There are no rules for good photographs, there are only good photographs.
A good photograph is knowing where to stand.
A photograph is usually looked at - seldom looked into.
Sometimes I do get to places just when God's ready to have somebody click the shutter.
Ansel Adams was a serious perfectionist, sometimes taking days or weeks over the taking and developing one photograph. Much of his photography was black and white developing using gelatin silver.
Many of the quotes that I have been able to find are about photography being self-expression not use of rules. The images all have incredible depth, almost a 3-d quality about them. The tonal range in each image is very exact. Adams writes about using the step wedge system to ensure that the tonal range for each image is as close as it can be to what was seen.
Each element of the image compared to exposure readings taken at the time and measured against a known grey-scale - the step-wedge.
Having said that there are no rules it is still possible to see influence in some of the image compositions. Placement of subject or horizons approximating to third lines. For me one of the striking things is the shear scale of the image captured.
Hi
ReplyDeleteLook at the step wedge system we talked about regarding how ansel adams works to expose, develop and print his work. And how each area of the scene has a value which he can control using this method to reproduce certain tonal values.
Steve
Hi
ReplyDeleteFrom the Joe Cornish landscape photography talk can you put a blog entry about what you thought of the work and what in particular you found of interest. Compare adams work as well as your own and Joe Cornish to see where the comparisons exist.
I have got a video of the talk that you can look at.
Steve