INTRODUCTION
Ansel Adams was a famous photographer well known for his black and white photographs of National Parks across North America but more specifically in the West. Born in California, he wasn’t a good student and was homeschooled by his mother. He became a self taught pianist which he tried to pursue as a profession before he turned to photography. He began taking his first photos at the age of 14 but wasn’t acknowledged until his early twenties for his skill. He joined a photography group called f64 (which is a reference to the aperture this particular group used). His love of nature made him an active environmentalist and his photographs helped advocate the protection and nature, and eventually the establishment of National Parks. He died at age 82 in California but he contributed some of the greatest photography techniques used today and helped legitimize photography as a fine art.
The group f/64, of which Ansel Adams was a member, was formed to change photography at that time. The photographs taken by the group could be compared to taking photos today with a viewfinder. The aperture they used is the smallest and would reflect the image onto the glass negative which allowed them to compose the picture the way they wanted. This particular aperture put all parts of the image into sharp focus and then usually printed on high gloss paper. This style is very clearly seen in Adams’ photographs. Their goal was to use photography to see the world exactly as it was without personal prejudice. The group went against the popular techniques of that time, known as pictorialism techniques that softened the image, used brush strokes on the negatives to take away the fingerprint of it being a photograph.
This exhibit is going to include some of Mr. Adams images as examples of the many photography techniques or principles used to take an artistic photo. Mr Adams is quoted as saying “A photo is made, not taken.” The main principles used in photography include Composition, which is the photographer planning the layout of the objects in the image. Shapes and Lines refers to the implied or actual lines that occur in an image that draw the eye to a specific point or focus of the picture. Foreground and Background have a lot of impact in a photo, due to the focus of the lens a photographer can blur what is not the main focus of the image. This can also create Contrast which is usually created through Lighting or Texture. Also, there will be examples of Framing which is a technique of using the surroundings to create a frame around what is considered the focus of the picture.
This exhibit will analyze Ansel Adams photographs and point out the techniques that he helped create for aspiring photographers. Through this exhibit someone who may not appreciate or understand fine art should be able to at least recognize the fundamentals of taking a good photograph. Ansel Adams spent hours and weeks and months waiting for the right moment so that he could capture the perfect shot. Not everyone’s photos will wind up in a museum but everyone can recognize the skills needed to take a good photo.
DEPTH
This photograph shows Adams skill with depth. The composition draws your eye to the center of the photo where you can see half dome. Once your eyes take in the mountain and then the river and maybe last the trees you will notice that even with the various distances, everything is in focus. Like the human eye will do, we can take in all the details of the scenery even if the object is far away. This is achieved by using the smaller aperture and a longer shutter speed. Its like the same effect as a pinhole camera which is a light tight box with a hole on one side and photo paper on the other. The depth is infinite with a smaller hole but it matters how far away the photo paper is.
This is another example of depth. Whether you start in the foreground with the lighter grass and scan back towards the mountains or whether your eye starts high and moves down towards the little creek, every part of the picture is in focus. You can almost imagine stepping into the photo at this point and besides gaining some peripheral view the eye wouldn’t have to adjust. This photo is an example of scale consistency. If two lines run parallel our brain still interprets the distance between them as being constant even though they appear to converge. Even though this image has a focal point leading towards the mountains our brains can still interpret this space as being very large and very far.
LINES
This is an example of motion or implied lines. The top of the falls is the lightest part of this photo, so it draws the eye. Naturally our eye travels down with the motion of the water. Then we can see the darker and misty rocks and river below. Since the water is blurred it means he used a slower shutter speed, meaning that the shutter didn’t open and close fast enough to catch a very specific moment of the water falling but instead caught a few moments in one image. The use of black and white allows the light and shadow of the scene to help our eye move from the light to dark.
This is a wonderful shot by Mr. Adams. This is a perfect example of using motion and implied lines to guide our eyes through the photo. The first thing to catch the eye is the bright, white streak of falls at the top. Naturally water flows down and so does our eye. Then our eye reaches the base of the falls and we can move our eye side to side with the horizontal line of the trees and field. His framing is perfect to use the vertical lines of the waterfall and the trees. The vertical lines are in excellent contrast to the horizontal lines that run naturally through the mountain and the field at the base. The treetops add the vertical line and the contrast of color against the mountain.
It is very evident in this photo the implied lines. There is the diagonal line of the mountain and the top of the tree line. The river is an obvious line that the eye can follow back into the rear of the image. All the lines point towards what is called a vanishing point. We do not know where the river and the mountains end so Mr. Adams has left it up to our imagination. The converging lines give the image a sense of depth. He is using what is called linear perspective (the horizontal lines) and diminishing perspective (the vertical lines).
COMPOSITION AND FRAMING
This is an interesting image for implied lines but there is more emphasis on composition. Mr. Adams spent a long time and took many photos of this fall trying to capture the ever changing shapes in the current. What I find fascinating is if it weren’t for the tree in the foreground there is no true way of knowing which way the water is flowing or what is up or down. There is no direct source of light and the motion of the water is casting such an inconsistent pattern that if the image were turned on its side or upside down (without the tree of course) the image still maintains its realism.
In this photo Adams found the perfect location to use the curve of the trees to frame This is an example of framing in framing. It provides a sense of depth and makes the photo dynamic. The overlap perspective will also give depth to the image because the trees are up close and overlap the mountain which is in the distance. The composition is off center because the focus, the mountain, isn’t quite in the center of the photo but there is a balance with the trees taking up half the image which is the positive space and the emptiness leading to the mountain is the negative space. The image balances out.
This is another example of framing. Adams used the circle of the stump and the contrast of the frost to frame or draw attention to a primary subject. The primary subject is the leaf. The leaf is an example of tonal contrast. Because the photo is in black and white it places emphasis on the contrast of the frosted outline and veins of the leaf. If this photo had been in color the lights and darks may not have been as dramatic and stunning. By making the leaf the focal point, Mr. Adams took something mundane and turned it into something beautiful, into art.
SCALE
Another technique that Mr. Adams emphasized in his photographs was scale. In this picture the focus is the thundercloud. Once the eye takes in the rest of the picture it becomes clear how truly enormous the cloud is in comparison to the mountains below it. The mountains, we know, are also extremely large in comparison to the pine trees speckled along the base. If the photo had been taken of just the cloud the impact wouldn’t have been as great. By using scale, like the trees or the mountain, now the viewer can grasp how magnificent of a cloud it is.
In this photo we can see scale and comparison. By including the lake we have a level, we’ll call it “sea level”. Then we can compare the height of the trees from that base level. Next, the height of the mountain is exaggerated in comparison to the trees. Last is the big beautiful clouds that dwarf the scene below it. When using scale in a photograph it is recommended to have a familiar reference point for the viewer to compare the magnitude or tininess of the subject of the photo. Because photos are two dimensional representations of three dimensional objects, size and depth can be lost in a photo without some kind of a reference.
References:
Little, Brown and Company. (2010). Ansel Adams In The National Parks. New York. Print
Basic Photographic Techniques. (2013). Photo Composition Articles website. Retrieved 12:36, Oct 03, 2013, from http://photoinf.com/General/NAVY/Photographic_composition_Balance.htm
Turnage, William. (2013). Ansel Adams Biography. The Ansel Adams Gallery website. Retrieved 12:17, Oct 03, 2013, from http://www.anseladams.com/ansel-adams-information/ansel-adams-biography/
Turner, Wayne. (2013) Tips For Using Perspective And Scale In Photography. Retrieved 2:03 Dec 05, 2013, from http://www.picturecorrect.com/tips/using-perspective-and-scale-in-photography/
Tutorials: Depth of Field (2013) The Cambridge in Colour website. Retrieved 4:23, Dec 04, 2013, from http://www.cambridgeincolour.com/tutorials/depth-of-field.htm
Group f/64 (2013) The Metropolitan Museum of Art website. Retrieved 3:17, Dec 04, 2013, from http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/f64/hd_f64.htm
Cristal Cassel 