Beautiful Things

Tuesday, 28 May 2013

01.08 Cropping

Cropping is part of the optional editing process which happens after the photograph has been taken. It occurs often in the print-making from black-and-white film, where darkroom development is within easy reach. Print-making from colour film is much more complicated, and most photographers resort to commercial labs where the process is taken out of their hands. However with the advent of digital photography, the editing process has seen a resurgence.

Cropping, or the process of removing sections from the image frame inwards, is very powerful because:

it can alter the visual composition and hence the message of the image;
design decisions can be deferred from the instance of image capture; and
it allows for new possibilities of composition to be explored.

The trade-off is that cropping is a subtractive process - there is a loss of information, so images should be taken in as high a resolution as possible. Excessive reliance of post-production processes, especially cropping, can lead to sloppy composition at the time of capture. It's always better to start off with the best possible original material.

Monday, 27 May 2013

Castel Sant'Angelo by Night, Rome

Concept: Curves (relationship to straight lines); Curves (implication); Multiple points (line dynamics)

Description: The curving sweep of the Tiber's northern bank accelerates the eye towards the sodium-lit ramparts of Castel Sant'Angelo, the brightest-lit patch of the photograph, and then across Ponte Sant'Angelo (perpendicular to the curve's tangent at that point) to the southern bank.

Title: Sant'Angelo - a beacon in Tiberian night

Sunday, 26 May 2013

03.06 Curves

Curves can be viewed as comprising a series of very short lines of gradually changing orientation. This gives curves special set of design properties.

A sense of rhythm and speed, and therefore of flow.
An overall orientation (based on the sum of fragment orientations) and therefore a sense of direction.
A smooth dynamic on account of their linear fragments' gradual changes in orientation.
A feeling of enclosure because curves are fragments of circular/elliptical circumferences.

Thus a curve will interact a straight line, and the dynamics of that interaction will be most influenced by the curve fragments closest to the straight line. This has three practical effects:

if the orientation of the curve fragment and the straight line is the same (i.e. parallel), then there is low dynamic tension, and a reinforcement of flow.
if the orientation of the curve fragment to the straight line is perpendicular (i.e. at a right-angle), then there is high dynamic tension and a redirection of flow to the radial centre of the curve (i.e. the curve's focal point).
curves interact less with the image frame, because dynamic tension is not maintained over the length of their relationship.

Curves are useful design tools because of their powerful ability to direct the viewer's eye; either along their length by flow or to their focal point by implication.

Curves cannot be artificed by the photographer (without the use of a fish-eye lens, in which case, then everything in the image will be curved), they have already to exist in real life perhaps by momentary implication. What can be controlled is the degree of curvature, which can be affected by acuteness of viewing angle.

Saturday, 25 May 2013

Hunting in the Garden of Roses, Oltrarno, Florence

Following a stream of tourists on their ascent to Piazzale Michelangelo in Florence's Oltrarno district, I stumble across Giardino delle Rose whose modest side-entrance barely registers with the climbing barbarian horde. Jean-Michel Folon's installation, 'Partir', is a red rag to a bull.

It's pretty obvious that Jean-Michel's drawn from Masaccio's 'Holy Trinity' in Basilica di Santa Maria Novella; there has to be one sweet spot where everything comes together, but there's no handy 'x' on the floor. Close-up and focussing on the installation doesn't cut it.

A slightly lower vantage point and focussing on Palazzo Vecchio's bell tower remains unconvincing. The sweet spot must be behind me and I start drawing back. Also, there's no visual 'hook', no relationship... apart from the installation to the view, which would only result in a "that's nice" sort of picture.

As I back up, a fellow tourist-photographer walks into shot. Suddenly there's the possibility for a stronger three-way relationship between her, the installation, and the view.

I want to keep my distance so that my presence doesn't distract her, so I use the zoom on my hand-held camera; and take two steps to my right to bring Palazzo Vecchio's belfry deeper into the installation frame. I'm still missing the sweet spot.

One more step to the side and I'm there. The relationship between the girl and the frame is good, but the interaction between my camera's frame and 'Partir' feels wooden. Also I'd like to exclude the gentlemen on the left from the shot - I turn my camera on its end and soften my knees to lower the perspective, so that I can look 'through' the ship's funnels more...

The moment's perfect - we're looking at her, and also what she's looking at. The lower perspective unifies the relationships and also positions central Florence through the ship's funnels, heightening the depth of our visual field. The framing adds dynamism and excludes the unbalancing presence of the two men, while retaining their shadows to add symmetry. The young woman and her scarf counterweight the square patch of paving.

Friday, 24 May 2013

06.02 Hunting

Hunting is the process of resolving coherent, emotionally-engaging images from places-situations where environmental factors are cannot be controlled. It requires the artist to:

perceive what is special about a scene,
interpret it, and then
capture it in a way that conveys its essence to the viewer.

It's because of this reactive, transitory nature - the conjuring of successful photogenic images from messy everyday events - that reportage (photojournalism) and street photography are considered the pinnacle of the professional's art.

Thursday, 23 May 2013

The Walls Of San Marino

Concept: Horizon (foreground interest); Itten's contrasts (smooth/rough); Itten's contrasts (narrow/broad); Perspective (aerial); Perspective (linear)

Description: Although the horizon is located slightly above the mid-line, the aerial perspective increasingly mutes the colours of Emilia Romagna in the distance, making the horizon feel lower. The visual convergence of the handrail leads the eye into the scene enhancing the sense of perspective, climaxing in a dramatic plunge to infinity. A featureless blue sky balances the stone wall with contrasting texture and colour tone.

Title: A Plunge Into Infinity

Wednesday, 22 May 2013

01.06 Horizon

The most common instance where the image frame is necessarily divided, is in landscape photography when a horizon line is present. The placement of the horizon at any level from low to middle to high in the frame is open to choice, all things being equal. However there is a tendency to place it closer to the bottom of the frame because it confers upon the image a sense of stability.

Interest
If there are attention-grabbing items of interest in the foreground, then it's natural to want to make a feature of it, therefore the horizon would be high in frame. The converse is true if there are spectacular cloud formations or airborne entities.

Colour and contrast tones
There may colours or tonal weights featured in the foreground and sky that need to be proportionately balanced.

Personal expression
In many instances, several options for placing the horizon become available; in which case, it comes down to a matter of taste and what you desire to communicate.