In most cases we can make use of natural or available / ambient light but we must be aware of different kinds of natural light and learn how to exploit it thoughtfully and creatively.
Natural Lighting :
Natural light refers to the ambient light supplied by the sun or moon, not a camera flash or other artificial light sources. Natural light is also taken to include lights you’d find naturally in the environment, such as street lights, lamps, etc.
Ambient lighting :
Ambient light is any light a photographer or cinematographer did not bring to the shoot. Also known as available light, it’s any light that you haven’t set up yourself.
August Sander (17 November 1876 – 20 April 1964) was a German portrait and documentary photographer. Sander was born on November 17, 1876 in Herdorf. the son of a carpenter working in the mining industry. He had six siblings. While working at the local Herdorf iron-ore mine, Sander first learned about photography by assisting a photographer from Siegen who was also working for the mining company. With financial support from his uncle, he bought photographic equipment and set up his own darkroom.
Photos :
Photo Analysis :
August Sandler’s’ work is very interesting he uses people in different environments and captures them in the moment creating images that have a true meaning and story behind them, in all of his photos the person he is photographing is always in the centre or just slightly off centred causing them to be the main focus of the images and catching peoples attention to think about what he truly is capturing.
An environmental portrait is a portrait executed in the subject’s usual environment, such as in their home or workplace, and typically illuminates the subject’s life and surroundings. The term is most frequently used of a genre of photography.
By photographing a person in their natural surroundings, it is thought that you will be able to better illuminate their character, and therefore portray the essence of their personality, rather than merely a likeness of their physical features. It is also thought that by photographing a person in their natural surroundings, the subject will be more at ease, and so be more conducive to expressing themselves, as opposed to in a studio, which can be a rather intimidating and artificial experience.
Here is my first edit from my single objects tools photoshoot, from this photoshoot my images didn’t quite come out as I expected as they came out with a darker orange kind of tint on the images so I used Lightroom and changed the tint of the images to create the effect I originally wanted on the images.
For these final two images that I have edited I played around with the tint a bit more leaving a more blue kind of tint on my images which almost makes them stand out even more then my first pre-set I made.
the new objectivity in photography In their main concern with portraying reality objectively, they tended to be associated with the Verists. Their works are characterized by the use of sharp angles, impartial perspectives, visual clarity, and order.
What Albert Reneger Paszch preferred to photograph :
a lot of his photographs are very nostalgic looking and give an ominous feel within his images as they are all in black and white and all create a sense of comfort as the buildings he photographs are very still as he takes still life images in the real world moments.
His photos :
Albert has a famous book named “the world is beautiful”.
his work relates to this as a lot of his work captures the natural beauty of the world and what its like in day to day life captured in a calming sense.
For the experimentation in this image I have changed some of the setting on the image such as the enhancement, the highlights, shadows and contrast to create a deeper, darker effect. For the next edit I am going to turn the image into a more ominous feeling to replicate walker Evans.
for this edit I have taken inspiration from Walker Evans by changing the photograph into black and white to represent his work. I also played around with the contrast and brightness of the image changing the blacks, whites and shadows within the image.
for this third edit again its not completely how I would have hoped it to turn out as you can see there is a grainy kind of background feel to it which makes the image not as clear and crisp as I would’ve hoped it to have turned out.
Here are my images, the ones selected in green are the images I feel have the best composition and ultimately just stand out better then the rest of the images.
the images I have taken of the book shows the lines as each page is a new line, I set the camera up to an angle to really capture the full extent of how many lines were lying within my images.
Depth :
for the depth of these images i played around with it by taking some images closer up which also brought out more detail within the images however i also took some images further away to capture more of the surrounding area as well as the objects.
Color :
for the images to do with color I decided to use some colored sheets to create a layout and take photos of them with the images in that set arrangement to show the variation of color which I had chosen to use.
Form :
to represent form i used a block which had holes in it to not only create the feel of texture which links to the texture section of my blog post about formalism but also as the holes created a new dimension in the image as the block was creating lots of different shadows and figures within the images as it was 3D.
texture :
to link to the formal images both these images link together as they both show form and texture with the holes creating shadows and texture within the images.
size :
for size i decided to not only do some close up images but also some further away to create and have a different range of images rather then just one set of images.
shape :
for shape i used a few different objects and moved them around creating different shapes in the images and layouts which created different types of layers and dimensions.
Walker Evans, was an American photographer and photo journalist best known for his work for the Farm Security Administration (FSA) documenting the effects of the Great Depression. He said that his goal as a photographer was to make pictures that are “literate, authoritative, transcendent”. Evans took up photography in 1928, around the time he was living in new York. His influences included Eugene catgut and .August Sandler. In 1930, he published three photographs in the poetry book The Bridge by Hart Crane. In 1931, he made a photo series of Victorian houses in the Boston vicinity sponsored by Lincoln Kirstein.
Walker Evans Photography :
Image analysis :
Walker Evans photography have a narrow depth of field to keep the man in focus. The pictures are in black and white which gives the pictures a dramatic and ominous feel to them.
Darren Harvey-Regan
Darren Harvey-Regan is a graduate of the Royal College of Art. His work has been in Exhibitions and Publications all over the world. His work focuses on photography but has an emphasis on the mediums relationship to language and to sculpture.
Image Analysis :
Darren Harvey-Regan’s photos are very bold and powerful and this picture in particular has a very strong contrast between the block and the shadow. This makes the object used stand out and look more powerful. The use of shape and line in this image makes the object appear more interesting to look at and gives the object a different composition.
How did Walker Evans’ work inspire Darren Harvey-Reagan?
Harvey-Regan first constructed a montage of Evans’s images to make new forms. He then sourced matching tools, cut them in half and re-joined various halves together, with the resulting physical objects being photographed to create his final work.
Comparrison :
Darren Harvey – Reagan :
Walker Evans :
with both walker Evans and Darren Harvey-Reagan you can clearly see that Darren was inspired by walker when getting into still life photography, walkers work is very much real life situations turned into still moments whereas Darren has used objects and slightly altered walkers way of work and created it his own by using non alive objects and different layouts within that category of work.
There are seven basic elements of photographic art: line, shape, form, texture, color, size, and depth. As a photographic artist, your knowledge and awareness of these different elements can be vital to the success of your composition and help convey the meaning of your photograph.
Line, the most fundamental of these, is the topic of this first part of our Elements of a Photograph series.
Line Photography :
Types of Lines
Lines are either straight, curved, or a combination of the two. Lines can be solid, dashed or interrupted, implied, or psychological. They can be vertical, horizontal, or somewhere in-between.
Straight lines often show up in manmade objects. Curved lines can be manmade but are often organic in nature. Solid lines are common in scenes.
Lines in photographs often connect points inside the image. Sometimes lines enter the image from a point beyond the frame or exit the image to a point beyond the frame.
Shapes :
When a line, or more than one line, closes or connects, a shape is formed. This is the topic of this next part of our Elements of a Photograph series.
Definition:
The Merriam-Webster definition of “shape” that we are concerned with as photographic artists is:
the visible makeup characteristic of a particular item or kind of item.
spatial form or contour
a standard or universally recognized spatial form
Characteristics of Shapes
Shapes are two-dimensional. They can be measured by overall height and width. Shapes can be the outline of an object—familiar or unfamiliar.
Sometimes a familiar shape can transform into an unfamiliar or unrecognizable shape based on the viewpoint of the photographer. While the shape of a standard lightbulb is recognizable and constant from the horizontal viewpoint, viewing it from directly overhead or below shows a nondescript circle.
Types of Shapes
There are two basic types of shapes: geometric (or regular) and organic. We all know geometric shapes—circle, square, triangle, dodecahedron, and so on. We are also familiar with organic shapes—the outline of a bird, elephant, flower, tree, etc. Fluids can create organic shapes that cannot be permanently defined—the shape of a cloud or a rain puddle, for instance.
Form :
What separates form from shape? Form takes shape from the two-dimensional and brings it into the three-dimensional. And, speaking of form, it is the next part of our Elements of a Photograph series.
What separates form from shape? Form takes shape from the two-dimensional and brings it into the three-dimensional. And, speaking of form, it is the next part of our Elements of a Photograph series.
Characteristics of Form
Form is three-dimensional. Form has overall height, width, and depth.
Types of Form
Just as with shapes, there are two basic types of form—geometric (or regular) and organic.
Geometric forms are the familiar sphere, cube, cone, cylinder, and so on. We are also, of course, familiar with organic forms—they are the objects that surround us in our three-dimensional world.
Like shapes, forms can be simple or infinitely complex.
And, again, like shapes, forms create positive and negative space. In a photograph, positive space is basically that which is occupied by forms; negative space is what remains.
Texture :
In photography, texture can be felt with both the fingers (the print) and virtually (with the viewer’s eye). Texture is the next part of our Elements of a Photograph series.
Definition:
The Merriam-Webster definition of “texture” that we, as photographic artists, are concerned with is:
the visual or tactile surface characteristics and appearance of something
Characteristics of Texture
Texture in “real life” can be, basically, smooth or rough. We can use other descriptors as well: slimy, wet, hard, soft, bumpy, shiny, etc.
Texture in the photograph is similar to form in that it is revealed by variations in tonality and presented in two dimensions.
Types of Texture
In a photograph, smooth objects might have reflections or specular highlights. Rough objects might have aggressive areas of light and shadow without reflections.
Colour :
We will be adding a splash of colour in this part of our Elements of a Photograph series.
Definition:
The Merriam-Webster definition of “color” that we, as photographic artists, are concerned with is:
a phenomenon of light (such as red, brown, pink, or gray) or visual perception that enables one to differentiate otherwise identical objects
the aspect of the appearance of objects and light sources that may be described in terms of hue, lightness, and saturation for objects and hue, brightness, and saturation for light.
also : a specific combination of hue, saturation, and lightness or brightness
a colour other than and as contrasted with black, white, or grey
Characteristics of Color
Light itself has no perceived color. But, send light through a prism or a drop of water and we can see that it is comprised of a literal rainbow of colors.
Colour has three properties: hue, value, and saturation.
Hue is simply the description of the color (e.g., blue, red, yellow, etc.).
Value is the relative brightness or darkness of a color.
Saturation is the intensity or purity of a colour. The purest colour is a hue with no white, black, or grey added to it.
Types of Color
Separate the different colours of the rainbow and we can see these varied colours elicit different emotional responses—some based on genetic response, others based on cultural programming. Red can mean danger, blue symbolizes calm, yellow is happy, black is mournful, white is innocent, and purple can symbolize wealth.
Size :
Size, the most elusive of these, is the topic of this sixth part of our Elements of a Photograph series.
Definition:
The Merriam-Webster definition of “size” that we, as photographic artists, are concerned about is:
physical magnitude, extent, or bulk : relative or proportionate dimensions.
Characteristics of Size
In the world of two-dimensional art such as drawing and painting, “space” is an art element. In photography, the space is already rendered before the camera, so we look at how both size and depth are reproduced, created, and recognized in the photograph.
Size in a photograph is relative and can be an illusion.
Types of Size
Large, medium, or small. (NOT short, tall, grande, and venti. Please.)
The camera, lens, and print can render large objects small, or small objects large. Even objects familiar to our eyes can be rendered relatively large in a photograph, while things we know to be enormous are rendered small. Thanks to the Apollo astronauts, we can fit our entire planet onto a small photographic print. We can also print a photograph the size of a highway billboard or a single grain of sand. We can even use a 1:1 macro lens to reproduce objects at “life-size.”
Depth :
Depth, one of the most compelling elements, is the topic of this final part in our Elements of a Photograph series.
Definition:
The Merriam-Webster definition of “depth”that we, as photographic artists, are concerned about is:
in the world of two-dimensional art, such as drawing and painting, “space” is an art element. In photography, the space is already rendered before the camera, so we look at how size and depth are reproduced, created, and recognized in the photograph.
Characteristics of Depth
We already discussed depth when adding the concept of depth to shape to create form. Here we will discuss the depth of a scene—relating it to size, and adding the element of space.
Types of Depth
Unless you are photographing perpendicular to a blank and smooth wall, your image will have depth. How well the depth is rendered is dependent on the objects in the frame, your choice of composition, and your perspective in relation to the objects in the frame. Most images have a foreground, middle ground, and background. The stronger the delineation between those successive “grounds,” the stronger the sense of depth in your image.
Final Thoughts
Knowledge of the elements of art is not, by itself, the key to creating better photographs. But a familiarity with how these elements appear in the world that surrounds your camera and lens gives you a higher level of consciousness about what you are framing. That, in turn, can help you adjust your composition and even express your image more deliberately by using the tools that these elements provide.
