Lesson 9 B&W

[Terrance]

whiteSorry I couldn’t decide which one “I didn’t” want feed back on, so if you could pleease let me know what you think of both… Thanks

[Duncan Rawlinson]

It’s actually fine that you uploaded both photographs. I’ll split my time between reviewing them both. The reason that it’s good you’ve uploaded both is that each is good in its own right, but each of the photographs also makes very common mistakes.

Let’s start by looking at the mansion shot. It’s a beautiful shot and you’ve composed it well with the tree acting as a “frame within a frame”. One note on composition though: Watch how the lines and shapes of the photograph interact with each other. Notice how the large tree in the foreground cut off the top left part of the mansion in the background? By changing your position slightly you could have ensured that the mansion would have been properly framed by the tree without any obstructions in the view.

The lines in this photograph are great though. You’ve done a great job with using shapes and lines in your first photograph.

Secondly, the tonal range in this photograph is not that great. You have some light grays, but nothing that is white. You also have some black, but most of it is dark grey. You get close to the extremes of tonal range, but you fall a little short with this photograph.

In your second photograph you push the tonal range to its limits. There is substantial black in the cliff edge and there is bright white in the water. However, the issue I have with this photograph is that you’ve stripped it from its texture. Rather than using a big black blob for the cliff it would have been interesting to see when the light hit it from more of an angle. This way it would have been sprinkled with brighter highlights which would have pulled out its texture. Also, the angle of the horizon is not strait and it looks a bit accidental.

I would have loved to see the tonal range in your second photograph in your first photograph. The composition is better in the first, but the tonal range is better in the second.

Both photographs are good though. This is not an easy assignment and you’ve done a great job! Keep up the good work.

[Author]

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