on the sea to create a lighter shade on the left hand side of the sea, this creates different type of contrast which ultimately makes the image more interesting to look at as it has better features. I increased the texture to see the ripples and detail in the sea more visible which separates it from being mistaken as the sky. I increased the dehaze to create a blend in the sky from a dark shade to a lighter shade. Lastly, I adjusted the mid tones and shadows to a warm yellow- orange colour to create a vintage and nostalgic look to make it look old which links to Romanticism as the genre was invented years ago from the industrial revolution which in my opinion adds to the image.

Within this image, I used visualization as this image would not appear like this to the naked eye as this photograph looks significantly surreal. I think this is important because it links to the topic sublime and romanticism. I increased the temperature and tint to create warmer tones. I decreased the exposure as it the exposure was too high and decreased the shadows to create more detail around the clouds as in my opinion it is the main subject of the image. I increased the texture to create different texture on the rocks. Lastly, I increased the vibrance so the sky had a more eye catching feature and to make the weather look better and higher saturation which creates a golden filter around the edge which emphasizes the surreal and romantised look.

I experimented putting the image in black and white as Adams preferred this. I decreased the exposure to emphasize the shades and tones and increased the contrast to create more definition. Added highlights and increased the whites so the photograph wasn’t too dark and dull. I kept the shadows the same as I didn’t think it was necessary to adjust them. Increased the texture and clarity to create definition and more of a surreal and interesting factors to create more significant and different textures.

Virtual Gallery – My favourite images

Exposure Bracketing

Exposure bracketing in photography is taking multiple same photos in different exposures.

Exposure bracketing can be done automatically on modern cameras.

These settings are meant to take a burst of 3 photos. It is important to note when doing exposure bracketing that only the ISO and shutter speed should be changed, the aperture must remain the same as it changes the image too much.

High Dynamic Range HDR

Dynamic range in photography is the difference between the darkest and lightest tones in photography.

This image has a small dynamic range as their is mainly mid tones and a small colour depth.

This image has a high dynamic range as there is a large colour depth and a vast array of highlights, mid tones and low tones.

High dynamic range images are achieved by merging the most detailed parts of these exposure bracketed images where everything is equally exposed.

Source:

Bracketing in Photography: The Ultimate Guide

Ansel Adams life

Ansel Adams was born in San Francisco in 1902 which was just before the big earthquake which took place in 1906 .When he was 4 years old he had an accident where he broke and disfigured his nose which sadly wasn’t fixable. This lead to him being bullied and made fun of in school so because of that he moved around a lot and it got to the point where his dad had to sort out home-schooling for him. After this he found lots of enjoyment and comfort in walking around the sand dunes and forest around his home in his free time.

All of Adams work was based on nature due to his absolute love and fascination with nature he loved to focus on environmentalism. He was quite young by the time he got his exhibition . In was only in 1922 where he had some of his photography first published and then in 1928 he had his first one man exhibition and he was only 26.

His photos were originally used to try and show the beauty of this incredible park because at the time it was still unprotected and there were plans to make it a power source. The strong river in the park made it a very good way for the city of Los Angeles to use it as a hydroelectric power source.

He actually created this book of the kings Canyon of all the photos he’s taken in order to try and convince congress not to ruin the park and not only did he stop them he also go the attention of the Franklin Roosevelt who was president at the time. Later he even got an award for his photography work where they celebrated both his photos and his efforts for helping the park.

Ansel Adams photography

Some people may describe his work as kind of controversial because it was known that he was taking photos to show the natural environment especially his war photos however when he was there he wold actually change some part by moving items around which some people disagreed with. Due to the fact his work was meant o tell the truth about war and the environment and although they aren’t big changed he is still changing the “natural environment”.

He also used these filters usually yellow or range which would help him achieve the high contrast and darker sky which he had in most of his photos.

However he also used the technique called visualisation where before he would take the photos he would actually imagen what he wanted and how he thought it should look so when he was taking the photos he had something to try and compare it to and it gave him ideas in how he can change his photos into how he imagined them. Within visualisation there’s the idea of the 3 C’s which are said to be correlation, clustering, and colour they are the three aspects of your photos that you want to think about before hand.

Some information about Ansel Adams

Early Childhood

Ansel Adams was born in San Francisco in 1902, shortly before the ‘Great Quake’ in 1906. As a result of an aftershock of the Great Quake, Ansel was slammed to the floor and he suffered from a broken nose, leaving his face disfigured. When Adams was in school he was very introverted and conscious of his nose, which he never got fixed, so he didn’t fit in very well at school, resulting of him moving schools a lot. After moving around various schools, his Father decided that it was best for Ansel to get home-schooled. During this time, Adams would find comfort in going on long walks to the forest and dunes of the Golden Gate, which was near his house. When Adams was 12, he taught himself to play and read music on the piano, which he really enjoyed, however, after years of lessons, he realised he wasn’t cut out to be a professional. When Adams was 14, he was gifted a Kodak Brownie Box Camera by his parents and was taken on a trip to the Yosemite National Park, where he later met his Wife and would frequently visit up until his death in 1984.

Professional Career

In 1919, Ansel Adams joined the Sierra Club, an organisation which worked to protect the environment by creating national parks. In 1927, Adams was officially named the Sierra Club’s trip photographer and he published his first photos on the Sierra Club Bulletin. Adam’s reputation as a photographer and environmentalist grew over the next few years and he became more politically involved with the Club’s Environmental Activities such as the fight to create King’s Canyon National Park. In 1934, Adams was elected as a member of the Board of Directors for this club and maintained the role for 37 years. In 1936, Ansel used his portfolios as a way to try and convince the members of congress to transform the area into a park, however, this proposal failed. This failure did not stop Adam’s fight for the park so in 1938 he published a book with his photos of the King’s Canyon National Park which then gained the attention of many people, including President Roosevelt. Finally, in 1940 the King’s Canyon National Park was created and Adams became known for being both an artist and defender of Yosemite and the environment. Ansel Adams went on to gain multiple Presidential rewards, including the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1980, and he was (and still is) admired for preserving nature in both his photos and in real life.

Ansel Adams and the Half Dome

Monolith, the face of Half Dome, 1927

This is the photo which Ansel Adams took in 1927 that ultimately changed his career. Adams started the journey to take this photo on the morning of April 10th, alongside his Fiancé and 3 of his close friends. During this journey, the group had to climb to mountain with all their gear to get to the diving board, a platform where they could view the face of the dome. At the time this photo was taken, out of the frame there was the sun which was highlighting the face of the dome, creating contrast between the black sky, grey dome and white snow. The photo on the right shows the result from the use of a yellow filter, which Adams didn’t believe fit his vision so he swapped it to a dark red filter, which can be seen on the left as his final image. Furthermore, Ansel used visualisation to take this image by imagining what he would like the image to look like in his head before actually taking it.

Some more photographs by Ansel Adams

As you can see, Ansel Adams enjoyed taking photos of mountains, especially within Yosemite National Park, and water courses. Although Adams took many photographs within his lifetime, these were some of my favourites as I think that they are a good representation of his capabilities and style.

Colour zonal system

The colour zonal system is a system which was used thoroughly by Ansel Adams that ranges from 0 to 10 in roman numerals. Each number represents a tonal value from black to white, with grey tones in the middle. This system is the exposure meter on a modern camera and each zone represents an f-stop which is used to change the aperture. In addition, Adams used this system to control the contrast in his images so that they display both highlights and shadows.

This is a very well known photograph by Ansel Adams. As you can see, it clearly displays tones ranging from 0 to 10 in the colour zonal system. For example, the colours in the river range from 8 to 10 and the bottom left corner is clearly 0. Also, the snow on the mountains is 10 but the mountains that it is upon appear to vary between all tones.

Ansel Adams and Group f/64

On the 15th of November 1932 at the M.H Young Memorial Museum in San Francisco, Ansel Adams, along with 10 other photographers, announced themselves as Group f/64. This was a group of photographers with the same style of sharply detailed, purist photography, such Ansel Adams, Edward Weston, his son Brett Weston, Willard Van Dyke and more. This group was created against pictorialism and, instead, promoting realism in photography.

Ansel Adams and Edward Weston

Source

Edward Weston was an American Photographer, born in Illinois in 1886, who was best known for his detailed images of natural forms, landscapes and nudes. Weston received his first camera at the age of 16 as a gift from his father then studied at the Illinois College of Photography. In 1911, Edward Weston moved to California to pursue his Photography career after falling in love with it when visiting his sister.

Edward Weston and Ansel Adams became great friends through their careers and Group f/64 and they were two of the most influential photographers of the 20th century. Whilst Ansel Adams liked to focus on depictions of mountains and clouds, Edward Weston would focus mostly on close ups of natural objects such as fruits and vegetables. On the other hand, Weston also depicted many landscapes, mostly of sand dunes, capturing their finer details. Although their work differed in some ways they were also very similar in terms of displaying high contrast and detail. Each of their work also displayed themes of Romanticism as they displayed the natural beauty of the world and things within it that have not been impacted by humans.

Photographs by Edward Weston:

Quotes

‘You don’t take a photograph, you make it.‘ – Ansel Adams

This is one of the most well-known quotes from Ansel Adams where he is referring to the fact that taking photographs is much more than just the click of a button and, instead, it is what you make it by visualisation and hard work.

‘We don’t make a photograph just with a camera, we bring to the act of photography all the books we have read, the movies we have seen, the music we have heard, the people we have loved.’ – Ansel Adams

Similarly to the previous quote, here, Adams explains that there is more to photography than just taking a photo on a camera which is what motivates us to take the image and the story behind it.

‘Good composition is merely the strongest way of seeing.’ – Edward Weston

This quote describes what the art of photographic composition really is and describes that it is one of the key points to success when taking a photograph, rather than the subject matter. For example, if you were to get a professional photographer and a child to take a photograph of the same subject, it is most likely that the professional photographer will have a more successful outcome as they have more knowledge of composition.

Ansel Adams Early Childhood:

Ansel Adams, born in San Francisco in 1902 before the “The Great Quake”, four years later he broke his nose in an accident and disfigured his face. Due to this as well as not fitting in at school, he struggled a lot in school land due to this moved to many school throughout his childhood until his father decided to pull him out out of education and get him a tutor. Near Ansel’s home he often walked around sand dunes and trees and found solace and a sense of support/comfort in it.

When he was younger Ansel had an interest for music as well as photography and he wanted to become a musician as he enjoyed playing on the piano, after some time he decided he wasn’t cut out for it and at age 14 he received his first ever Kodak Box Brownie Camera. At this age Ansel and his family would visit the Yosemite National Park as well as the Sierra Nevada mountainous range and from there he continued with his passion for photography.

Growing up/His background:

Ansel Adams was a well known American photographer and environmentalist. He was an advocate of environmental protection, national parks and as well as creating a legacy of responses to the power of nature and sublime conditions around. an He was known for his black and white photographs of the American West. Ansel helped found the group “Group f/64”, it was an association of photographers which advocated “pure” photography (they favoured a sharp focus and the use of the full tonal range of a photograph). Other members in this Group f/64 included Edward Weston, Imogen Cunningham (among other female photographers who had been overlooked in photography/history) and as well as Dorothea Lange.

• Imogen Cunningham and William Van Dyke

In terms of his landscape work I believe that his work is very interesting and is explainable for the amount of attention his previous work has gotten, I understand how the mountainous regions, to the lakes to the swaying grass can effect the attention and can gather there attention as his work is very mesmerising and can be adored when looked at, I believe that especially during modern day when Global Warming is a big factor in society and park preserves and landscapes don’t appear the same as many decades ago. I believe an audience can also find his work appealing as they find a sense of comfort in the fact that the range looked so calm and lively in the nature aspect despite the photographs being monochromatic.

Ansel Adams Advocate for wildlife and preservationist:

Ansel was known for his courage and constant battle with congress in order to preserve the landscapes, he dedicated his life to this nature, advocating for the protection of wilderness areas and he did not just allow “his photographs to do all the talking”. His advocacy included: essays, letters, speeches and trips to the US Congress.

In Ansel’s autobiography he wrote that “I knew my destiny when I first experienced Yosemite”. As a young boy he took his very first photographs there and continued to return to it repeatedly through his lifetime. Yosemite National Park was central to both his photography outcomes but as well as his environmental activism.

Ansel had framed his photographs to cut out any trace of human activity in the areas, bringing forth the “untouched” wilderness. As in the Yosemite which were captured in Adams’s photographs Yosemite Falls crashes down severely, a winter storm clears over Inspiration Point, and Half Dome rises like a monolith over the snow-covered Tenaya Peak.

“The final Sierra report also predicts greater snow losses during both drought years and very wet years. The findings suggest that longer, hotter dry seasons would follow the wet seasons, drying out plants that grew in those water-rich months and making record wildfires such as the state saw in 2017 more common. Extreme weather could also lead to additional challenges in flood control.”

This report can further emphasise my point where individuals can find a sort of peace in time as they can be used to such change in terms of the climate and weather overall that they feel relief and calmness.

His technique:

Ansel Adams photographed using mostly black and white film and large format cameras. He enhanced the landscapes by using yellow or orange filters in order to make the skies appear darker.

Ansel was never shy about dodging and burning to create the image he wanted despite being seen as a photographer who never manipulated his images.

The technique name he used was called “Visualisation”, it requires the photographer to take in a subject without a camera and imagining how the final photo will come out. In modern day the term “previsualisation” is used for this technique despite the concepts being the same.

In his “zone-system” technique Ansel divides the photograph into eleven zones; nine shades of gray; together with pure black and pure white. (“You could assume that a normal photo does not contain pure black and pure white. Therefore the nine shades of gray would be the only zones you can find in a photo.”)

The Zone System applies as much colour, digital and video as it does to black and white. It allows to get your the right exposure “every time without guessing”. Ansel Adams presents this in “The Negative” (his book where he cover the use of artificial and natural light, film and exposure as well as darkroom equipment and techniques) where he even shows the viewer how to use it and shoot cameras.

 zone 5 being middle gray, zone 0 being pure black (with no detail), and zone 10 being pure white (with no detail)

Ansel Adams was born in 1902, and during the ‘Great Quake’ his nose was broke. He never had this fixed so in school, he didn’t quite fit in and was very shy. This led to him moving schools many times until his father decided to have him tutored outside of school. During this time, he liked to go for walks around the forest and sand dunes around his house. At 14 years old, he got his first camera, a Kodak Box Brownie, and at this age he also visited Yosemite Park for the first time. He admired the landscape views that he saw.

In 1927 he was named the Sierra Club’s official trip photographer which became vital to his success as a photographer as his photographs and writings were published in the Sierra Club Bulletin. He was also heavily involved politically, suggesting improvements of other parks and wildlife areas. This lead to him being wildly known as an artist as well as representative of Yosemite National Park.

With this authority, he was able to win the fight of ensuring that Kings Canyon would be saved and not turned into a dam. To make this possible, he had to make a portfolio of images of Kings Canyon which was 17 inches tall, 13 inches wide and almost 2 inches thick.

Photographer Ansel Adams is known for his black and white landscape photographs of the American West. While taking his images, he would use visualisation to discover how he wanted the final photograph to look if he wasn’t impressed with the original look of it. He used different filters to take a photo to darken the dark colours and brighten the lighter ones. This added more depth and drama to the original landscape.

He created the Zonal System to use while taking photographs to ensure that all different tones were included in the image. The Zone system assigns numbers from 0 – 10 to different brightness values, with 0 representing black, 5 middle grey, and 10 pure white.