Saturday, May 12, 2012

Contrast

 A major element of photography (one of the principles of design in fact) is contrast. It's one of the first things editing software like to ask you to change, it's what can make wonderfully composed photos end up being worthless and vise versa. But, it can be controlled. Here are two photos I made in the last month. the first is Trespassing and it was made at the reservoir up on reservoir hill in Byron (London) The photo was a very cool concept but incredibly tricky to balance the lighting of both the foreground and the background. In editing I went farther than I had originally planned but it looked pretty darn cool so I kept it. I ended up lightening the shadows and darkening the lowlights, which gives it that strange, unreal lighting. the second photo, Stella By Starlight, was made about a month ago at Pearce Williams Church Centre at about 12:30am. I was playing with a tactic I hadn't used very much at all; 'Bulb' shutter speed. So I set my camera up on the tripod, in the pitch black of this field (the lights in the background were actually incredibly far away and quite dim) and exposed the photo (manually) for 105 seconds. I took a few others too but they just took so long to expose that the shoot lasted much longer than expected and I got into a little bit of trouble for breaking curfew. The biggest difference between these two photos, and the reason I included them, is contrast. The first photo has very little contrast; no black and no white, just kinda dark grey and kinda light grey. The second photo is the complete opposite. There is both true black and true white and a large range of shades in between. But does that make it a better photograph?
Usually, I would say yes. But every rule has exceptions and I think these two are about on par with one another. Conceptually the first one is superior, but lighting-wise the second is. It's a hard call when to and not to break a rule, but if you think that you have a time that breaking the rule is worth it, go for it. It can't hurt.
Archipelago Photography- islands of thought and image, connected with a name.

Thursday, May 10, 2012

Candlelight

I get quite frustrated when I find myself in the mood to create, find a little bit of time to spare, get out my camera, and nothing good comes of it. It's creativity-crushing, annoying, and can really get you down. The other day, I had a day that wasn't like this. Likewise, I got home from choir one Thursday night, got out my camera, noticed a few candles on my front porch that I don't think I've ever seen lit. I lit them, set up my tripod and shot for about an hour. After a time of shooting and an equally hope-inspiring time of editing, I found myself with about a half-dozen solid images. Images that were emotionally connecting, with good colour and value range. And on top of that, they had meaning. Fire, and candles are something very special to people, and they carry a lot of emotional attachment. What a photograph of a candle means to one person could be entirely different than what it means to another. That is one of the goals I work towards in ideological shooting. To find images and ideas that are relatable and flexible.
As a side note, I included a set of these photos in a craft show I did just this week, and they were the first that sold. Perhaps I'm on to something.
Archipelago Photography- insulae de cogitum lumenque, maritus cum nomen

Ebb and Flow


I have come to realize that to everything there is a pattern. An ebb and flow of activity. Such is true for a blog especially. Blogs are such interesting beasts. There is no reason to post aside from expression. To responsibility or commitment. So when I take a hiatus from blogging, like these past 5 weeks, don't feel offended. I am sorry if you checked and it was not new. But there is an ebb and flow to all things. And one must be aware of that to accurately judge one's life.
So, I'm back for now. Hoping to blog to my hearts desire for some time. And being that my computer is brimming with images that I think are blog-worthy. Here are two that need little introduction, and contain no exciting story: Corinthian, and Renaissance.
Archipelago Photography- islands of thought and image, connected with a name.