beast, beauty

[Allegra]

[attachment=1:2p6wcmvr]beast065.JPG[/attachment:2p6wcmvr]

[attachment=0:2p6wcmvr]beauty 072.JPG[/attachment:2p6wcmvr]

[Duncan Rawlinson]

This is a very interesting assignment. You’ve chosen two unusual photographs for this part of the course and I think that’s great because you’ve done something quite different than the rest of the assignments.

Let’s start by discussing the first color photograph. Your focus with this image was on texture and colors. Fabric is highly textured and because you’ve presented it as a hanging object, we don’t have a human element to take into consideration which means there is even more emphasis on the texture. In this image you’ve limited your color palette to gradients of red, yellow and blue. I really liked the color choice for this photograph. These colors work incredibly well together and I think you’ve balanced them perfectly.

In your second image however, you’ve stripped the image of it’s color. Now you’re relying on black and white tones to communicate your artistic idea. The problem is however, that you really need to consider the tonal qualities of each color. For example, the reds and the blues have similar tonal qualities which means they look almost identical in a black and white photograph. So although you were able to isolate your main red garment in the first photograph, the black and white photograph lost that ability and the layers became flattened and merged.

Secondly, black and white photography usually seeks to introduce a wide tonal range. Dark, crisp blacks and vibrant whites. Tonal range is a huge part of black and white photography. In your image, the tonal makeup is predominantly mid tones. If you could crunch your blacks a little more it might help, but you still don’t solve the problem of object isolation.

You’ll learn more about black and white photography in an upcoming lecture, so I won’t go into much more detail than that for now.

I really like your first photograph though. It’s abstract. What you might have done with the black and white photograph is consider lighting it to give it highlights and separate the different layers of the fabric. Light and shadows become particularly important in black and white photography.

Please take the time to watch the following 2 lighting tutorials. Although they are directed at filmmakers, the ideas discussed are exactly the same for photographers.

Lighting basics
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A6JFVHRwJwc&feature=channel_page

Color temperature introduction
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mwqNRqDx680&feature=channel_page

Overall, great first assignment.

[Author]

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